Newswise — Wellesley, Mass. (April 20, 2018)—On April 25, Wellesley College will welcome former Vice President Al Gore to campus to speak about one of the most critical issues of our time: the climate crisis. The event begins at 5:30 PM in Alumnae Hall Auditorium.
Known across the globe for his lifetime of leadership and public service, including his tireless efforts to slow and stop climate change, Gore is committed to galvanizing the next generation to continue the fight to protect the health of our planet and ensure a sustainable future.
As the College’s 2018 esteemed Wilson Lecturer, Gore will engage in a wide-ranging, candid conversation with his friend and colleague Sue Wagner, a Wellesley College alumna and trustee, before responding to questions from the audience. Gore and Wagner will discuss what is at stake in this important moment—one in which environmental awareness and movements are gaining traction worldwide, at the same time that climate change deniers and emerging nationalist perspectives are hindering progress.
“Women have been important leaders in the movement to achieve sustainability from its inception,” said Wellesley College President Paula A. Johnson, “and as the premier women’s college, we are honored to welcome Al Gore to campus. Not only is he dedicated to preserving our planet, he is also focused on motivating and empowering young people to make a difference. I know he will inspire the young women at Wellesley to imagine the world they want to live in, and then, in the best Wellesley tradition, work toward effecting the change we need to make that a reality.”
Gore’s visit coincides with Wellesley’s Sustainability Year, a campus-wide initiative to cultivate thought leadership on environmental issues, and help Wellesley lead the way for higher education institutions working toward sustainability. Launched in September 2017, the initiative explores—through conversations, lectures, workshops, and coursework—topics such as climate change, renewable resources, and social justice and environmental policy, while promoting meaningful behavioral changes. The College aims to achieve Gold status in the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) STARS ratings, which measures the sustainability performance of colleges and universities. Only 14 percent of nearly 900 institutions worldwide have reached Gold status.
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About Al Gore
Al Gore is the co-recipient, with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for informing the world of the dangers posed by climate change, as well as the author of several best-selling books, including Earth in the Balance, An Inconvenient Truth, The Assault on Reason, Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis, The Future: Six Drivers of Global Change, and, most recently, An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power. He is the subject of an Oscar-winning documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, and a follow-up film that premiered in July 2017, An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power.
The 45th vice president of the United States, Gore was inaugurated on January 20, 1993, and served eight years in the position. Previously, he was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives beginning in 1976 and of the U.S. Senate from 1984 until he became vice president. He currently spends the majority of his time working with the Climate Reality Project, a nonprofit devoted to solving the climate crisis, of which he is the chairman.
About the Wilson Lecture
The annual Wilson event is the College’s premier academic lecture, with a long tradition of bringing internationally prominent leaders, authors, and scholars to campus to speak on critical contemporary issues. The lecture series was endowed by Carolyn A. Wilson, a journalist and war correspondent and a member of Wellesley’s class of 1910, to ensure that future generations of Wellesley students would be familiar with the most important public figures and issues of the day. Guest lecturers over the years have included such innovative and influential thinkers as Elie Wiesel, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Toni Morrison, Chinua Achebe, and Paul Farmer.
About Wellesley College
Since 1875, Wellesley College has been a leader in providing an outstanding liberal arts education for women who will make a difference in the world. Its 500-acre campus near Boston is home to some 2,400 undergraduate students from 49 states and 58 countries.
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