[PLEASE NOTE:  ALL LECTURES ARE OPEN TO THE PUBLIC AND TO MEDIA
COVERAGE.  TO ARRANGE INTERVIEWS CONTACT BOB BRICKHOUSE IN U.VA.
NEWS SERVICES AT 804-924-6856.]

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

"ENVIRONMENTAL CHOICES":  LEADING ENVIRONMENTAL
 INNOVATORS AND EXPERTS TO LECTURE AT U.VA.

	Distinguished academicians and internationally known
professionals from diverse fields will introduce University of
Virginia students to the ethical, ecological and economic aspects of
"environmental choices" in a popular course this semester. The guest
lectures, on Mondays and Wednesdays at 1 p.m. in Old Cabell Hall
Auditorium, are free and open to the public.

	The three-credit course, "Environmental Choices," taught by
William A. McDonough, dean of the School of Architecture and a
leading promoter of environmentally sensitive design, aims to
enlarge students' sense of personal environmental responsibility.
More than 200 students from throughout the University who are
enrolled in the course will work in teams on projects that help
encourage environmental sustainability. They will use as their model
the city of Curitiba, Brazil, which has implemented many
environmentally innovative practices and whose former mayor, Jaime
Lerner, a widely praised environmental leader, will meet with
students in April.

	McDonough, who received a 1996 U.S. Presidential Award for
Sustainable Development and has been named by Utne Reader magazine
as one of "100 visionaries who could change your life," has arranged
for more than a dozen other environmental specialists to speak in
the course. Some will also present "Declarations of Interdependence"
in a continuing separate lecture series sponsored by the School of
Architecture to call attention to the interdependence of all forms
of life on earth. 

	In addition to talks by several U.Va. environmental experts
participating in the course, some of the guest lecturers include: 

Jan. 27 -- Oren Lyons, Faithkeeper of the Onondaga Nation and a
prominent Native American leader in the international environmental
movement. He is director of the Native American Studies program at
SUNY-Buffalo. 

Feb. 10 -- Thomas Lovejoy, conservation biologist with the
Smithsonian Institute who has worked in the Amazon since 1965 and is
an authority on biodiversity.

Feb. 17 -- Monika Griefhahn, minister for the environment in Lower
Saxony, Germany, and former head of Greenpeace.
Feb. 24 -- Timothy Wirth, U.S. undersecretary of state for global
affairs who works closely with Vice President Al Gore on
environmental issues. 

March 3 -- Lester R. Brown, director of the Worldwatch Institute and
one of the world's most influential environmental thinkers. The
institute regularly researches and analyzes global environmental
issues. 

March 17 -- Donald Aitken, senior energy analyst with the Union of
Concerned Scientists and a world authority on the economics of
large-scale solar and renewable energy.

March 24 -- John Todd of Ocean Arks International research institute
and a developer of natural technologies to purify wastewater. 

March 31 -- David Orr, professor of environmental studies at Oberlin
College, editor of the journal Conservation Biology, author of the
book "Ecological Literacy" and one of the country's best known
environmental educators.

April 7 -- Carolyn Merchant, professor of environmental history,
philosophy and ethics at the University of California-Berkeley and
the author of numerous writings on women and the environment and
environmental ethics. 

April 14 -- Jaime Lerner, governor of the state of Parana, Brazil,
and former mayor of Curitiba. He is an international leader in
promoting environmental sustainability who has helped make Curitiba
an environmentally sound model for other cities.

April 16 -- Kay Slaughter, mayor of Charlottesville and staff member
of the Southern Environmental Law Center.

April 21 -- Dean William McDonough will speak on environmental
sustainability. 

###

January 20,  1997