Login

Mathematics of Planet Earth

  • Home
  • About MPE
  • Programs
    • Long Term Programs
    • Summer Schools
    • Workshops
    • Meetings
    • Special Sessions
    • Colloquia and Seminars
    • Public Lectures
    • Simons Lectures
  • Education
    • Public Lectures
    • Speakers Bureau
    • Summer Schools
    • Resources
    • Posters
    • Curriculum Materials
    • Academic programs
  • Events
    • MPE Day at UNESCO
    • Public Lectures
    • Exhibitions
    • Competitions
    • Awareness events
  • Partners
    • MPE2013 Partner Reports
    • Societies
    • International Bodies
    • Institutes
    • Research Centers
    • Scientific Journals
    • Teacher Associations
    • Academic
    • Magazines
    • Science Centers
    • Others
    • Becoming a Partner
  • Learn More
    • Books
    • Articles
    • Educational Resources
    • Videos and Podcasts
    • Speakers Bureau
  • Newsroom
  • Blog
  • Calendar
  • Opportunities
  • Français

Search

Latest Posts

AIM/MCRN Summer School: Week 6

August 2, 2020

 [...]

AIM/MCRN Summer School: Week 5

July 26, 2020

 [...]

Professor Christopher K.R.T. Jones — Recipient of the 2020 MPE Prize


Professor Chris Jones is the Bill Guthridge Distinguished Professor in Mathematics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Director of the Mathematics and Climate Research Network (MCRN). The 2020 MPE Prize recognizes Professor Jones for his many significant contributions to climate science and the mathematics of planet Earth.

Categories

Workshops

Limits to Growth: Beyond the point of inflexion

Resource Management / Sustainable Development

Organized by A/Professor Bruce Henry

12/11/2013 - 12/12/2013

University of New South Wales, Sydney, Sydney, Australia

Forty years ago an international team led by Professor Dennis Meadows carried out a major study of growth in five key areas; population, agricultural production, natural resources, industrial production and pollution.  The team concluded that, if current trends continued, limits to growth would be realized within one hundred years with a sudden and uncontrollable decline in population and industrial capacity. Many of the projections on resources and pollution proved to be incorrect, with technological advances reversing trends. However the central (mathematical) result, that continued exponential growth is not sustainable indefinitely, is indisputable, and we have now entered an era, beyond the point of inflexion, where the rate of population growth is slowing.

What impact would a stagnant population have on GDP? Is GDP growth forever sustainable? Is GDP the best measure of ‘well being’? Can mathematical models guide policy makers in answering these questions?

  • Contact

IMU UNESCO ICIAM ICSU