Guest Lecturer Eric Galbraith - Towards an Earth System Economics

At the heart of Anthropocene science lies the challenge of reconciling economic and Earth system processes. This is made difficult by the fact that most economic studies depart from non-physical starting points, and are not designed to study the complete human system at the planetary scale. Both of these features make it difficult to couple economic models with Earth system approaches. Here I will discuss a quantitative approach for the global human system that is materially-based and conceived at the global scale, and therefore consistent with the foundations of Earth system science. The first part of the approach focuses on population level time allocation as a conserved variable: everyone has 24 hours per day, and uses all of it. The second part focuses on the mass of the technosphere, and its spatially-resolved changes over time. Together, these provide a lucid picture of the material processes at the heart of the Anthropocene. Insights from recent data syntheses, and speculative interpretations of growth dynamics will be provided.

About the Speaker

Eric has a background in various aspects of Earth system science, which he draws on to develop novel ways to quantify the human component of the Earth system. He previously studied and worked at the University of British Columbia, Princeton University and McGill University, and is now based in Barcelona as an ICREA research professor.