LANL researcher Dr. Nathan McDowell will be the featured speaker at a talk at 7 p.m., Thursday in Mesa Public Library’s upstairs rotunda. Courtesy/MPL

MPL News:

Los Alamos National Laboratory researcher Dr. Nathan McDowell will be the featured speaker at a talk at 7 p.m., Thursday in Mesa Public Library’s upstairs rotunda.

Dr. McDowell is a staff scientist at LANL in the Earth and Environmental Sciences Division and also serves as Senior Scientist at the Slovenian Forestry Institute. His talk is entitled “Accelerating Global Vegetation Mortality.”

“I will discuss the evidence demonstrating that the Earth’s climate is becoming warmer, that this is killing more trees than previously occurred, and that this temperature-mortality problem will continue to accelerate in the future,” McDowell said.

The talk is presented in conjunction with the “Dust Drought and Dreams Gone Dry” exhibit, shown in the Upstairs Gallery at Mesa Public Library Jan. 7 through Feb. 20. The exhibit describes the human and environmental cost of one of the worst environmental disasters in recorded history. The themes explored in the exhibit include westward expansion, water use on the Great Plains, drought cycles, land use and human migration. Dr. McDowell’s expertise in the areas of physiological ecology, ecosystem ecology and isotope ecology will enhance the audience’s experience of the exhibit.

Dust, Drought and Dreams Gone Dry was developed by the American Library Association Public Programs Office in collaboration with the libraries of Oklahoma State University and Mount Holyoke College. The exhibition and tour were made possible in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor. Mesa Public Library is one of twenty-five sites throughout the United States and one of only two in New Mexico selected to present the exhibition and associated public programs in their communities.

The Upstairs Art Gallery at Mesa Public Library hosts shows by local and regional artists, as well as travelling exhibits, 10 to 12 times each year. The Friends of the Los Alamos County Library System support the Gallery and many other programs. The Library is open 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. Mesa Public Library is at 2400 Central Ave., in downtown Los Alamos.

For information about the Los Alamos County Library System, call 505.662.8250.