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Steamboat Springs — When the organizers of the free Seminars at Steamboat series surveyed attendees, a majority said they would like to learn more about environmental issues.

Bob Stein heard the request, and he could think of no one more globally informed on environmental issues than Jim MacNeill.

MacNeill has been the man behind the curtain on most of the major environmental policy decisions in the past two decades, Stein said.

Until recently, MacNeill was the chairman of the World Bank's Independent Inspection Panel in Washington, D.C. He is a member of the jury for the Volvo Environment Prize and, in years past, he served as the secretary general of the World Commission on Environment and Development.

MacNeill will speak about issues such as the importance of acting now to reverse the effects of global warming.

His lecture will be followed by a question-and-answer session.

MacNeill is author of the book, "Our Common Future" which now is available in more than 20 languages. According to the Oxford University Press, which published the book, MacNeill shows that the economy and ecology are still, and incorrectly, separate in the minds of policymakers.

"Short-sighted policies threaten us in the next century with a greater rise in global warming and sea level than have occurred in the 10,000 years since the last ice age ... this environmental degradation and resource depletion will be the principal source of interstate conflict in the post-cold war world," the book description said.

"Our Common Future" will be available at MacNeill's seminar.

For further reading before the seminar, MacNeill recommended the book "Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed," by Jared Diamond.

"Jim is passionate about the failure of governments to pay attention to what scientists have concluded about environmental matters," Stein said. "He gets angry with governments that ignore issues like global warming for shorter-term reasons.

"He has been a person of unmatched integrity in these issues."

-- To reach Autumn Phillips call 871-4210

or e-mail aphillips@steamboatpilot.com