Talk is cheap. But it can also be fascinating, as this roundup of coming lectures proves.

There's nothing like a good lecture. TED knows it, your local university knows it. A speaker (or speakers), backed by the weight of their knowledge and obsessions, facing an audience eager and willing to be taken into their world, if only for an hour.

Lectures are intellectual affairs where big, complex ideas are reduced into a (potentially) brief, free-wheeling, enthusiastic and accessible narrative. Maybe accompanied by the visual interplay and added dimension of slides and film clips, followed by the give-and-take of a question-and-answer, or the parry-and-thrust of a debate. Afterwards, maybe a little post-lecture one-on-one talk with the lecturer or other audience members to explore more esoteric lines of questions. What's not to like?

Regardless of your answer, the next few days offers a lot of it. Here is a rundown of an especially bountiful run of lectures. Starting tonight.

"CSU Summer Arts—Igniting Artful Minds" by Rob Klevan at the Press Club

7pm Tuesday, March 24

$10/general admission; free or half price/member

The Monterey County Weekly's own newish venue (1123 Fremont Blvd., Seaside) has taken over hosting duties of Arts Habitat's long-running Arts in Progress lecture and presentation series. Rob Klevan comes with stacks of credentials in the music and music education world. For 27 years he was Music Director and Director of Fine Arts at the Stevenson School in Pebble Beach. He's been to Carnegie Hall. He now works with the Monterey Jazz Festival, York School, Pacific Grove High School Jazz Club Big Band and, the subject of this talk, CSU Monterey Bay's Summer Arts program. Where he finds the time to come do this talk is beyond me. But not him.

"Ethical Governance in the 21st Century" by various speakers at Middlebury Institute of International Studies

12-6pm Thursday, March 26; 9am-6pm Friday, March 27

Free

MIIS has hosted TEDxMonterey for a few years. Not this year. Instead, here is a student-organized two-day conference in which various speakers talk about the above subject in terms of the human costs of policy. It's totally free (you must register first) and they even include free meals so that none who want to attend are excluded due to cost. That's putting your money where your ethics are. Sessions include "Ethics of Climate Geo-Engineering" and "Responsibility to Lead: The Ethics of Governing" with local mayors and former police chief Scott Miller, and a keynote address by Fmr. Ambassador Lewis Lukens. Most of it happens in Irvine Auditorium (499 Pierce St., Monterey, 917-3352).

"Enter, Stay or Go Away?" by Debra Saunders and Pratheepan Gulasekaram at CSUMB

3-5pm Thursday, March 26

Free

The issue is immigration. Specifically, the ethics of immigration law and reform. Two people, steeped in the subject, tag team on the tricky issues. Debra Saunders has written for the San Francisco Chronicle for more than 20 years. Her work has also appeared in the Wall Street Journal and National Review. Pratheepan Gulasekaram has taught constitutional and immigration law at Stanford Law School and Loyola University Law School, and currently teaches at Santa Clara University Law School. They'll field questions by a panel of three local experts at CSUMB's University Center (6th Avenue and B Street, Seaside, www.csumb.edu). Both are savvy with the media. So that means they know how to craft their message. That means pay attention.

"The Science that Ended Japanese Whaling" by Marc Mangel at Hopkins Marine Station

7:30pm Thursday, March 26

Free

Marc Mangel is UC Santa Cruz's distinguished research professor of mathematical biology. One of his areas of expertise is the study of transgenerationmal thermal plasticity. But that's not what he'll expound on here (120 Ocean View Blvd., Pacific Grove, www.scsmb.org) at this Monterey Bay Chapter of the American Cetacean Society meeting. Instead, he'll talk about when he was called upon by the government of Australia to testify as a scientific expert in their International Court of Justice case against the government of Japan to halt the latter's whaling practices in the Antarctic, which had long skirted international conventions under cover of science. It worked. Ask him how.

"Why Immigration Reform is So Difficult to Achieve" by Leo Chavez at CSUMB

3:30pm Friday, March 27

Free

It happens the day after a similarly themed discussion at CSUMB. And that's ok. It's a big topic with many facets. The one that Chavez will cover comes from his extensive study as a professor of anthropology at UC Irvine, as well as his books on the subject including Shadowed Lives: Undocumented Immigrants in American Society and The Latino Threat: Constructing Immigrants, Citizens, and the Nation. He's also conducted studies of immigrant families' motives, migration, work participation, social integration and access to medical services. This is part of the President's Speaker Series, which this year revolves around the idea of "Future Monterey Bay." Exciting. 

"Bees vs. Pesticides" by Dale Hillard at Peace Resource Center

7pm Friday, March 27

Free

There's been much discussion and concern about the health and welfare of bees, colony collapse and chemical agents because they're so integral to the growth and reproduction of plants, flowers and crops. Dale Hillard has operated Hillard Hives and Wasp Removal since 1981, which specializes in non-pesticide removal and relocation, pollination, honey and apitherapy. He's also a past president of Landwatch Monterey County and is chair of the Coalition for a Tobacco-free Monterey County. Speak on it, Dale.

"Youth Arts Collective: A Successful 15-Year Experiment" by Meg Biddle and Marcia Perry at Monterey Museum of Art-Pacific

2-3pm Saturday, March 28

$10/general admission; free/member

I have to admit, I get the two Youth Arts Collective co-founders and co-directors mixed up, they seem so equal in their presence in this after-school program. There's no confusing the far-reaching influence they've had in bringing art into the lives of generations of young people, as well as launching those youth into the world of creativity with training in the tools they need to create. The two women moderate a discussion among YAC alumni Elisabeth Donley, Logan Parsons, and Chloe Wilson; YAC mentor Germain Hatcher; and YACsters Brian Igelsias and Angela Bomarito. All of them have work up at the museum (559 Pacific St., Monterey, 372-5477) in a group show called Evidence/Longevity/Celebration: Youth Arts Collective Alumni and Mentors. So there are excellent visual aids.