The Spring Creek Project welcomes acclaimed biologist, author, and cancer survivor Sandra Steingraber to deliver the keynote address on the opening day of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal on Human Rights, Fracking and Climate Change at The Whiteside Theatre on May 14, 2018. The event is free, but you need to register via eventbrite.

Steingraber is the author of the celebrated book Living Downstream: An Ecologist’s Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment, which was the first book to bring together data on toxic releases with data from U.S. cancer registries. The book was adapted for the screen in 2010. Her other books include Having Faith: An Ecologist’s Journey to Motherhood and Raising Elijah: Protecting Our Children in an Age of Environmental Crisis.

Recognized as a two-way translator between scientists and activists and called “a poet with a knife” by Sojourner magazine, Steingraber has received many honors for her work as a science writer, including a Heinz Award in 2011. She donated the award’s cash prize to the anti-fracking movement, and in 2012 became the co-founder of New Yorkers Against Fracking, a statewide coalition of more than 280 grassroots organizations.

“We are all members of a great human orchestra,” says Steingraber, “and it is now time to play the Save the World Symphony. You do not have to play a solo, but you have to know what instrument you hold and find your place in the score.”

Grass Roots Books & Music will be selling titles by Steingraber at this event. Her keynote address will be followed by a book signing.

The doors to the Whiteside will open at 6:00 p.m. and the event will begin at 7:00. This event is free and open to the public, though to ensure space for all attendees, a ticket is required. Please present your Eventbrite ticket (printed or on a mobile device) at the door.

Opening Music

Steingraber’s address will be preceded by a performance of an original song composed for this event by Jan Michael Looking Wolf and Dana Reason. An enrolled Kalapuya member of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, Jan Michael Looking Wolf is a world renowned Native American flute player. His recordings have garnered more than 50 awards and he is the winner of five Native American Music Awards. Dana Reason is a composer, musician, and sonic arts researcher. She has explored sonification to render scientific data to create new artistic intersections between science, music, sound, and public discourse.