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Climate Activist Timothy DeChristopher Speaks Oct. 20 at Appalachian as Part of the 2014-15 Forum Series

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Oct. 9, 2014. Well-known climate activist Timothy DeChristopher will speak Oct. 20 at 7 p.m. in the Schaefer Center for the Performing Arts at Appalachian State University.

His talk, “A Movement with Soul,” is part of the university’s 2014-15 Forum Series, which has the theme “The Civil Rights Act After 50 Years: Is There Justice for All Now?” Admission is free and the public is invited.

DeChristopher’s work as a wilderness guide while in college led to his work as a climate activist. He is co-founder of the environmental group Peaceful Uprising, a volunteer-based climate action group committed to defending a livable future from the fossil fuel industry.

He is best known for his protest of a Bureau of Land Management oil and gas lease auction, when he won 22,500 acres of land with no intention to pay the $1.8 million he had bid for them. He served 21 months in prison as a result, but also gained national attention for his civil disobedience. Rolling Stone named DeChristopher “America’s Most Creative Climate Criminal” and he was named Utne Reader magazine’s “2011 Person of the Year.”

The Forum Series is sponsored by the University Forum Committee and University College with additional support from the Joan Askew Vail Endowment and the Office of Multicultural Student Development.