University of Rhode Island
Graduate School of Oceanography
www.metcalfinstitute.org
Contact: Sunshine Menezes
Executive Director
(401) 874-6211
London-based Editor Addresses Climate Crisis
NARRAGANSETT, RHODE ISLAND – October 22, 2007 – As the global impacts of climate change become more apparent, China has become a crucial player in the international discussion about how to address these impacts. A new website, chinadialogue.net, facilitates this cross-cultural dialogue with China. The University of Rhode Island’s Metcalf Institute for Marine and Environmental Reporting and URI’s Confucius Institute will host a public lecture by Isabel Hilton, founder and editor of chinadialogue.net.
Hilton’s lecture will be held on Monday, October 29, at the Hardge Forum in the URI Multicultural Center in Kingston, Rhode Island. The brown-bag lunchtime lecture, from 12:30pm to 1:30pm, is open to the public.
As China overtakes the United States as the world’s largest carbon emitter, a broader engagement between China and the world is essential to ensuring the future of the planet, according to the website. Hilton’s lecture, “chinadiologue.net: Creating an Environmental Dialogue Across the Firewall,” will address the major environmental issues facing China, and the history and development of chinadialogue.
Hilton, a London-based writer and broadcaster, has reported extensively from Asia, Latin America, Europe and Africa and has made radio and television documentaries. In addition to her work with chinadialogue, she is currently a columnist for the Guardian and presenter of BBC Radio 3’s flagship cultural program Night Waves. In recognition of her contribution to international understanding, she was recently awarded an honorary doctorate by Bradford University.
Launched by Hilton in 2006, chinadialogue is the world’s only fully bilingual website in English and Chinese. The website promotes understanding of the environmental impacts of China’s growth by providing a platform for informed articles, commentary and analysis by writers inside and outside China. After nine months, chinadialogue is read in 181 countries and in all regions of China. It is the goal of chinadialogue’s editors to make it a “must visit” site for concerned citizens, policy-makers, experts and activists throughout the world, and anyone interested in China and the global environment.
The Metcalf Institute for Marine and Environmental Reporting, named for Michael P. Metcalf, late publisher of The Providence Journal, was established in 1997 with funding from the Belo Corporation, The Providence Journal Charitable Foundation, The Philip L. Graham Fund, and the Telaka Foundation. Metcalf Institute’s mission is to improve the clarity and accuracy of environmental reporting through science training opportunities for journalists.
The Confucius Institute was established at the University of Rhode Island in 2007 to promote the understanding of Chinese language and culture. The Confucius Institute supports and strengthens the programs of the Chinese International Engineering Program, the visual literacy and new media program of URI and Zhejiang University in China, and the Chinese librarianship and information professionals program, and fosters other educational and research-driven programs of benefit to both China and the U.S., including URI’s International Business Program and classes in Asian Studies and the liberal arts.