• Home
  • About Dan
  • Books by Daniel Botkin
    • Signed Books
  • Reflections & Opinions
    • Renegade Naturalist Radio
  • Research
  • Dan Botkin’s Newsletter
    • Manage Your Account
  • Speaking & Consulting

Daniel B. Botkin

Solving environmental problems by understanding how nature works

  • People & Nature
  • Climate, Energy & Biodiversity
  • Myths, Folklore & Science

Energy and Humanity: The Next One Thousand Years

June 20, 2012 By Daniel Botkin Leave a Comment

This video interview was just recently made available from an interview I did for the Foundation for the Future at their Humanity and the Biosphere Conference a few years back.

At the conference, scholars from five continents participated in the seminar “Humanity and the Biosphere: The Next Thousand Years,” jointly sponsored and conducted by the Foundation For the Future (Bellevue, Washington USA) and the Division of Ecological and Earth Sciences of UNESCO (Paris, France) at UNESCO, September 20–22, 2006, in Paris.

The interview segment is as relevant today as when I first sat down for it.

"The first key about the future of humanity, is that if you look at human behavior in the past in attempts to respond to problems, people tend to muddle through. They really don't get around to solving problems until they have a catastrophe. This is well illustrated by the history of bridges, which tend to fall down when it's well known they're in trouble, but nobody will do anything until they actually fall down. Then they get rebuilt. The first thing I'd say about the next thousand years is that when we come up to a problem, we'll muddle through.

Then next question is, can we maintain the next generation and democracy as we know it. And I believe the key in both cases is abundant energy."

 

Share Button

Filed Under: Climate, Energy & Biodiversity, Energy & Environment Tagged With: energy policy solar wind democracy

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

From Daniel B. Botkin, Ph.D

Daniel Botkin
I believe we are mostly on the wrong track in the way we try to deal with the environment. Everything I do, study, learn, and advise about the environment is different from the status quo. Throughout my career, I have tried to understand how nature works and use that understanding to figure out how we can solve our most pressing environmental problems.

My process over the past 45 years has been to look carefully at the facts, make simple calculations from them (sometimes simple computer models) and then tell people what I have learned. It’s surprising how rarely people bother to look at the facts. This has surprised me every time I’ve started a new ecology research project or work on an environmental issue.

In the course of my work and studies, I have learned many things and I want to tell you about them. That is the purpose of this website.

Follow @danielbotkin

Books by Dan Botkin

The Moon in the Nautilus Shell  Strange Encounters
Powering the Future  No Man's Garden
See all books by Dan Botkin

Jabowa III Forest Model


Jabowa Forest Model
Jabowa Forest Model for Windows 7.
This forest model, used around the world, was developed first in 1970 by Daniel B. Botkin, James F. Janak and James R. Wallis

JABOWA remains the most completely detailed and well validated forest growth model available, accounting for 95% or more of the variation in real forests where it has been tested.

The book Forest Dynamics: An Ecological Model (available as an eBook) provides a complete description of the model and the rationales behind its development.

Order Online

Sea Ice Study

The Bockstoce and Botkin Historical Sea Ice Data Study has a new home at the University of Alaska website. The data include more than 52,000 daily observations in an unbroken 65 year record from 1849 – 1914.

See related papers

Return to top of page

Copyright © 2006–2023 Daniel B. Botkin · Site by Webdancers · Log in