LEWISTON — The Lewiston Public Library is partnering with the Maine Humanities Council and libraries statewide to host a local community discussion on climate change. The free public event will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 20, in the library’s first floor Couture Room.

The program will feature a live video feed of Bill McKibben’s lecture from the Westbrook Performing Arts Center titled, “Local and Global: Notes from the Frontlines of the Climate Fight.” Following the lecture a MHC scholar will lead participants through a discussion on the topics raised in the McKibben talk.

Interested participants are encouraged to read McKibben’s latest book, “Eaarth: Making Life on a Tough New Planet,” prior to the talk. Copies of the book are available for borrowing from the LPL collection and through interlibrary loan from other libraries in the Minerva or Maine InfoNet systems.

McKibben is an environmental activist, author and journalist who has written extensively on the impact of global warming. He is the Schumann Distinguished Scholar at Middlebury College and is the president and co-founder of the international organization, 350.org. In 2009, Foreign Policy magazine named McKibben to its inaugural list of the 100 most important global thinkers.

For more details on the Local and Global lecture and LPL discussion program, contact the library’s Adult Services Desk at 513-3135 or [email protected].