[I'm forwarding this on behalf of Shirley Skeel, media relations manager at the University of Puget Sound.] FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Oct. 14, 2008 Contact: Shirley Skeel, media relations, 253.879.2611 UNIVERSITY OF PUGET SOUND TO HOST FORUM ON U.S.-CANADIAN ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES How can problems, such as water shortages and toxic waste disposal, be tackled by two very different neighbors? TACOMA, Wash. - Seattle KUOW radio host Steve Scher and The Vancouver Sun political correspondent Vaughn Palmer will lead a discussion of cross-border environmental issues at University of Puget Sound's Schneebeck Concert Hall at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 28. The talk is free and open to the public. Visitors will be invited to pose questions. This important discussion is being held as U.S. and Canadian leaders ponder how to deal with critical issues that both bind and divide their citizens. Recent events of interest include: Sen. Barack Obama opposing the opening of a British Columbia coal mine that could pollute Montana's Glacier National Park; the signing of the Western Climate Initiative to reduce greenhouse gases; and complaints from San Juan Islands residents about waterborne sewage coming from Victoria, B.C. "The United States and Canada are good friends and cross-border allies, but our legal systems and political traditions are so different that we approach the same issues in different ways," said Mott Greene, University of Puget Sound's John B. Magee Professor of Science and Values. Greene cites, for example, the potential for legal conflict over managing the Great Lakes, which hold a fifth of the world's fresh water. Steve Scher is senior host of KUOW's morning talk show Weekday. Vaughn Palmer is The Vancouver Sun's provincial affairs political columnist and a regular guest on Weekday. The talk is funded by a grant from the Canadian government. Directions to the University of Puget Sound campus are available online at www.ups.edu/directions.xml <http://www.ups.edu/directions.xml> . Students, faculty and staff can send questions in advance to greene@ups.edu <mailto:greene@ups.edu> . -0- Lorna Sutton Community Relations Officer City of Tacoma 733 Market St. Rm. 11 Tacoma, WA 98402 Office: (253) 573-2352 Cell: (253) 973-2768