Sunday Speaker – Stephen Porder: Elemental: How Five Elements Changed Earth’s Past and Will Shape Our Future

Sunday Speaker Topic:
Elemental: How Five Elements Changed Earth's Past and Will Shape Our Future

Description:
It is rare for life to change Earth, yet three organisms have profoundly transformed our planet over the long course of its history. In this talk, Stephen Porder explores how microbes, plants, and people used the fundamental building blocks of life to alter the climate, and with it, the trajectory of life on Earth in the past, present, and future. Taking the audience from the deep geologic past to our current era of human dominance, he will focus on five of life’s essential elements—hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus. He describes how single-celled cyanobacteria and plants harnessed them to wildly proliferate across the oceans and the land, only to eventually precipitate environmental catastrophes. He then brings us to the present and shows how these elements underpin the success of human civilization, and how their mismanagement threatens similarly catastrophic unintended consequences. But, Porder will argue, if we can learn from our world-changing predecessors, we can construct a more sustainable future.

Bio:
Stephen Porder is the Acacia Professor of Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology and Environment and Society at Brown University, where he also serves as the Associate Provost for Sustainability. Dr. Porder holds a BA in history from Amherst College, a MS in geology from the University of Montana, and a PhD in Ecology from Stanford University. He is the author of over 70 peer reviewed publications, and his writing has appeared in the New York Times, Time Magazine, and other national and international publications. He is the cofounder and science lead of "Possibly", a radioshow/podcast heard on National Public Radio stations across the country and available wherever you get your podcasts. His book: Elemental: How five elements changed Earth's past and will shape our future is available now from Princeton University Press.

An in-person or Zoom attendee will win a copy of Dr. Porder's book of the same title as this talk in a random drawing!