POULTNEY—Dr. Charles Hadlock, internationally acclaimed expert on managing environmental risk, will speak at Green Mountain College on Thursday, March 26 in the Gorge (Withey Hall) at 7 p.m. His address “Games, Competition, Cooperation, Evolution,” is free and open to the public.
Using a very simple model, Hadlock will explore the way humans and other organisms interact with each other in a general ecosystem, whether that’s an Amazonian rain forest, the Wall Street financial world, or his farm in New Hampshire. His insights help us better understand environmental and evolutionary processes and, separately, be more effective in negotiating changes in societal behavior.
Hadlock, a mathematics professor and former dean at Bentley University in Waltham, Mass, has been working for almost 40 years in the consulting industry and academia to help understand and manage environmental risks. In the aftermath of major catastrophes like Three Mile Island and Bhopal, he has conducted assessments of over 200 industrial facilities worldwide on behalf of governments and multinational companies, including power plants, mines, hazardous waste sites, and drilling rigs.
He has worked with the EPA to develop regulations for hazardous and radioactive materials, as well as with the City of New York to improve hazardous materials controls in the wake of the Sept. 11 tragedy. Two of his books address environmental issues and risks: “Mathematical Modeling in the Environment” treats water, air, and hazardous materials issues, and “Six Sources of Collapse” looks at the potential for sudden shocks at both the local and global levels.
The sophomore plenary address is a high point each year in the College’s “Dimensions of Nature” class, where second year students explore the history and philosophy of science. In readings ranging from Aristotle and Galileo to Watson and Crick, students examine changes in prevailing models of the universe, approaches and methods of science, and relationships between science and society.
