The Charleston community depends on the ocean – economically, recreationally, gastronomically. Ever wonder how the health of the ocean will impact you? The College of Charleston will host author and scientific thought leader Deborah Cramer on Thursday, November 17, 2011 at 7:00 p.m. in room 129 of the School of Sciences and Mathematics building (202 Calhoun Street). This lecture is free and open to the public. Watch a video.

Cramer is a visiting scholar at MIT’s Earth System Initiative. She will be presenting some of the world’s finest marine photography from her book Smithsonian Ocean: Our Water Our World (Smithsonian Books/HarperCollins) and will discuss the many ways all life, including ours, depends on the ocean; how we, a single species are altering the nature of the ocean itself, and why that matters. This book shines new light on the meaning of the sea in our lives, inviting people to consider how all life, including ours, depends on the sea.

Two-time Pulitzer prize winning biologist E.O. Wilson calls this book, “best in its class.” It was published to coincide with the opening of the new, permanent Sant Ocean Hall at the National Museum of Natural History, the country’s most heavily visited museum. Ideas and themes from Smithsonian Ocean: Our Water Our World are now being adapted in school science curricula. More information is available at a website emerging from the book and recommended for teachers, www.seaaroundyou.com.

“The MES program is honored to host Deborah Cramer at the College of Charleston,” says Timothy Callahan, MES program director. “She speaks about her writing and the sea on both sides of the Atlantic, at science and maritime museums, and at major environmental and teachers’ organizations. We hope her lecture will provide the opportunity for a larger discussion, both on campus and in the community, about the issues she raises.”

Deborah Cramer writes about science, nature, and the environment. Nobel prize winner Al Gore said of her natural history of the Atlantic, Great Waters, (W.W. Norton), “I urge everyone to read this book, act on its message and pass on its teachings.” Marcia McNutt, head of the United States Geological Survey, wrote in Science, “I would recommend it to anyone who proposes to be an informed citizen of Planet Earth.”

For more information, contact Timothy Callahan at 843.953.2000 or callahant@cofc.edu.