Skidaway Institute of Oceanography’s spring lecture series will wrap up with a two-speaker program titled “Planet Earth in the 21^st Century.” The program will be presented twice, on Monday, May 11, at the Coastal Georgia Center on Fahm Street in downtown Savannah and again on Thursday, May 14, in the library auditorium at Skidaway Institute. Both programs will begin at 7 p.m. Admission is free.

The program is the final program in the lecture series under the umbrella title “Living with the Ocean” that has focused on the 21^st century ocean and man’s interaction with it.

Peter Verity

Skidaway Institute professor Peter Verity will begin the program with his talk “How We are Changing the Ocean.” Included in his talk, Verity will discuss the way overfishing is changing the functioning of marine ecosystems; greenhouse gas increases are changing climate, warming and acidifying the oceans and raising sea level; and ocean pollution and toxic compounds are threatening species survival.

“The scope and scale of human activities now have the oceans on a new trajectory towards an uncertain future,” said Verity. “This path is definitely not favorable by comparison with past and even present assessments of intrinsic value of the oceans.”

Herb Windom

Skidaway Institute professor Herb Windom will present the second half of the program with a talk titled “Real Time and Real Important: Environmental Observation in the 21^st Century.” Windom will explore the ways in which scientists have explored the environment in the past and, how many of those observations have been inadequate for the conclusions that have been drawn. He will also discuss the way new technology is drastically changing the way scientists will study the ocean and the planet in general in the future.

The program will begin at 7 p.m. on both days.

For additional information, call Michael Sullivan at (912) 598-2325 or visit the Skidaway Institute Web site at www.skio.usg.edu.