A feminist scholar's speech tonight on women and ecology will focus on a group of American Indian women in upper New York state who have recently developed contaminated breast milk due to pollutants in the environment.

At 8 tonight in the HUB Gallery, feminist scholar Lin Nelson will talk about her research of this group and the effects of the work environment on women.

Nelson is the fourth speaker in the Six Feminist Scholars Lecture Series. Nelson works as an advocate for workers whose health is threatened by the environment, said Phyllis Mansfield, professor of health education and women's studies.

According to a speech synopsis, Nelson said women are in a better position to recognize the destructive practices of the industrial environment because they are "less hampered by the macho survivalism that tends to control male co-workers."