PAUL SMITHS -- Environmentalist and author Bill McKibben will address Paul Smith's College graduates on Sunday.

The college's 61st commencement exercises will honor the 278 members of the Class of 2008. Commencement will be held on the shores of Lower St. Regis Lake beginning at 11 a.m.

Paul Smith's will also present honorary degrees to McKibben and architect Ronald De Lair, who recently retired after a 40-year career at Wareham De Lair Architects. That Saranac Lake firm and its predecessors designed many of the Great Camps that have become synonymous with Adirondack style.

McKibben is one of the nation's leading voices on climate change. His first book, "The End of Nature," was published in 1989 and is considered the first book for a general audience about the issue. It has been translated into more than 20 languages.

In all, McKibben has written a dozen books and hundreds of articles in publications as diverse as the New Yorker, Mother Jones and The Atlantic, covering topics such as alternative energy and the risks associated with human genetic engineering in addition to global warming.

Last year, he spearheaded a pair of events dubbed Step It Up!, which brought together activists in all 50 states urging Congress to enact laws that would curtail pollution that produces global warming.

McKibben, who served on the Paul Smith's College Board of Trustees from 1996 to 2004, is now a scholar in residence at Middlebury College in Vermont.