“Disruptive Forces: How Science and Business are Driving Environmental Progress” will be the topic of a presentation at the Center for the Environment facility on the Catawba College campus.

Ken Cook, founder and president of the Washington, D.C.-based organization Environmental Working Group, will speak at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in Room 300.

“New insights from molecular biology are redefining cancer prevention and reshaping our approach to health care,” he says. “And new business models are greening the products we buy and the energy we use.

“We’re also living in a time when a new, green economy, barely visible five years ago, is exploding in sector after sector,” Cook says. “This talk will explore these inspiring new developments and outline their implications for environmentalism in the years ahead.”

Cook was voted the “Ultimate Green Game Changer” in 2009 by the readers of The Huffington Post. He has been interviewed on “60 Minutes,” the CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, the Today Show, MSNBC, CNBC, FOX Business News, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times and The San Francisco Chronicle.

He testifies regularly before House and Senate committees, has briefed top Congressional staff and has met with senior officials in the Obama administration. Cook earned bachelor’s degrees in history and agriculture and a master’s degree in soil science from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

The presentation is free and open to the public, but registration is required.