Third Annual William F. Brace Lecture with David Grinspoon

Date: 
Tuesday, March 21, 2017 - 16:00 to 17:00

The newly established "William F. Brace Lecture Series" honors the legacy of "legend in rock physics" and former Department Head Bill Brace, who passed away in 2012.

"Earth in Human Hands: A Cosmic View of Our Planet's Past, Present and Future"

What are we doing here on this planet? Can a deep-time and deep-space viewpoint help us gain the perspective to create a sustainable civilization? In this talk, David Grinspoon will illuminate the unusual nature of the Anthropocene, our current time of human-driven planetary changes, in order to reframe our environmental predicaments as part of a larger narrative of planetary evolution.

This saga has now reached the pivotal moment when humans have become a major agent of global change, and geological and human history are becoming irreversibly conjoined. Is this a likely or even inevitable challenge facing other complex life in the universe? Possible implications for SETI (the search for extraterrestrial intelligence) will be considered, as well as the choices our civilization faces in seeking to foster a wisely managed Earth.

Can't make it? Tune in to the live webcast: HERE

EVENT WEBSITE

Presented by

David Grinspoon, Senior Scientist at the Planetary Science Institute
Location: 34-101

Contact

Brandon Milardo

Contact email