The Max Rosenn Lecture Series in Law and Humanities is one of the most special events of the year.

This year was no exception.

The guest speaker, Richard E. Leakey, is a paleoanthropologist, conservationist and activist.

On this evening he would honor the memory of the venerable Judge Max Rosenn with a discussion of “Humanity: The Past and Future of Climate Change.”

The evening began with a wonderful reception and dinner at the Wilkes University Student Center. The evening began with a wonderful reception and dinner at the Wilkes University Student Center.

There, community leaders like Dr. Tim Gilmour, President of Wilkes University and Atty. Harold Rosenn greeted friends and acquaintances. Among the guests were Dr. Chris Breiseth, a person of great wisdom and charm and Dr. Mahmoud Fahmy and his wife, Iran as well as members of the law firm of Rosenn, Jenkins and Greenwald, including Atty. Joe Savitz, the man who was a driving force behind The Rosenn Lecture Series.

Shortly after we arrived we talked with Virginia Transue and her husband, Ed. Kitch and I met Virginia when we were producing our three part series, Judge Max Rosenn: A Man for All Seasons.

She went out of her way to help us in every way that she could. At the time she was Judge Rosenn’s administrative assistant.

We were seated at Table 12 with interesting and charming people including Iran and Mahmoud Fahmy, Ann and Allan Farias and Dr Wilbur Hayes. They wanted to be there to celebrate the moment and hear the message of Richard Leakey.

After two hours of dinner and pleasant conversation, Kitch and I made our way to the Dorothy Dickson Darte Center for the Performing Arts located on a plot of land where I played baseball during the hot summer months of the 1950’s.

As I climbed the stairs to the entrance of the theater, I thought to myself, I better put my thinking cap on. Having read a little about Richard Leakey’s life and accomplishments, I had a good idea of what we were about to experience.

We took our seats and anxiously awaited the main event.

A pleasant welcome from Dr. Gilmour was followed by a thoughtful and warm description of Max Rosenn by his son, Daniel. Then one of Judge Rosenn’s law clerks, Atty. Richard L. Gelfond, Chairman and Co-CEO, IMAX Corporation, put the audience in the mood for what was to follow with a comprehensive and humorous introduction of his friend, Richard Leakey.

We were cautioned by Atty. Gelfond, that Leakey would not have a canned speech. Violating every rule of Speech 101, Gelfond used these words to put our minds at ease: "It’s better not to prepare what you are going to say until you get there.”

True to these words, Leakey made his way to the podium without a printed speech, and he began by telling us this would be an evening of conversation with us about “the most important issue of our time.”

He immediately dismissed the traditional approach to climate change with these words: “This is not a new problem, no matter who caused it.”

Then he went about the business of carefully documenting the enormous consequences climate change has for the world.

The number of species that are becoming extinct is alarming. The melting of the ice caps is alarming. Sea level changes of up to nine feet have consequences for the coasts and many nations will disappear.

Bangladesh will disappear and its 65 million people will go in search of a new home.

Then, this man who looks more like a benevolent grandfather but, by reputation, is anything but showed his softer side when he emphasized the huge problems that will result for our children and our grandchildren.

Describing what happens to an ice cube placed on a table, he identified the cause, heat. Heat that will produce new patterns of weather.

He carefully described the last major climate change that took place 8,000 years ago. It affected 500,000 people.

The climate change that we will experience in 20 to 30 years will have serious consequences for 6 to 12 billion people.

Lake Tanaka in the Great Rift Valley in Kenya, the world’s largest permanent desert lake, has receded by 52 feet.

The ice caps on Kilimanjaro, the world’s highest free-standing-mountain, will be gone by 2020.

So what does Richard Leakey, a big man with big accomplishments, big dreams and an engaging smile, offer as a solution to the world’s most important problem?

He tells us we must change our habits. We must move forward to give humanity a chance.

We must eliminate poverty, and this will solve the overpopulation problem.

In Leakey’s words, the planet cannot accommodate 12 billion people.

We must conserve water: “It is more valuable than gasoline, and in too many places it is wasted.”

We can do this, according to Leakey, by eliminating our culture of waste.

Referring to national parks, Leakey emphasized the crisis that is looming because these places, established with very good intentions, have become islands because of the development that surrounds them. In Africa, the national parks are becoming waterless.

Without raising his voice he observed:

“We have the capacity to think and we choose not to.”

“We must look to the past to fix the present and guarantee the future.”

“We are one people who came from one place with one history. We must think globally.”

Then, without warning, this man with a reputation for
toughness, this man who is considered to possess one of the greatest minds on our planet, this man who, on this evening, had virtually everyone in the audience in the palm of his hand said the unexpected.

The climate crisis we face will only be resolved if we have compassion and empathy. Compassion, Leakey tells us, is the ultimate human virtue and it comes from an idea of good and religion.

For Leakey, compassion is fundamental to being human. It was developed five million years ago.

Today it has largely disappeared from urban societies, and it must be revived. “ With compassion, we can deal with this problem of climate change.”

What are some of the practical ways we can revive a civilization that is compassionate?

As early as age four, we must teach children how to behave better, how to be responsible, kind and courteous. We need a national policy to make society more polite and more caring.

In the end, if we do not do something about the most important problem we face, it will do something about us.

It was the only time during the presentation that the audience responded with a loud and energetic response.

For Kitch and me, we sat there in amazement. One of our major discoveries during our Heart Scene Journey was a need for compassionate and caring medical care.

On this evening with the spirit of the other genius in the room, Judge Max Rosenn, a big man, with big ideas, big discoveries, a big brain and an even bigger heart which he keeps well hidden according to those who have covered his accomplishments, told us in convincing fashion that climate change is the world’s most important problem.

Richard Leakey once described himself with these words:

“If you want something done by me suggest it can’t be done.”

On the 27th anniversary of the Max Rosenn Lecture Series in Law and Humanities, Richard E. Leakey took a page out of Coach Herb Brooks playbook telling us “the impossible is only a degree of difficulty.”

It doesn’t get any better than this.

Please send feedback to: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it