A campus- and community-wide effort to encourage people to explore the consequences of global warming and climate change begins Wednesday, Jan. 24, when Chancellor and Mrs. Henry Yang will be presented with a special book UCSB librarians hope everyone will read and discuss.

“Field Notes From a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change,” Elizabeth Kolbert’s award-winning book on global warming, is the book the Yangs and other leaders will receive. As part of the UCSB Reads for Earth Day project, the Davidson Library will give away 3,000 copies of this book to UCSB students starting on Thursday,

Jan. 25. As the name of the project implies, the goal is to have readers finish the book no later than April 22, Earth Day.

Faculty and staff may purchase the Kolbert book at a 25 percent discount from the UCSB Bookstore, and Santa Barbara’s public libraries, which have donated funds to the project, will have extra copies available for loan throughout the county. Another co-sponsor, Patagonia, is purchasing 1,000 copies for its employees.

“Given the history of Santa Barbara as a center for environmental concern and stewardship, and that the environment is one of the integrating themes in UCSB’s Academic Plan, we have chosen this first book to reflect a timely and important aspect of this focus, “ said Gene Lucas, executive vice chancellor.

Davidson Library will also establish a recycling bin on the premises so that any volumes returned by readers will be available to others, according to Kim Thompson, the libraries’ development and outreach director. For updates and details, go to <http://UCSBReads.library.ucsb.edu>.

Kolbert, who has been a staff writer for the New Yorker since 1999, will deliver a campus address on April 19, sponsored by Arts and Lectures. Other speakers on climate change and global warming, including UCSB faculty members, will precede her.

The Bren School of Environmental Science and Management is co-presenting some of the events, including acclaimed NASA climate specialist James Hansen on Feb. 5; an “Emerging Energy Technologies Summit” on Feb. 9 and 10; and former Caltech provost and current chief scientist for British Petroleum Steve Koonin on March 8.

Also, UCSB faculty members with expertise in climate-related issues will guest lecture for Robert Wilkinson’s Environmental Studies 190 course this quarter. Meeting in the Bren school’s main lecture hall, room 1414, at 5 p.m. on Tuesdays, “there should be room for visitors,” said Wilkinson, director of the Bren school’s Water Policy Program and a lecturer in environmental studies.

His first guest expert is paleoclimatologist David Lea, professor of earth science, who will lecture on Tuesday, Jan. 23, about “Global Warming—Science and Society.” The following Tuesday, Catherine Gautier, professor of geography, will speak on “The Effect of Aerosols on Climate: A Wild Card?”