Book talk: 'Not the end of the world: how we can be the first generation to build a sustainable planet' with Hannah Ritchie & Charles Godfray

Past Event

Date
 26 February 2024, 12:30pm - 1:30pm

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

Event Recording:

We are bombarded by doomsday headlines that tell us the soil won't be able to support crops, fish will vanish from our oceans, that we should reconsider having children.

But in this talk, data scientist Hannah Ritchie, author of Not the End of the World: How We Can Be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable Planet will discuss with Professor Sir Charles Godfray, Director of the Oxford Martin School, that if we zoom out, a very different picture emerges.

They will discuss how the data shows we've made so much progress on these problems, and so fast, that we could be on track to achieve true sustainability for the first time in history and we can build a better future for everyone.

This is a joint event with the Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Food.

Hannah Ritchie

Dr Hannah Ritchie
Head of Research, Our World in Data

Dr Hannah Ritchie is a Senior Researcher and the Head of Research at Our World in Data. She focuses on the long-term development of food supply, agriculture, energy, and environment, and their compatibility with global development.

Hannah holds a BSc in Environmental Geoscience, an MSc in Carbon Management, and a PhD in GeoSciences from the University of Edinburgh.

Hannah’s research focuses on the assessment of global food systems and their capacity to address malnutrition and environmental sustainability simultaneously. She also publishes on the global energy system, climate change, biodiversity, and global health.

At the University of Edinburgh she was also a lecturer in Sustainability, Society and Environment, and worked on the development of teaching programmes directed towards interdisciplinary approaches to sustainability. She has worked on a number of sustainability consulting and industry-led projects.

Charles Godfray

Professor Sir Charles Godfray
Director, Oxford Martin School

Professor Charles Godfray was appointed Director of the Oxford Martin School on 1 February 2018.

He is a population biologist with broad interests in the environmental sciences and has published in fundamental and applied areas of ecology, evolution and epidemiology.

He is interested in how the global food system will need to change and adapt to the challenges facing humanity in the 21st century, and in particular in the concept of sustainable intensification, and the relationship between food production, ecosystem services and biodiversity.

In 2017 he was knighted for services to scientific research and for scientific advice to government.