Can Information Technology Help Save the Planet?

WATERLOO - The Waterloo Institute for Complexity and Innovation (WICI) will host a talk on the relationship between technology and resilience at a public event next week.

Dr. Victor Galaz, of the Stockholm Resilience Centre, will give a talk on whether information technology can really save planet Earth. The possible implications of abrupt climate change, "planetary boundaries" and the failure of international institutions to deal with multiple interacting global crises have gained considerable scientific and political attention over the past years.

Few sustainability scientists, however, have elaborated another important global trend: the explosive evolution of, and cascading innovations in, information and communication technologies (ICT). What is the role of ICT in dealing with the repercussions of rapid global environmental change? And how can ICT build resilience in global environmental governance?

DATE: Tuesday, March 9, 2010

TIME: 2 to 4 p.m.

LOCATION: Tatham Centre, room TC2218, University of Waterloo

FREE: RSVP by contacting Catherine Mombourquette at 519.888.4567, ext. 84490 or cmombour@uwaterloo.ca

Victor Galaz holds a Ph.D. in political science, and is currently working as a researcher and theme leader at the Stockholm Resilience Centre (Stockholm University). His current research interests are in resilience theory, governance theory, information technological innovations, epidemics governance, and applications of complexity theory on social systems. Among his publications in English are articles in the journals Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, Environmental Politics, Science, Ambio, Ecology and Society, Environment, and Governance. His work has been featured in international media such as Wired.com, The Guardian and New Scientist.

For further details on the WICI talk, entitled Information Technology and Resilience in the Anthropocene - Can Information Technology Really Help Save the Planet?, go to http://sig.uwaterloo.ca/feature/wici-talk-can-information-technology-really-help-save-the-planet.

About the Waterloo Institute for Complexity and Innovation

The Waterloo Institute for Complexity and Innovation is being created to facilitate transdisciplinary, collaborative research focused on promoting innovation and resilience within the complex adaptive systems at the core of human well being in the 21st century. In the coming decades, rapid systemic change on multiple levels will contribute to global problems, potentially inducing pandemics, violent meteorological events, and social and political unrest. The weakening of national public institutions, widening gaps between rich and poor, increasing scarcity of high-quality energy, and worsening damage to the global environment coupled with increased global connectivity will erode systemic resilience and boost the incidence of surprising and even catastrophic change. For more information, visit http://sig.uwaterloo.ca/waterloo-institute-for-complexity-innovation-wici.