Wind Power Museum
Breakfast and Books
Silent Spring at 50
Museum Tours
Book Author Pitch Slam
Big Bend Post-Conference Tour

 

Agenda

Coverage

Lodging/Transportation

Exhibits/Receptions

Environmental News

About Lubbock

 

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Breakfast and Books at the Wind Power Museum

1701 Canyon Lake Drive, Lubbock
8:30 a.m. - Noon

Buses will depart from the Overton's north parking lot (exit through doors at far end of first floor hallway near Sunset Ballroom and SEJ Info Desk) promptly at 8:00 a.m.

NOTE: If you are on the Post-Conference tour to Big Bend, you will board your bus (with your luggage) at this time. The bus will depart for Big Bend immediately after the Sunday program.

For attendees needing a ride to the airport immediately following Sunday's program, one shuttle bus will be designated as an "airport shuttle" and depart the Wind Power Center promptly at 12:00 (noon) for an airport arrival of 12:30 p.m.

 

© Photo courtesy AWPC.

 

Join us again this year for SEJ’s leisurely (and literary) Sunday morning sessions. Nestled under an astonishing collection of working windmills, the American Wind Power Center chronicles hundreds of years of people pulling power from the sky — from the whirling, wooden Flying Dutchmen, to towering modern turbines. Attendees will have the run of the museum on Sunday morning, as well as a sumptuous hot breakfast and a chance to “talk shop” with noted authors. We’ll also bring back the ever popular “book slam,” letting you try your hand at pitching the next great book idea to a panel of industry editors. Pre-registration and $25 fee required.

Silent Spring at 50: Rachel Carson and Environmental Reporting Today

8:30 - 10:00 a.m.

The publication of Silent Spring a half century ago marked the beginning of modern environmentalism. But it was the reaction to Rachel Carson’s book that began the divisive argument that continues to this day. Condemned as hysterical, biased, and perhaps a Communist front, Carson was pushed to the far left — along with the science that should not be a subject of partisan debate. Four environmental journalists discuss the challenge thus presented. Coverage.

Moderator: William Souder, Independent Journalist and Author, On a Farther Shore: The Life and Legacy of Rachel Carson

Speakers:
Cynthia Barnett, Independent Journalist and Author, Blue Revolution: Unmaking America's Water Crisis
Peter Dykstra, Publisher, Environmental Health News and The Daily Climate
Mark Stoll, Associate Professor, Department of History and Director, Environmental Studies, Texas Tech University
Florence Williams, Independent Journalist and Author, Breasts: A Natural and Unnatural History

Location: Banquet Hangar, American Wind Power Center

 

Wind Power Museum Tours

10:00 - 11:00 a.m.
Attendees can stretch their legs and either follow tour guide, Tanya Meadows, as she discusses the history of harnessing wind and demonstrates how some of the museum’s collection work, or feel free to take a self-guided tour of the museum and its grounds.

 

Book Author Pitch Slam

11:00 a.m. - Noon
Journalists will step up to the mike — and step up their games — by pitching book ideas to a panel of publishing house editors. The panel will critique the idea as well as the pitch, and share some suggestions (and maybe a few business cards) with budding authors from the floor. This is an excellent session for journalists looking to make the leap from newspapers/magazines/broadcast/online to the book world. Attendees are strongly encouraged to craft their pitch in advance and remember, you have only two minutes. Signups will be at the session beforehand on a first-come, first-served basis. The session will not be recorded.

Moderator: Bill Kovarik, Author, Brilliant: Exploring the History of Renewable Energy, and Professor of Communication, Radford University

Speakers:
Emily Davis, Developmental Editor, Island Press
Elizabeth Grossman, Author, Chasing Molecules: Poisonous Products, Human Health, and the Promise of Green Chemistry and High Tech Trash: Digital Devices, Hidden Toxics, and Human Health
Robert Mandel, Director, Texas Tech University Press

Location: Banquet Hangar, American Wind Power Center

Noon: Conference ends. Post-conference tour to Big Bend departs. Two buses return to the Overton, while the third drops conference-goers off at the Lubbock airport. (See details above.)

 

Post-Conference Tour: Big Bend National Park

Sunday, October 21 - Thursday, October 25

 

This is one of the great national parks, but also one of the least known. Big Bend — named for the crook in the Rio Grande — is a birder’s paradise and a hiker’s dream destination. The Chihuahuan Desert, one of the world’s most biologically diverse deserts, is interrupted by mountain ranges with names like Dead Horse and Chisos. The volcanic Chisos Mountains jut dramatically from the desert floor, transporting a visitor through ecological regions on a day trek to the South Rim. From there, the view is across the Rio Grande to some of Mexico’s wildest lands, forming with Big Bend an ecosystem bigger than Greater Yellowstone. Yet modern challenges are here too: air pollution, climate change, water shortages, and a volatile border, where the rustic river crossing to Boquillas, Mexico might reopen in time for our visit. Come learn what this hidden expanse of wilderness has to teach.

This tour departs Lubbock following the Sunday authors program and returns to Lubbock by mid-afternoon, October 25. The $400 fee covers transportation, Sunday breakfast and sessions at the American Wind Power Center, lodging and some meals and fees.

Tour Leaders:
Frank Allen, President and Executive Director, Institutes for Journalism & Natural Resources
Randy Lee Loftis, Environment Writer, The Dallas Morning News
Nadia White, Assistant Professor, School of Journalism, University of Montana

Speakers:
Mike Davidson, Executive Director, Brewster County Tourism Council
David Elkowitz, Chief of Interpretation, Big Bend National Park
David Larson, Chief of Science and Resource Management, Big Bend National Park
Alan Spears, Legislative Representative, National Parks Conservation Association
John Zak, Associate Dean for Research, College of Arts & Sciences, and Professor of Microbial Ecology, Department of Biological Sciences, Texas Tech University

 

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Wednesday, October 17
Thursday, October 18
Friday, October 19
Saturday, October 20