TLL Fall 2021 Webinar Series
WTF?? What’s the Future is a TLL series that examines and explores what our world may look like in as little as ten years.
The Good, Bad, and Ugly: 3 Possible Futures and Why
What a day in our lives will look like a decade from now
by Jesse Hirsh, Futurist
Sept 23, 2021 2:00 to 3:30 PM
Given the onset of climate change, the rapid rate of technological change, and global crises like the current pandemic, it’s possible to imagine that our world and our daily lives will be radically different within 10 years.
But our future is not etched in stone. There is much we can do and much we ought to do to shape our world in the near future.
The first speaker in our WTF??: What’s the Future series will present three different scenarios of how life will look in the next decade, and, more importantly what we can do to have the future we desire.
Jesse Hirsh is a futurist speaker and internet strategist. An experienced innovator and collaborator, his passion is educating people on the potential benefits and perils of technology.
Mr. Hirsh attended the McLuhan Program at the University of Toronto and recently completed a Masters Degree at Ryerson University focusing on algorithms and predictive analytics. He owns and operates Metaviews Media Management Ltd., focusing on research and consulting around new media business models, big data, and the strategic use of social media.
He is also a co-founder of the Academy of the Impossible, a peer-to-peer lifelong learning facility.
From Growth at all Costs to a Thriving and Just Society
Sam Bliss
Sept 30, 2021 2:00-3:30 PM
Sam Bliss submits that economic growth grinds nature into human stuff and waste, enriching the already rich. It doesn’t make us happier. Yet our society depends on growth, and even celebrates it. Degrowth challenges this.
Degrowth is a concept and a movement that explores how we might live well together within limits, by ensuring everyone’s needs are met regardless of what happens with the economy.
Mr. Bliss will challenge our society’s embrace of growth and offer alternatives ways to see our world.
Sam Bliss is a Ph.D. candidate studying ecological economics at the University of Vermont, focusing on food self-provisioning and food sharing. He is president of DegrowUS and the U.S. correspondent for the scholar-activist network Research & Degrowth.
Sam gardens, fishes, forages, and co-organizes the mutual aid collective Food Not Bombs Burlington.
The Future of Cryptocurrencies: From Capital Flows to Global Power
Mauro Guillén, Ph.D.
Oct 7, 2021 2:00 - 3:30 PM
The balance of global power is in part shaped by financial aspects, including the role played by traditional currencies. Now, we are faced with the rise of non-conventional forms of money. To many, these new currencies offer a bewildering future.
Our speaker will describe the evolution of global power and leading currencies in the world in terms of trade and investment. He will present different future scenarios regarding the dollar, euro, renminbi, and cryptocurrencies.
Dr. Mauro F. Guillén, until recently, has been on the faculty of the Wharton School, recognized as an expert on global market trends. Beginning in September 2021, he takes on the role as the Dean of the Judge Business School at Cambridge University. He combines his training as a sociologist at Yale University and as a business economist in his native Spain to identify promising opportunities at the intersection of demographic, economic, and technological developments.
His research, op-eds, and commentaries have been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Economist and the Financial Times. He has appeared on radio and TV shows including NPR’s Marketplace and Radio Times, CNBC’s Mad Money and Squawk Box, and CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS.
His book 2030: How Today’s Biggest Trends Will Collide and Reshape the Future of Everything was an instant Wall Street Journal bestseller and a Financial Times Book of the Year and has been translated into over 14 languages.
Genetics Research: How it Affects You Today and Beyond
Amanda Moehring Ph.D
Oct 14, 2021 2:00-3:30 PM
Our genes influence almost all aspects of our body, from our original development as a growing fetus to how we respond to medications as an adult.
In this lecture, Dr. Moering will explain the basic concepts of what genes are and how they make the variety of traits we see. We will learn about gene editing and how research scientists use CRISPR, one of the most powerful gene editing tools, to understand how our bodies work and potentially cure disease. Our speaker will also discuss the potential, limitations and ethical considerations of this amazing technology.
Dr. Amanda Moehring works on the genetic and neural basis of complex traits. Most of her research has explored the basis of female mate receptivity and female aggression, and her research group works on a wide range of topics, including male sterility.
She completed her PhD at North Carolina State University, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at Duke University studying the molecular basis of male sterility.
Dr. Moehring joined Western University as a Canada Research Chair in Functional Genomics in 2008. She is a strong proponent of improving equity and diversity, and has participated in and spearheaded multiple initiatives to this effect. Recently, she has worked to encourage dialogue between those working in science and policy by engaging with policymakers at Science Meets Parliament, and acting as the lead organizer for London's March for Science.
What’s on the Menu in 20 Years? Trends and Trajectories in Sustainable Food
Ryan Katz-Rozene, Ph.D
Oct 21, 2021 2:00 - 3:30 PM
The global food system is presently responsible for one-third of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Agricultural production uses up one-half of the world’s habitable land. Food production is a major contributor to climate change and the degradation of ecosystems.
To become sustainable and resilient by the middle of this century, the global agri-food system will have to produce enough nutritious food to feed up to 9.7 billion people, while cutting back extensively on its GHG emissions, land use and water footprints.
This talk focuses on strategies needed to meet these goals. Dr. Katz-Rozene will look at the purported benefits and limitations of a range of proposed sustainable food solutions, from regenerative agriculture, to cell-cultured meat, plant-based burgers, ruminant methane reduction technologies, soil carbon sequestration, vertical farming and more!
Dr. Ryan Katz-Rosene is an Assistant Professor at the University of Ottawa, and President of the Environmental Studies Association of Canada.
His research centers on a range of sustainability policy debates examining underlying political economic, ecological, and semantic dimensions and consequences of sustainable development in various sectors including energy, transportation and agriculture.
He co-edited a book titled Green Meat?: Sustaining Eaters, Animals and the Planet and has served as the principal investigator on a project examining the Future of Sustainable Protein.
The Crisis of Democracy and the Future
Larry Garber
Oct 28, 2021 2:00 - 3:30 PM
Freedom House, the oldest American organization devoted to the support and defense of democracy around the world, states that we are now in the 16th year of a global democracy recession. The initial impact of this recession was felt in places like Russia, Turkey, and Hungary, but more recently it has been observed in countries with longer democratic experiences and, supposedly, strong democratic institutions, including the United States.
Some analysts argue that the trend reflects the emergence of a new breed of populist leaders while others worry that democracies are simply incapable of dealing with such 21st century challenges as mass migration, climate change, and growing inequality between and within countries. The systems that underlie democracy including election processes, judicial independence, independent media and an engaged public are also under attack in many countries.
Larry Garber will discuss what can be done to reverse the trend at the sub-national, national, and international levels.
Larry Garber is an independent consultant, with more than 35 years of experience on democracy and election related work. During his wide-ranging career, he has served on the faculty of the National Defense University, as a senior policy-maker at the US Agency for International Development (USAID), as the Mission Director for USAID’s West Bank/Gaza program, and as the Chief Executive Officer of the New Israel Fund.
In 1984, he authored Guidelines for International Election Observing, which transformed election observation from a casual process with limited structure into a rigorous discipline. As Senior Associate for Electoral Process at the National Democratic Institute, Mr. Garber led multiple observation missions and advised senior leaders in several countries undertaking comprehensive electoral reforms following political transitions. Most recently, he served as country director for a 2018 Carter Center expert mission to Sierra Leone and as the NDI co-director of the 2018 Zimbabwe International Election Observer Mission.