Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture

Times blogger to discuss global population at Pesek Colloquium

Back to News Release Archive

October 5, 2011

AMES, Iowa -- Andrew Revkin, author and award-winning blogger on environmental issues, will speak at Iowa State University on Monday, October 24 for the 2011 John Pesek Colloquium on Sustainable Agriculture.

Revkin’s talk, entitled “9 Billion People + 1 Planet = ?”, will focus on the predicted peak of the human population at nine billion in 2050—adding approximately two Chinas to current numbers—and how humanity might respond. “Will we overheat or innovate, conserve or despoil, crash or round the curve with a few scrapes?” Revkin asks. The lecture will take place at 8 p.m. in the Great Hall of the Memorial Union. It is free and open to the public.

Revkin is a senior fellow and lecturer at Pace University’s Academy for Applied Environmental Sciences, a former science reporter at the New York Times, and the author of several books on climate change and the Amazon rain forest. He writes the Dot Earth blog, which Revkin describes as “an interactive exploration of trends and ideas with readers and experts.” The blog examines efforts to balance human affairs with the planet’s limits, and it received a National Academies Communication Award in September. 

In a March 2008 blog, Revkin described differing perceptions on how the human population will grow and what will happen to the Earth’s resources as a result. “Some say we’ve already shot over the edge of the cliff and, like Wile E. Coyote in the old cartoons, simply haven’t noticed,” Revkin wrote, adding that so much variability exists in population trends that we can’t know for certain what the future holds. Revkin will explore this uncertainty in his lecture, and offer paths toward progress. 

The Pesek Colloquium is sponsored by the Henry A. Wallace Chair for Sustainable Agriculture. The annual lecture honors John Pesek, Iowa State University emeritus professor of agronomy. Pesek is distinguished for his work on soil fertility, crop production and sustainable management practices. 

The event is co-sponsored by the Bioeconomy Institute, the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Practical Farmers of Iowa, the ISU Graduate Program in Sustainable Agriculture, ISU College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, ISU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the departments of Agronomy, also Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology and Natural Resource Ecology and Management; the ISU Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication and the Committee on Lectures (funded by GSB).

For more info contact:

Matt Liebman, Wallace Chair for Sustainable Agriculture and professor of agronomy, (515) 294-7486, mliebman@iastate.edu

Marcia Minear, program assistant, (515) 451-7231, mminear@iastate.edu

Laura Miller, Leopold Center communications, (515) 294-5272, lwmiller@iastate.edu

Back to News Release Archive