Climate change to be discussed at Port Townsend Marine Science Center annual meeting

PORT TOWNSEND — Retiring executive director Anne Murphy will present her final State of the Port Townsend Marine Science Center during the center’s annual meeting, which will also feature a talk on climate change.

The meeting will be from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday at the Port Townsend Yacht Club at 2503 Washington St.

Admission will be free for marine science center members. A donation of $7 is suggested for non-members.

Murphy, 61, announced her pending retirement this month. She will stay on until a replacement is found, which may not be until fall.

She will present a review of 2012 activities and preview events to come in 2013, seasoning her 15-minute talk with history and anecdotes from her 24 years at the helm.

She will then turn the floor over to guest speaker Laura Tucker, who will present “Climate Change: Facts, Fiction . . . Our Future.”

Tucker has been a volunteer with the center for the past 17 years.

“We’re honored to have Laura Tucker speak about the Earth’s climate and how it has changed throughout history,” Murphy said.

Murphy said that Tucker has worked for 35 years in science education, both nationally and internationally, with the last 20 at University of California Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science.

She was recently certified as a leader for Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project.

Tucker will present a slide show on three components of climate change.

She will provide the science that shows humans are contributing to a warming planet and refute arguments raised by those who deny that global warming is happening and supply the science and reasoning to explain the misconceptions.

She also will give examples of changes being made locally, nationally and worldwide to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, mitigate current CO2 in the atmosphere and develop green energy.

The Natural History Exhibit at the Port Townsend Marine Science Center, located on the beach at Fort Worden State Park, is open from noon to 4 p.m. Friday through Sunday.

Admission is $3 for adults, $2 for children and free for marine science center members.

The Marine Exhibit is closed for the season but open by appointment.

For more information, phone 360-385-5582, e-mail info@ptmsc.org or visit www.ptmsc.org.