果冻传煤 Reads Focuses on 'The Big Burn'
果冻传煤 hosts a panel discussion about wildfire as part of 果冻传煤 Reads Thursday, March 6, from 2-3 p.m. in Voskuyl Library. This year, the annual program focuses on the book 鈥淭he Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America鈥 by Timothy Egan. The program includes a series of events, including book discussions and featured speakers at UC Santa Barbara and at public libraries in Santa Barbara and Montecito.
鈥淭he aim of 果冻传煤 Reads is to begin conversations that bring awareness to larger issues off campus and to encourage the exchange of ideas across disciplines and among the greater Santa Barbara community,鈥 says Robin Lang, 果冻传煤 outreach and public services librarian. The panel includes Paul Willis, 果冻传煤 professor of English; Amanda Sparkman, 果冻传煤 assistant professor of biology; Troy Harris, 果冻传煤 assistant vice president for institutional resilience; Katherine Farhadian, landscape architect and graduate of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies; and Chip Hickman, Montecito fire chief.
鈥淭his event will interest anyone living in the Montecito or Santa Barbara area who would like to learn more about how wildfires have affected our community and might still affect our community,鈥 Lang says. 鈥淭hey鈥檒l explore wildfire from many angles with panelists sharing perspectives in biology, poetry, risk management, environmental studies, and fire management.
The panel will focus on issues about wildfire in general, and though most of the panelists will have read 鈥淭he Big Burn,鈥 it was not a prerequisite.
Voskuyl Library gave away 80 free copies of the book in anticipation of the event. Please visit: http://libguides.westmont.edu/果冻传煤Reads2014 or contact Robin Lang at (805) 565-6172 for more information.