Foundation For the Future | Humanity 3000 "Future of Planet Earth" Statement


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Website Search Streaming Video Video Playlists Includes Feature Films, Kistler Prize Acceptance Speeches, Interviews, Lectures, and Scholar Visions of the Long-term Future Recent Publications “Global Transitions and Asia 2060” Executive Summary [2.7 MB PDF] “Water – The Crisis Ahead” Executive Summary [2.1 MB PDF] Winter 2010 Newsletter [1.1 MB PDF] All Foundation publications are available for download from our Publications page. RECENT Events “Global Population and the Planetary Future – 2011” • Humanity 3000 Workshop • October 2011 Walter P. Kistler Book Award • Dr. Laurence C. Smith • October 2011 12th Annual Kistler Prize • Dr. Charles A. Murray • September 2011 Norman Myers Lecture • Walter P. Kistler Lecture Series • May 2011 “Global Transitions and Asia 2060” Workshop • Taipei, Taiwan • November 2010 Peter Ward Lecture • Walter P. Kistler Lecture Series • October 2010 “Managing the Future” • Talk by Sesh Velamoor • July 2010	Programs Humanity 3000 HOME \| SEMINARS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 \| SYMPOSIA 1 2 \| WORKSHOPS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Seminar 9 “Future of Planet Earth” Participant Statement Paris, France \| June 3–5, 2008 < Previous \| Main \| Next > Eric J. Chaisson What are the three most critical challenges facing Planet Earth going forward? The three most critical challenges now facing planet Earth are energy, energy, and energy – understanding past energy-driven changes that have literally created us, recognizing the importance of energy use in our global society today, and demonstrating sensitivity to our descendents’ future energy needs on and beyond Earth: 1. Energy – specifically, the flow of energy per unit mass – is the single most unifying process that gave rise to increasing complexity over the course of billions of years, thus helping to produce galaxies, stars, planets, and life forms. 2. Energy – especially the rate of energy density usage, or per capita power consumption – is what maintains, indeed drives, our civilization today more than any other dynamic factor. 3. Energy – again, the use of it per unit time and per unit mass – is a key technical and sociological issue around which to plan a better Earth for future generations, not merely within the next hundred years but also within the next thousand years. Copyright © 1996–2011 Foundation For the Future. All rights reserved.