This lecture is free, but requires paid general admission to the Academy. All attendees must purchase a general admission ticket or be a current Academy member.
General Lectures
Is Earth Approaching a Tipping Point?
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Clair Matzger Lilienthal Distinguished Lecture
Dr. Elizabeth Hadly, Paul S. & Billie Achilles Chair of Environmental Biology at Stanford University
Reception at 4:30 pm in the Forum Gallery
Zika virus. The migrant crisis. Climate change. ISIS. Food scarcity. Drinking water contamination. What we read in the news almost every day seems like a string of unrelated crises, but they’re not. In fact, they are intimately intertwined. We're on the brink of a societally dangerous tipping point and at this rate, we’ll hit it in just a decade or two—if we don’t start doing things differently. How do we know that planetary tipping points happen? Why are we close to one? What can we do individually to help the world tip in a direction that is good for people and the planet, rather than one that will forever harm both?
This lecture is based on a new book, Tipping Point for Planet Earth—How Close Are We to the Edge?, by Dr. Elizabeth Hadly and her husband, Professor Anthony Barnosky of University of California, Berkeley. It will be released on April 26 by Thomas Dunne / St. Martin’s Press.