IHC presents a week of programs exploring the environment

Four evening public programs exploring the environment through literature, theater and music will be presented at the College of Idaho in Caldwell as part of the Idaho Humanities Council’s weeklong institute for Idaho teachers exploring environmental literature, July 13-18. The programs—all at the Langroise Recital Hall—are free and open to the public.

On Sunday, July 13, 7:30 p.m., prolific writer Scott Russell Sanders will present a lecture entitled “First Child in the Woods:  On Learning to Love the Earth,” and address the question: “How do children bond with nature, especially in a society that places more and more barriers between humans and the wild world?”  Sanders will read selections from his most recent book A Private History of Awe to illustrate how this bonding occurred in his own life, through the influence of parents and teachers, through reading, and through his direct contacts with nature. He will speak about how we can nurture in children a love of the planet, its rivers and mountains and woods, and all of its creatures.  In his writing, Sanders, a distinguished professor of literature at Indiana University, is concerned with our place in nature, the work of social justice, the practice of community, and the search for a spiritual path.  He has published nineteen books, including the bestseller Staying Put:  Making a Home in a Restless World. A book signing will follow his talk.
On Monday, July 14, 7:00 p.m., Washington actor Mark Raddatz will present Watch, Pray and Fight, his one-man show of John Muir, the founder of the Sierra Club and one of America’s greatest modern conservationists.  Raddatz’ presentation is a carefully researched reconstruction of a typical speech from contemporary news sources and John Muir’s own papers.  Portraying Muir and using Muir’s own words, Raddatz launches into the sort of talk Muir might have made during the fight for Yosemite, the damming of the Hetch-Hetchy, and the formation of national parks. The audience will hear the poetry, wit, insight and passion that made John Muir the most effective voice for preservation in his own time and a remarkably pertinent voice in ours.  Raddatz is a professional actor who has appeared in television, movies and numerous Shakespeare festivals.
On Thursday, July 17, 7:00 p.m., environmental journalist Elizabeth Grossman, of Portland, Oregon, will present a lecture entitled “A Land Ethic for the Digital Age.”Grossman notes that while high-speed digital communications have connected us as never before, how we use natural resources and what we send into the air, the ocean or groundwater can have an impact on the quality of life half way around the world. She will explore impacts of globalization and possible solutions to these problems, based on her research in the Arctic, Asia, and North American Rust Belt communities, and her conversations with scientists, policy makers and activists from all around the world.  Grossman is the author of High Tech Trash and Watershed: The Undamming of America, and several other books. Her writing has also appeared in a variety of magazines and newspapers across the nation.  A book signing will follow the lecture.

On Friday, July 18, 7:00 p.m., offering a bit of levity to the weighty issues discussed throughout the week, Montana guitarist, songwriter and humorist Greg Keeler will present an evening of songs about “Fish, Sheep, and Environmentalists.”  Keeler has made a career as a post-modern western troubadour, performing hilarious songs about the American West, trout, salmon, cheap coyote tricks, sheep, duct tape, cowboys, hunters, the BLM, the Forest Service, —you name it—including many songs about the environment, environmentalists, anti-environmentalists, and other issues.  Keeler is a poet, essayist, song writer, painter, and distinguished professor of English at Montana State University. He has published a number of books of poetry and memoir, and recorded many CDs. His memoir Trash Fish will be published this fall, along with a collection of sonnets, entitled Dead West.

These programs are made possible in part by the Idaho Humanities Council endowment for Humanities Education and a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities “We the People” Program.  For more information, contact IHC Grants & Fiscal Officer Cindy Wang at (208) 345-5346, or cindy@idahohumanities.org.