WED. DEC.3: ECOLGY ECONOMICS

The Pending Resource Crisis:

Understanding Our Biophysical and Biological Constraints to Sustainability

When: December 3, 2008 1:30 pm

Where: 335 Borlaug Hall, U of M St. Paul Campus

Who: Nate Hagens, Gund Institute for Ecological Economics, University of Vermont , and editor of The Oil Drum

Given the scarcity of our natural resources, why is it such a challenge for human societies to make cultural choices that reflect these realities? How does the human experience as a biological being - brains, behavior, and beliefs - impact our shared decision-making on such critical topics?

Hagens posits that by acknowledging and understanding both our biophysical (resource depletion) and biological (cognitive barriers, habituation, and belief systems) constraints we will be better able to choose cultural opportunities for sustainability. He draws upon and synthesizes recent research in cognitive neuroscience, neuroeconomics, and evolutionary biology and their applications to sustainable behaviors in addressing energy and environmental limits. Ultimately Hagens looks for those solutions that aligned us with not only what we have, but who we are. Discussion will follow.

Prior to coming to the Gund Institute, Nate was President of Sanctuary Asset Management, Managing Director of Pension Research Institute, and Vice President at the investment firms Salomon Brothers and Lehman Brothers. Nate is an editor of The Oil Drum, an online global think tank devoted to energy and sustainability.

Sponsored by the University of Minnesota Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships

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Kathryn Draeger, Ph.D.
Statewide Director, Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Agronomy and Plant Genetics
University of Minnesota
411 Borlaug Hall
St. Paul, MN 55108
(612) 625-3148
Cell: (651) 470-7720
KDraeger@umn.edu
www.regionalpartnerships.umn.edu