*Note: This talk will be presented remotely via Zoom and on the Energy Institute's YouTube channel. See access details after the bio.
This week the UT Energy Symposium welcomes Joseph A. Tainter, Professor of Sustainability in the Department of Environment and Society at Utah State University, to deliver a talk titled, "Energy Gain and Complexity."
Abstract: What links fungus-farming ants, the Maya, the Roman Empire, and oil production? And what does it mean for us? The answer is energy gain, and the connections will be explained in this talk.
Bio: Joseph A. Tainter is Professor of Sustainability in the Department of Environment and Society, Utah State University, having previously served as Department Head. Dr. Tainter worked on issues of sustainability before the term became common, including his acclaimed book The Collapse of Complex Societies (Cambridge University Press, 1988). He is co-editor of The Way the Wind Blows: Climate, History, and Human Action (Columbia University Press, 2000), a work exploring past human responses to climate change. With T. F. H. Allen and T. W. Hoekstra he wrote Supply-Side Sustainability (Columbia University Press, 2003), the first comprehensive approach to sustainability to integrate ecological and social science. His most recent book is Drilling Down: The Gulf Oil Debacle and Our Energy Dilemma, with Tadeusz Patzek (Copernicus Books, 2012). Dr. Tainter’s research has been used in more than 40 countries, and in many scientific and applied fields. Among other institutions, his work has been consulted in the United Nations Environment Programme, UNESCO, the World Bank, the Rand Corporation, the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, the Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics, the Earth Policy Institute, Technology Transfer Institute/Vanguard, and the Highlands Forum. His research has been applied in numerous fields, including economic development, energy, environmental conservation, health care, information technology, urban studies, and the challenges of security in response to terrorism. Joseph Tainter appears in the film The 11th Hour, produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, and in other documentaries. Dr. Tainter’s current research focuses on complexity, sustainability, energy, and innovation.
Note: This talk will be presented remotely via Zoom and on the Energy Institute's YouTube channel. If using Zoom, viewers must register for an account with Zoom and log in to Zoom using that registration in order to use the meeting link and participate. Faculty, students and staff of UT, please use your personal UT Zoom account. Please click the Zoom link below to join the webinar:
https://utexas.zoom.us/j/180945472
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