International Festival Focuses on Global Environmental Issues, Nov. 3-5

Noted author and conservationist Sy Montgomery will kick off the festival with a keynote address entitled "Conservation: Hope and Second Chances."

This year's International Festival, "Globally Green: Cultural Perspectives and Environmental Issues," will take place on campus Nov. 3-5. Now in its 15th year, the festival is designed to raise awareness and celebrate the values, traditions and beliefs of world cultures.

The festival will offer several highlights to educate and entertain participants. Sy Montgomery, a well-known author and conservationist, will kick off the festival with a keynote address, entitled "Conservation: Hope and Second Chances." From her travels around the world, which include living with Bengali fishermen and Amazon shamans, Montgomery will share the ancient, sacred stories by which people close to the earth honor and remember their connection to land, water and animals. Her lecture will begin at 4:30 p.m., Nov. 3, in McConomy Auditorium.

Scrap Arts Music, a group from British Colombia that makes instruments and music from recycled odds and ends, will perform at 9 p.m. on Nov. 4.

The International Festival will also feature the Scrap Arts Music concert and performance at 9 p.m. on Nov. 4. Scrap Arts Music, a group from Vancouver, British Colombia, stimulates the senses by making instruments and music from shiny harbor scrap, salvaged sewage pipes, aluminum bowls and other recycled odds and ends. Add more than 80 wheels, a composer, five hyperactive "hipsters" and a set of drumsticks, and the result is a dizzying shower of beats, gymnastic agility, compelling percussive drive and intricate, eye-catching choreography.

For more information on these and the many other events that will take place during this year's International Festival, see http://www.studentaffairs.cmu.edu/StudentActivities/internationalfestival/, or contact Emily Half, International Festival Coordinator, at 412.268.2075 or ehalf@andrew.cmu.edu.

Vijay Jesrani
November 2, 2005