A look at noteworthy addresses in the...

A look at noteworthy addresses in the Southland. Bruce Murray, Caltech planetary scientist and former director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, spoke Wednesday on “Monitoring Earth’s Capacity to Support Life: Challenge of the Next Century” at Caltech. From his remarks:

On the Global Environment “We are reaching the point that during the coming century, the biosphere itself, it’s capacity to support life . . . will be saturated. We’ll reach a limit. For the first time in the history of our species, in the history of the world, humanity must come into balance with the biosphere. It’s just got to happen. If it doesn’t, if somehow we go beyond that point, then we’ll have to start re-engineering the planet (and) we’ll be left with an artificial planet and artificial people.”

On a Future Course of Action “We don’t need any scientific yuppies. What we need are people who care and are willing to dedicate themselves to trying to make a difference.

I remind you that if we cannot preserve the environment, if we cannot preserve the biosphere in a sustainable way, the inevitable outcome will be a totalitarian system of some kind that uses the most advanced techniques, bioengineering, all the rest, to re-engineer it and to re-engineer people to fit it. We are at a point in history where we have some chance of influencing that.

This means that we have to resist being divisive . . . (we must) build community . . . to try to find ways to glue people together. Finally, we should regard this time we live in as a remarkable opportunity to be part of the future through what we do, our deeds.”

Looking Ahead Sunday: Arthur Verge, El Camino College history professor and veteran lifeguard, will discuss the history of the Los Angeles Lifeguard Service at Loyola Marymount University, McIntosh Center, 2 p.m. Sponsored by the Los Angeles City Historical Society, (310) 338-4536.

Thursday: Gerda Lerner, professor emeritus of history at the University of Wisconsin, will speak on “Women’s Creativity Across the Centuries: From Hildegard of Bingen to Emily Dickinson,” at Occidental College, Alumni Auditorium, 7 p.m. (213) 259-2677.

Announcements concerning prominent speakers in Los Angeles should be sent to Speaking Up, c/o Times researcher Nona Yates, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, Calif., 90053