University encourages community to become ecologically intelligent

BLACKSBURG, Va., Sept. 22, 2009 – Virginia Tech, in partnership with Sustainable Blacksburg and the Town of Blacksburg, is issuing a friendly call to action for all Blacksburg residents.

This year, Virginia Tech selected Daniel Goleman’s Ecological Intelligence as the Common Book for all entering first year students to read. As Sustainability Week, which is scheduled for Oct. 11-17, approaches, Virginia Tech is encouraging the rest of the community to read Ecological Intelligence.

To kick off Sustainability Week, Goleman will be in Blacksburg to deliver a keynote address on Sunday evening, Oct. 11. “This is a wonderful opportunity for us to gather as a community and make this a common reading experience for everyone,” said Blacksburg Vice Mayor and Sustainable Blacksburg Board Member Leslie Hager Smith.

Goleman’s book, the companion to Emotional Intelligence and Primal Leadership, explores the hidden environmental consequences of what we make and buy. It further demonstrates how new market forces drive the essential changes we must make to save the planet. The book draws on cutting-edge research to reveal why "green is a mirage.” It illuminates inconsistencies in our response to the ecological crisis, and introduces new technologies that reveal with "radical transparency" the eco-impact of products we buy.

Copies of Ecological Intelligence are available through all branches of the Montgomery-Floyd Regional Library; the Tech Bookstore on Main St.; Easy Chair and Volume Two bookstores at the University Mall in Blacksburg; and online.