[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/stephen_lewis_cropped1.jpg” caption=”Stephen Lewis will speak about Climate Change: The New Big Thing on Monday, March 5 at Convocation Hall. File photo.”]Stephen Lewis, McMaster University's Social Sciences scholar-in-residence, has in recent years been associated most with the HIV-AIDS pandemic in Africa.

Few know, however, that Lewis was also involved in environmental issues long before people got around to accepting the dire prognostications about climate change. Lewis chaired one of the first international conferences on the subject in Toronto in 1988.

On Monday, March 5, Lewis takes the stage at Convocation Hall to speak about Climate Change: The New Big Thing. His lecture will be taped for broadcast by TVOntario's Big Ideas series.

Lewis's talk begins at noon, and will be followed by a question-and-answer period.

Admission to the lecture is free and open to the public, but seating is limited and will be available on a strictly first come, first served basis.