Event Information
First there was eco-tourism. Now there is nuclear tourism. The two have more in common than you might think. When the first atomic bomb exploded at Trinity Site in July 1945, Robert Oppenheimer invoked his famous phrase, “destroyer of worlds,” the destiny of the environmental movement, “saving the planet,” also sprang into being. The power to destroy and the power to save the earth, once allotted to the Gods, fell into human hands for the first time in history.
This presentation offers a meditation on the new status of humanity and a virtual tour that mixes still photography with a talk based on the book in progress, Nuclear New Mexico: The Tour by Dr. Killingsworth and Jacqueline Palmer with photography by James Frost. Dr. Killingsworth is professor emeritus at Texas A&M and the author or co-author of 11 books and over 50 scholarly articles and chapters, including Ecospeak: Rhetoric and Environmental Politics in America (with Jacqueline Palmer, 1992) which won the NCTE award for Best Book of the Year in Scientific and Technical Communication.
The Chautauqua performances are free and funded by donors to the San Juan College Foundation, and presented by the San Juan College Encore Program, KSJE 90.9 FM, and the New Mexico Humanities Council.
