'Anthropocene opportunities: unleashing humanity's shared aspirations' with Prof Erle Ellis

Past Event

Date
 12 October 2023, 5:00pm - 6:15pm

Location
 Oxford Martin School & Online
34 Broad Street (corner of Holywell and Catte Streets), Oxford, OX1 3BD

Event Recording:

Anthropogenic planetary disruptions, from climate change to biodiversity loss, are unprecedented challenges.

For better and for worse, these disruptions are the product of unprecedented capabilities to shape the environments that sustain human societies. Can Earth’s newest and most disruptive force of nature be redirected to achieve a better future for all of life in the Anthropocene?

To succeed, evidence-based cultural narratives that appeal to shared human aspirations for a better future will be more effective than dystopic narratives of environmental crisis and overstepping natural boundaries.

Ellis Erle

Professor Erle Ellis
Oxford Martin Visiting Fellow, Oxford Martin Programme on Biodiversity & Society

Erle Ellis is Professor of Geography and Environmental Systems at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) and Oxford Martin Visiting Fellow on the Oxford Martin Programme on Biodiversity & Society.

A global Highly Cited Researcher, his work investigates the ecology of human landscapes to inform sustainable stewardship of the biosphere. He teaches environmental science and landscape ecology at UMBC and has taught landscape ecology at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design.

He is a Lead Author of the IPBES Transformative Change Assessment, a founding member of the Anthropocene Working Group of the ICS, Fellow of the Global Land Programme and Senior Fellow of the Breakthrough Institute. His book, Anthropocene: A Very Short Introduction, was published in 2018.