Orcas Crossroads Lectures Present “From Depletion to Sustainability” with Environmentalist Gloria Flora

Gloria Flora will speak at the Crossroad Lecture on Nov. 19

The Orcas Crossroads fall lecture series concludes on Friday, November 19, 7:30 p.m. at Orcas Center. The Orcas Crossroads Committee selects lecture topics of both local and global import and brings speakers with substantial expertise in those topics to Orcas.

As our planet’s finite resources are being depleted, many experts and citizens are becoming more alert to a looming international crisis. Can we expect our way of life to change? What are our most important priorities if we intend to address this challenge, locally and globally?  What is the path to sustainability?

The November 19 lecture is entitled From Depletion to Sustainability, and the speaker is prominent environmentalist Gloria Flora.

In her 22-year career with the U.S. Forest Service, Gloria Flora became nationally known for her leadership in ecosystem management and for her courageous, principled stands.   When she was in charge of the Lewis and Clark National Forest in north-central Montana, she made a landmark decision to prohibit natural gas wells along the spectacular 356,000-acres Rocky Mountain Front near the Bob Marshall Wilderness, a place often described as an American Serengeti for its abundant populations of elk, deer, grizzly bears, and fish-filled streams.  The oil and gas industry appealed all the way to the Supreme Court, but she was ultimately victorious when, on the same day the story of her struggle was being televised nationally on PBS’ NOW with Bill Moyers, the Department of Interior announced a decision reached “at the highest levels” not to approve drilling along the Rocky Mountain Front.

Flora made headlines again when she resigned as Forest Supervisor of the largest national forest in the lower 48 states, the Humboldt-Toiyabe, to call attention to antigovernment zealots engaged in the harassment and intimidation of Forest Service employees.

Today Ms. Flora is the Director of Sustainable Obtainable Solutions, a nonprofit dedicated to the sustainability of public lands and the plants, animals and communities that depend upon them.    She works on Western land issues through education and activism and speaks on ecosystem stewardship, sustainability, people’s relationships to landscapes and the critical role of leadership that strives to make a difference.

Flora recently co-authored a report on how Montana can become energy self-reliant through renewable energy, energy efficiency and conservation.  She works throughout the U.S. with the Center for Climate Strategies, assisting states to develop climate change action plans.  Her work has been featured nationally in many media, including Leonardo DiCaprio’s feature film, The 11^th Hour.  Vanity Fair Magazine named Flora one of the nation’s top environmentalists, and Sunset Magazine gave her the Environmental Hero Award.

A question and answer period and public reception with the speaker will follow the lecture.  Tickets are available for $10 at Orcas Island Library, Darvill’s Bookstore and, pending availability, at the door.

The Crossroads Lecture Series is supported by the Crossroads Associates Circle, the Friends of the Orcas Island Library in cooperation with the Orcas Island Public Library, the Daniel and Margaret Carper Foundation, the Orcas Center, and individual contributors.  It is also supported in part by a grant from Humanities Washington, a statewide organization dedicated to providing and supporting cultural education programs in local communities.