News Briefs

Dr. Christopher P. McKay, a planetary scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center, will speak on what human life might be like on Mars, at a 7 p.m. Thursday (Sept. 15) presentation at UNC’s Morehead Planetarium and Science Center.

SpaceTalk, a group of UNC students who share interests in space exploration, is sponsoring McKay’s visit. The event is free to the public.

One of the world’s experts in terraforming (the process of making a planet suitable for life), McKay has worked for NASA since 1982. He currently is a leading researcher in the study of Titan, the Saturn moon that the Huygens space probe explored in January.

McKay, also an astrobiologist with Ames Research Center’s Space Science Division, has been actively involved in polar research since 1980, traveling to the Antarctic dry valleys, the Canadian and Siberian Arctic and the Gobi desert to study life in these Mars-like environments.

He is active in planning for future Mars missions and human settlements and has received the American Astronomical Society Division for Planetary Sciences’ Kuiper Award for his contributions.

For more information, call (919) 962-1236 or visit www.moreheadplanetarium.org.

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The Center for Sustainable Enterprise at UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School is hosting a lecture by sustainable business management expert Hunter Lovins at 6 p.m. Sept. 21 in the McColl Building’s Maurice J. Koury Auditorium.

Lovins, president and founder of Natural Capitalism Inc. and co-author of the book "Natural Capitalism," will speak about "Implementing Natural Capitalism." The event is free to the public, and free parking will be available in the business school deck. Those who wish to attend are asked to RSVP at cse@unc.edu.

Lovins’ concept of natural capitalism promotes the integration of the triple bottom line – the business goals of profitability, environmental awareness and social responsibility – into a single bottom line. The result, Lovins has said, would mean greater levels of operational efficiency within organizations and business practices that are restorative of people and planet and that enhance strategic competitive advantage.

The Center for Sustainable Enterprise’s mission is to help executives and future business leaders understand how social and environmental considerations are changing the competitive landscape of business.

For more information on the event, contact Ruth Tolman at (919) 962-1499 or ruth_tolman@unc.edu.

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News Services contact: Deb Saine, (919) 962-8415 or deborah_saine@unc.edu