Environmental Journalist David Helvarg to Speak

Award-winning investigative reporter and documentary producer David Helvarg will present a convocation titled “Blue Frontier: Saving America’s Living Seas” at 10:50 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 13 at Carleton’s Skinner Memorial Chapel. The event is free and open to the public.

In his 20 years as a journalist, Helvarg has covered a broad range of stories, from the conflict in Northern Ireland to the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua. In recent years, Helvarg focused his efforts on environmental reporting, exposing the threat of industry to the world’s oceans and the recent wave of violent retaliation against environmentalists.

In his most recent book, Helvarg argues that our planet’s oceans are imperiled as never before, at risk from reckless development, pollution and lack of governmental protection. “Blue Frontier: Saving America’s Living Seas” examines the people and institutions that most directly impact oceans, from the U.S. Navy to the oil industry, industrial developers and fisheries. Helvarg also profiles what he calls “The Seaweed Rebellion,” scientists and activists committed to restoring and sustaining the ocean.

In his 1994 book “The War Against the Greens,” Helvarg offers the first comprehensive look at vigilante terrorism against environmentalists in the U.S. and its ties to the oil, mining, logging and livestock industries. From spontaneous violence to prolonged harassment, Helvarg covers this outbreak of hostility and advocates federal law enforcement intervention.

In addition to reporting for the Associated Press and the Columbia Journalism Review, Helvarg has produced documentaries that have earned him numerous awards including a national community service Emmy in 1998 for a report on AIDS. His work has appeared on PBS, CNN and Discovery, as well as in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian, Sierra, Popular Science and Sports Afield. A Boston University graduate now based in Sausalito, Calif., Helvarg is a regular commentator on Public Radio International’s “Marketplace” and a licensed private investigator.

For more information and disability accommodations, call the College Relations office at (507) 646-4309.