About the talk Climate change has spawned its very own science-fiction sub-genre - cli-fi - which explores techno-fixes as much as doomsday scenarios. Some of the imagined solutions are seriously off the planet, but not all techno-fixes are purely fictional. Professor Barry Brook will square up to the mounting problems of climate change, pollution, energy security and dwindling supplies - and the need for a near-total transformation of the world’s energy systems. He says next-generation nuclear technologies offer the best chance of curing our hydrocarbon addiction. These and ‘techno-fixes’ such as geoengineering, genetically modified organisms and nanotechnology can avoid destructive overuse of natural and agricultural landscapes and reduce our footprint by sparing land and resources. About the speaker Barry Brook, an ecologist and modeller, is Professor of Environmental Sustainability at the University of Tasmania. He previously held the Sir Hubert Wilkins Chair of Climate Change at the University of Adelaide. An ISI Highly Cited author, he has published three books, over 250 refereed papers, and regularly writes popular articles for the media. His awards include the 2006 Australian Academy of Science Fenner Medal, the 2010 Community Science Educator of the Year and the 2013 Scopus Researcher of the Year. His work focuses on the causes and consequences of environmental change, analysis of energy systems for carbon mitigation, and models of the synergies of human interactions with the biosphere. In his spare time he enjoys astrophotography and bushcraft..

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