Governors from across the United States will meet at Yale on Thursday and Friday, April 17 and 18, to review state-level programs to combat global climate change and to develop a strategy for future action.

The gathering will also mark the centennial of President Theodore Roosevelt’s landmark 1908 Conference of Governors, which launched the modern conservation movement, planted the seed for the National Parks System and inspired significant state efforts to protect land. The participating governors will celebrate 100 years of state leadership on critical environmental issues, confront the present climate challenge and set out a vision of a federal-state partnership for future action.

“Roosevelt showed remarkable foresight a century ago in engaging the states’ chief executive officers to preserve and protect the nation’s natural resources,” said President Richard C. Levin. “Now, we face a new and critical challenge — global climate change — and leadership in the United States is coming from visionary state governors.”

Governors who plan to attend the conference include Jodi Rell of Connecticut, Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, Jon Corzine of New Jersey and Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas. Quebec Premier Jean Charest will also be present, and a dozen other governors are exploring whether their schedules will permit participation.

The governors will meet privately for high-level discussions on climate change, and will address the general public during a plenary session on April 18. In addition to recognizing those governors who have demonstrated global leadership in addressing climate change, this gathering will provide these leaders with an opportunity to exchange ideas and chart a forward path on state, national and international action. It is anticipated that, while at Yale, the governors will sign a climate change declaration that addresses state and federal-level policymaking — a document that is expected to be particularly timely, as the United States prepares for fresh leadership at the federal level.

Nobel laureate R.K. Pachauri, chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, will address the gathering. Several former Environmental Protection Agency administrators, including Christine Todd Whitman and Carol Browner, will also be part of the dialogue. Schwarzenegger and Pachauri will deliver public addresses at the conference on April 18. The event will also include a talk on April 17 by Theodore Roosevelt IV about the legacy of his great-grandfather. A complete list of conference participants and other details will be distributed closer to the event.

As home of one of the country’s leading environmental schools — the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies (F&ES), led by Dean Gus Speth — Yale has ties that make it an apt site for the 100th gathering of the Conference of Governors. F&ES was founded in 1900 by Gifford Pinchot, Roosevelt’s trusted adviser and founder of the U.S. Forest Service. It was Pinchot who organized the 1908 Conference of Governors.

T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S

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ENDOWED PROFESSORSHIPS

• Gary Brudvig is appointed the Eugene Higgins Professor
  
• Roberta Frank named the first Marie Borroff Professor
  
  
• Scott Miller is designated the Irénée duPont Professor
  
  

Grant to Yale Cancer Center will promote clinical trials . . .

Conference pays tribute to Brazilian statesman and author . . .

Exhibition features Haggadah illustrations by modern artists

New exhibition space hosts show exploring themes of loss, renewal

‘SCLAVI’ tells tale of emigrant’s search for his place in the world

‘Religion and the Big Bang’ is the theme of Shulman Lectures

‘Faith and Fundamentalism’ is focus of three-part Terry Lectures

‘Visual Exegesis’ features artistic interpretations of biblical texts

The relationship between photography, history and memory . . .

‘Middle Passage Conversations’ will bring scholars together . . .

Conference to explore benefits of alternative, complementary therapies

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