Public Invited to Library’s Books Sandwiched In Lunch and Learn Program on March 27

Knox County Public Library invites the public to join Dr. Kelsey Ellis for a discussion of The Cure for Catastrophe: How We Can Stop Manufacturing Natural Disasters by Robert Muir-Wood, at noon on Wednesday, March 27 in the East Tennessee History Center auditorium (601 South Gay Street).

In The Cure for Catastrophe, global risk expert Robert Muir-Wood argues that our natural disasters are in fact human ones: we build in the wrong places and in the wrong way, putting brick buildings in earthquake country, timber ones in fire zones and coastal cities in the paths of hurricanes. Recognizing how disasters are manufactured gives us the power to act. Muir-Wood shows the power and promise of new predictive technologies and envisions a future where information and action come together to end the pain and destruction wrought by natural catastrophes.

Dr. Kelsey Ellis is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Tennessee. She received her PhD from Florida State University in 2010. She is a hazard climatologist, focusing on the spatial and temporal patterns of atmospheric hazards, most often hurricanes and tornadoes. Dr. Ellis collaborates with researchers in other disciplines to understand hazards from a more holistic approach, combining her climatology knowledge with knowledge from engineering and social work in an attempt to lessen human risk and/or vulnerability to weather and climate hazards.

Books Sandwiched In is made possible by the generous support of the Friends of Knox County Public Library. Bring a sandwich or pick up something at a downtown restaurant. Drinks will be available for 50 cents.