E.O. Wilson, undaunted by climate change, speaks to large crowd in Goshen Oct. 23

GOSHEN, Ind. – More than 800 people packed the main floor of Goshen College’s Sauder Concert Hall and spilled into the balcony. The book-signing line stretched for 75 feet.

“When I saw the poster, I thought this was too good to be true!” said one of the many undergraduate and graduate students who drove in from Notre Dame, Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, Taylor University, Hillsdale College, Kalamazoo College, Manchester High School and other schools.

Was Goshen College hosting a rock star on Oct. 23? Hardly. The college’s first Christner Memorial Lecture featured Dr. E.O. Wilson, a biologist and professor emeritus from Harvard University who spoke about fungi and ants, nematodes and the billion bacteria present in a single handful of garden soil.

Wilson, who also spoke to a record-breaking crowd of 2,000 at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Mich., this week, was bemused by the turnouts. “I know I’m handsome,” chuckled the 79-year-old Pulitzer-prizewinner, “but I’m hardly a household word. I think it is the result of the growing concern about the environment and climate change.”

“I wish Nancy could have seen this,” said Dale Christner, of Nappanee, Ind., a cousin to Nancy Christner de Targioni, the late donor whose desire to further environmental education in Indiana made Wilson’s visit possible.

Wilson’s lecture was based on his 2002 book, “The Future of Life,” which describes the diversity of life on planet earth, the perils facing its preservation and possible solutions. For Wilson, the earth is a largely unexplored planet. Little is known of many of the 1.8 million species that have been given scientific names, and the number of undiscovered species may be anywhere between 10 million and 100 million.

Those attending Wilson’s lecture saw photographs of nearly extinct birds and mammals and learned that four out of five animals on earth are nematodes. Five hundred species of bacteria live in the human mouth, Wilson said. Other microscopic species require temperatures above boiling to live. Still others can withstand radiation so strong they remain alive while their containers cook around them.

“E.O. Wilson’s strength is as a taxonomist,” said Ryan Sensenig, assistant professor of biology at Goshen College. “He has a keen eye for the beauty and complexity of the natural order.”

One of Wilson’s particularly poignant illustrations involved the genetic diversity within each species. If the DNA in a single human cell were enlarged to the size of a rope, it would stretch from New York to Dallas with 100 genetic letters every inch. If this genetic information is represented as a string of tiny gray letters on a page, it would take 2,500 pages to record all the data.

“This is what is lost when a species becomes extinct,” Wilson said.

In spite of all he knows about habitat destruction, invasive species, pollution, overharvesting and the surging world population, Wilson is essentially an optimist. “We’re not talking about something that can’t be done,” he said, referring to both raising the standard of living of the poor and preserving the earth’s biodiversity simultaneously. “Chump change” is his term for the one-one thousandth of the world domestic product Wilson thinks it would take to preserve the critical biodiversity hotspots and the majority of the world’s species despite climate change.

Wilson described work already in progress on wildlife corridors from the Yukon to Yellowstone, from the Adirondacks south through Appalachia and from Venezuela to Bolivia. Stretches of wilderness like these are needed so that animals and plants can extend their range southward or northward as needed when the climate warms.

The Encyclopedia of Life is another project begun with the goal of preserving biodiversity. Wilson has been one of the leading proponents of this effort to create a free, online resource that catalogs all that is known about every known species on the planet within 10 years. According to the Encyclopedia of Life Web site, this effort “will have a … catalytic effect on comparative biology, ecology and related fields.”

According to Wilson, the job outlook for those in the environmental sciences is bright. In a question-and-answer session with Goshen College students preceding the lecture, Wilson encouraged undergraduates to pursue careers with NGO’s such as the World Wildlife Fund, The Nature Conservancy, World Conservation Society and Conservation International. “There will always be opportunities in international law and environmental law,” he added. Wilson also sees jobs on the horizon in conservation biology and in the area of mapping.

“I think people come to hear Wilson because they need a message of hope,” Sensenig said. “Doom and gloom may rally people to change, but people also want to know how they can be part of restoration.“

“Do I agree with all of his message? No,” said Sensenig, who thinks Wilson underestimates the daunting political and economic realities that stymie conservation efforts. “But I feel so positive about his visit. It has given us momentum to continue to pursue the commitments Goshen College has made to be stewards of the earth.”

Luke Gascho, executive director of Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center of Goshen College, sees Wilson as a peacemaker within what is often a conflictual dialog on climate change. The dialog Wilson has initiated between scientists and Evangelicals through his most recent book, “The Creation,” is the obvious example.

“The hope within our current environmental dilemma comes when you can engage people in working together in a peaceful way,” Gascho said.

The E.O. Wilson lecture was a gift from the late Nancy Christner de Targioni and the Christner Foundation. Although de Targioni’s home was in Spain, her family had roots in Indiana in the Wabash area, and she believed strongly in the importance of environmental education for Hoosiers.

Before her death in April 2007, de Targioni chose E.O. Wilson as the first speaker for the Christner Memorial lectures. “Her enthusiasm was vibrant in every communication as plans were made,” says Gascho, who worked with her on the lecture series. De Targioni and the Christner Foundation have also provided funds for a scholarship for Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center of Goshen College’s new Master’s in Environmental Education program.

– by Jennifer Schrock, Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center

Editors: For more information about this release, to arrange an interview or request a photo, contact Goshen College News Bureau Director Jodi H. Beyeler at (574) 535-7572 or jodihb@goshen.edu.

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Goshen College, established in 1894, is a residential Christian liberal arts college rooted in the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition. The college’s Christ-centered core values – passionate learning, global citizenship, compassionate peacemaking and servant-leadership – prepare students as leaders for the church and world. Recognized for its unique Study-Service Term program, Goshen has earned citations of excellence in Barron’s Best Buys in Education, “Colleges of Distinction,” “Making a Difference College Guide” and U.S.News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges” edition, which named Goshen a “least debt college.” Visit www.goshen.edu.