Energy expert J. Robinson West will present a talk "The Energy Crisis -- How Did We Get Here and Where Do We Go?" today at 4 p.m. in 116 Murphey Hall.

West is founding president of PFC Energy, a global energy consulting firm, and chair of the board of the U.S. Institute of Peace. He is also a former assistant secretary of the interior and a UNC alumnus.

His talk is sponsored by the Institute for the Environment, the department of public policy in the UNC College of Arts and Sciences, the Public Policy Majors Union and The Roosevelt Institution.

Thursday, geophysicist Henry Pollack will give a public lecture as part of the third annual Carolina Climate Change Seminar at 7:30 p.m. in Carroll Hall.

Titled "Scientific Uncertainty and Climate Policy: Moving on Without all the Answers," the event is sponsored by the college's department of geological sciences to raise public awareness about the comprehensive consequences of global warming.

Pollack is a professor emeritus of geophysics at the University of Michigan and is science advisor to former Vice President Al Gore's Climate Project. Pollack was also a member of the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change which shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Gore.

The Institute for the Environment and the department of marine sciences are co-sponsoring the event, which is part of International Education Week at UNC.

Both talks are free and open to the public.