Oregon Humanities

Think & Drink on Fossil Fuel Dependency and Green Jobs

The happy-hour discussion brings together Thomas Andrews, Rebecca Clarren, and Emily Harris.

17 June 2010 | Permalink

Given the recent West Virginia coal mine tragedy and Gulf Coast oil spill disaster, Americans are becoming more concerned with fossil fuel dependency and the future of energy. If you want to participate in a discussion on these topics, come to the summer 2010 Think & Drink happy-hour conversation, which brings together environmental historian Thomas Andrews, investigative journalist Rebecca Clarren, and OPB radio host Emily Harris, who will moderate the conversation.

Think & Drink will be held on Thursday, July 8, 2010, at 6:00 at rontoms, 600 E. Burnside, Portland. The happy-hour series, which sparks provocative conversations about big ideas, is sponsored by Oregon Humanities (formerly Oregon Council for the Humanities).

Thomas Andrews is an award-winning environmental historian whose first book, Killing for Coal: America’s Deadliest Labor War earned him the George Perkins Marsh Prize by the American Society for Environmental History, the Bancroft Prize from Columbia University, and others. Andrews is a regular presenter for the National Center for History Education and has also been involved with the National Center for History in the Schools and the National History Education Clearinghouse.

Rebecca Clarren is a Portland-based investigative journalist specializing in energy, environmental health, sustainability, and labor issues. She is a contributing writer to Salon.com, High Country News, Mother Jones, Orion, Fortune, Ms., and Utne Reader. Her work is frequently supported by the Fund for Investigative Journalism. She recently won the 2009 Alicia Patterson Foundation fellowship.

Emily Harris is the host of OPB’s Think Out Loud program. She has served as a national correspondent for NOW with Bill Moyers and as an NPR international correspondent covering central and eastern Europe among other locations. She reported regularly from Iraq and shared in NPR’s 2004 Peabody award for Iraq coverage. She spent a year at Stanford University on the Knight journalism fellowship.

Think & Drink, which invites the public to think and talk together, reflects Oregon Humanities’ emphasis on infusing public conversations with critical thinking and fresh ideas. Past presenters include Representative Earl Blumenauer, Portland State University president Wim Wiewel, writer Ursula K. Le Guin, New Seasons Market CEO Brian Rohter, ethicist and lawyer John Frohnmayer, and advertising executive Jelly Helm.

Oregon Humanities connects Oregonians to ideas that transform communities. More information about our programs and publications, which include the Conversation Project: A New Chautauqua, Think & Drink, Humanity in Perspective, Teacher Institutes, Happy Camp, Public Program Grants, Responsive Program Grants, and Oregon Humanities magazine, can be found at oregonhumanities.org. Oregon Humanities is an independent, nonprofit affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities and a partner of the Oregon Cultural Trust.