Environment in focus

A public lecture on the environment will be given by Viscount Matt Ridley next month as part of Climate Change Week.

In his lecture, entitled Good News Environmentalism, Lord Ridley will investigate whether environmentalists need to be pessimists. He will claim that climate change has, so far, been beneficial in leading to the “greening” of the planet while measures to combat it, such as renewable energies, are causing harmful effects on the globe.

He will also challenge the assumption that the impact of new technology, consuming mineral energy and economic growth comes at the expense of the environment.

An Oxford University graduate, Lord Ridley worked for the Economist for nine years as science editor, Washington correspondent and American editor, before becoming a self-employed writer and businessman. He was the founding Chairman of the International Centre for Life in Newcastle.

Lord Ridley is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, the Academy of Medical Sciences and a foreign honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He currently writes a weekly science column for the Wall Street Journal.

The lecture will be held on Wednesday, 6 March at 6.30pm in Theatre 001, Business and Law building, City Campus East. It will be followed by a drinks reception.

Anyone wishing to attend is asked to reserve a place at nu.events@northumbria.ac.uk