We are pleased to announce Jeremy Jackson will be joining us to give a Keynote Presentation on Wednesday morning, October 20. Jeremy Jackson is the Ritter Professor of Oceanography and Director of the Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California and a senior scientist emeritus at the Smithsonian Institution. He is the author of more than 150 scientific publications and author or editor of seven books. His research includes human impacts on the oceans and the ecology and paleoecology of tropical marine ecosystems. Dr. Jackson is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is the recipient of numerous prizes including the Secretary's Gold Medal for Exceptional Service of the Smithsonian Institution in 1997, the UCSD Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Science and Engineering in 2002, the International Award for Research in Ecology and Conservation Biology of the BBVA Foundation in 2007, and the Roger Torrey Peterson Medal of Harvard University. Dr. Jackson’s work on overfishing was chosen by Discover magazine as the outstanding environmental scientific achievement of 2001.

"Sizzle: A Global Warming Comedy" is a feature film (85 minutes) that (unfortunately) keeps getting more relevant with time.

The movie is a unique hybrid of mockumentary, documentary and reality built around the story of a well-intended by hapless scientist-turned-filmmaker who is forced to team up with a couple of Hollywood flakes to make his documentary about global warming. Along the way he must contend with producers who want to interview Tom Cruise (not a scientist, but a Scientologist -- "most people don't know the difference"), a cameraman who is a skeptic and likes to argue with the scientists they are trying to interview, and a humiliating polar bear nightmare for the filmmaker. But eventually it's a movie that makes up for all the silliness with a somber visit to the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans to witness the human side of a climate disaster.

This year "Sizzle" has screened or will screen at NASA Goddard Flight Center, M.I.T., University of Arizona, University of Colorado, Yale University, and Cornell University. The on-going relevance of the movie is now being underscored by The New Suit Theater Group in Chicago who are adapting "Sizzle" as a play that will open in February, 2011.

Join us for a viewing of this entertaining movie, followed by a post-screening panel discussion featuring the filmmaker, Dr. Randy Olson along with several climate scientists.