Cosponsored by UIS Campus Senate Committee on Sustainability, Department of Environmental Studies, UIS Green Fee Committee, and Students Allied for a Greener Earth (SAGE)

Award-winning author Ken Ilgunas spent 5 months hiking the entire length of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, which will deliver oil from the Alberta tar sands in Canada to refineries in Texas. Along the way, he collected stories from landowners about how the pipeline will impact their lives, local environments, and the global climate. Ken will share what this journey taught him about environmental politics, climate change, and culture in the American heartland. He will take an environmental studies approach, weaving together science, history, personal reflection, cultural studies, and  environmental philosophy.

Ken Ilgunas is a professional travel and environmental writer, who has penned articles for the New York Times, Time, Backpacker, and the Chronicle of Higher Education. He is also the author of three books that have been featured on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and NPR and in The New Yorker and National Geographic, and NPR. He holds a B.A. from SUNY Buffalo in history and English and an M.A. in liberal studies from Duke University.