Elizabeth Kolbert Comes to ACES

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We are thrilled to award prolific climate communicator, Elizabeth Kolbert, with the 2023 Elizabeth Paepcke Visionary Award at An Evening on the Lake this year. Kolbert is an esteemed environmental journalist and science writer whose coverage of both the history and future of human-induced climate change have earned her many accolades in the field of nonfiction. She has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1999. We are privileged to have Kolbert share her insights on one of the most pressing matters of our time as we celebrate and advance the mission of ACES. 

Kolbert’s 2015 Pulitzer Prize-winning book, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, draws upon global field research exploring how human beings have permanently altered life on Earth. It is also a New York Times 2014 Top Ten Best Book of the Year and holds the top spot on The Guardian‘s list of the “100 Best Nonfiction Books of all time.”

Her most recent title, Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future, builds upon her discussion of humanity’s impact on the environment, and chronicles how homo sapiens have intervened in the natural world to combat human-caused environmental challenges. Under a White Sky quickly became a bestseller nationwide and was deemed one of the best books of 2022 by leading publications including The Washington Post, TIME, and Esquire, and was a recommended read by Bill Gates and Barack Obama. 

“Elizabeth Kolbert has alerted us to the urgent risks associated with the Anthropocene. From species extinction to geo-engineering, Kolbert adeptly explains both the environmental challenges and solutions of our time,” said ACES’ CEO, Chris Lane. “She will open your eyes to how humans are affecting all life on the planet in deciding which evolutionary pathways will be shut off forever and which will flourish.”

Kolbert will bring her expert perspective to the ACES community for the free William A. Nitze Community Lecture on July 21, 2023.

Check out some more of Elizabeth Kolbert’s work below: 

“How Plastics Are Poisoning Us” – The New Yorker

“The Climate of Man” – The New Yorker

“Why the Animal Kingdom Is Full of Con Artists” – The New Yorker

Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change

 

Photo by The Steven Barclay Agency.