Am Wochenende fliege ich nach New York City, um an einer internationalen Klima-Konferenz teilzunehmen (und nebenbei meinen best man Hannes Stein wiederzusehen!).

Mein Vortrag beschäftigt sich nicht mit der Frage nach den physikalischen Ursachen des Klimawandels, sondern mit dem Thema sozialer und technologischer Evolution und der Zukunft des sogenannten Geoengineerings: wie kann eine hyper-technologische Zivilisation künftige Klimakatastrophen verhindern, vermindern oder ohne große Krisen überstehen - sollten wir irgendwann einmal damit konfrontiert sein. (Der gerade wiedergewählte tschechische Präsident Vaclav Klaus ist übrigens auch mit von der Partie). Hier also der abstract meines Vortrages:

Societal evolution and the rise of a climate-proof, planetary civilisation
Benny Peiser, Faculty of Science, Liverpool John Moores University, UK

During the last 10,000 years, human societies have repeatedly experienced periods of climatic cooling and warming. Throughout the Holocene, episodes of climatic change have challenged and punctuated agricultural socities. In response, pre-modern cultures were forced to adapt to environmental stresses by means of societal modification and technological innovation. In fact, the general trend of cultural evolution during the Holocene has been one of relentless technological progress. Economic and technological advances are currently experiencing an unprecedented period of acceleration. This process is likely to provide our civilisation with powerful new technologies, enabling more and more societies to endure even severe environmental changes - changes that ancient and simpler societies may have found overwhelming. While agricultural and rigid societies are extremely vulnerable to significant climate change, industrial and hyper-technological civilizations are progressively sheltered from natural catastrophes. In this presentation, I will describe how economic growth, political liberalisation and technological innovation have provided modern societies with increasingly effective protection from environmental stress and hardship. In addition, I will outline the economic and political framework that will be necessary to develop a hyper-technological, planetary civilisation capable of preventing or withstanding even extreme climate disruptions.