January 27, 2023
Tom Wessels, Terrestrial Ecologist and Professor Emeritus at Antioch University, will give a talk titled “The Myth of Progress” at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 1 at the MCLA Feigenbaum Center for Science and Innovation, Room 121. The presenter will attend via zoom.
As part of MCLA’s Green Living Seminar series, this event is free and open to the public.
The presentation will be a conversation about Wessels’ book, “The Myth of Progress,” which is a scientific critique of the failings of our current economic system. The book covers three scientific ideas to show how society is progressing in the wrong direction, the second law of thermodynamics and its relationship with entropy, the law of limits to growth, and the principle of self-organization.
About Tom Wessels:
Tom Wessels is a terrestrial ecologist and professor emeritus at Antioch University
where he founded the master’s degree program in Conservation Biology. He has conducted
workshops on ecology and sustainability throughout the country for over three decades.
He is the author of numerous books, including “Reading the Forested Landscape,” “The
Myth of Progress,” “Forest Forensics,” and his latest publication, “New England’s
Roadside Ecology: Explore 30 of the Region’s Unique Natural Areas.”
MCLA’s annual Green Living Seminar Series continues through April 19, presenting a series of lectures on the theme of “Capitalism and the Environment.” Every semester, the Green Living Seminar Series centers around a different topic, timely and relevant to current sustainability issues. Seminars take place on Wednesdays at 5:30 p.m.
The 2023 series is a presentation of the MCLA Environmental Studies Department. Podcasts will be posted online following each presentation: http://www.mcla.edu/greenliving
About MCLA
At MCLA, we’re here for all — and focused on each — of our students. Classes are taught
by educators who care deeply about teaching, and about seeing their students thrive
on every level of their lives. In nearly every way possible, the experience at MCLA
is designed to elevate our students as individuals, leaders, and communicators, fully
empowered to make their impressions on the world. In addition to our 128-year commitment
to public education, we have fortified our commitment to equitable academic excellence.
For 10 of the last 12 years, MCLA has been named a Top Ten College by U.S. News and
World Report. MCLA also appears on the organization’s list of top National Public
Liberal Arts Colleges. Since the list was created, MCLA has risen to #33 as a Top
Performer on Social Mobility and ranks first among all Massachusetts liberal arts
schools, which measures how well schools graduate students who receive Federal Pell
Grants. Learn more at www.mcla.edu
