You live near a major university and a community college. There are smart people that come here every week to talk to the general public about interesting topics. Perhaps you were not aware of this fact, or were overwhelmed by the sheer number of opportunities for possible enlightenment. If that’s the case, Smile Politely understands and is here to help. Here are several events going on in town this week. Check out one or more of them if you have time. Get your learn on, as they say, and join the cognoscenti. It’s free, you know.
If you have a community event, speaker, or film event that you’d like to see featured on Listen Up!, send the event information to joelgillespie [at] smilepolitely [dot] com by Friday the week prior to the event. Listen Up! runs on Mondays (or the day after MLK).
WHAT: “Sustainability seminar — Environment-Enhancing Energy — Third Generation Biofuel,” Dr. Yuanhui Zhang, Dept. of Agricultural & Biological Engineering
WHEN: Thursday, January 21 @ 12 noon
WHERE: Illinois Sustainable Technology Center, One E. Hazelwood Dr., Champaign (in South Research Park)
From the event announcement: “Energy consumption and environment have been so far contradictory to each other and have difficulty in coexistence. Some extreme examples have been on the path of rapid development, and in many ways self-destructive. How can we continue to improve human living conditions with limited energy sources? How can we protect our environment while sustaining our economy? How can we handle the magnitude and the multitude of these challenges? Are you optimistic, or pessimistic, about our future? In this presentation, Professor Zhang offers his perspectives, based on his own research, on the issues of energy and environment, and their implications to our economic development and sustainability.”
WHAT: “Oldfather Lecture,” Helmut Loeffler
WHEN: Friday, January 22 @ 2 p.m.
WHERE: 4080A Foreign Languages Building
There’s very little information about his speech available online, but chances are it has something to do with wisdom gained over a long time walking this earth.
In retrospect, I should have waited another week to resume this column after the break, as there is really no other speakers this week that I could find to recommend. The first week of classes is extremely wonk-y and technical, it seems. And so it goes.