Susan Kieffer will explore “The Dynamics of Disaster” in a lecture at the Key City Playhouse in Port Townsend on Sunday. Paul Knauth

Susan Kieffer will explore “The Dynamics of Disaster” in a lecture at the Key City Playhouse in Port Townsend on Sunday. Paul Knauth

WEEKEND: Key to disaster dynamics topic of Sunday’s Clemente talk in Port Townsend

PORT TOWNSEND — Tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes: They’re neither outliers nor oddities; they’re part of living on a dynamic planet, geologist Susan W. Kieffer asserts.

In the last program in the Clemente Eclectic Lecture Series this Sunday, Kieffer will show how disasters are interconnected by a few natural laws and how even small, individual actions can minimize their impact on our lives.

Kieffer’s program, “The Dynamics of Disaster,” will start at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Key City Playhouse, 419 Washington St., with tickets at $15 via 360-385-KCPT (5278) or at the playhouse.

Students and Jefferson Clemente Course graduates will be admitted free if any seats are left Sunday afternoon.

The Clemente Eclectic Lecture Series is a fundraiser for the Jefferson Clemente Course, which provides college-level humanities classes to low-income people in Jefferson County.

Kieffer, professor emerita of geology at the University of Illinois, is a recipient of the MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant and a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

She lives on Whidbey Island and hosts a blog, www.geologyinmotion.com.

Her book, also titled The Dynamics of Disaster, points the way toward successful living in hurricane and tornado zones and other hazardous places, noted Jefferson Clemente Course academic director Lela Hilton.

To find out more, phone Hilton at 360-732-0007 or visit www.jeffersonclemente.org.

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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5062, or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.

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