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SUMMARY:Combustion Transition / Embracing the Biosphere: Novel ways to bec
 ome a truly sustainable society - Simon Spooner\, Atkins Realis
DTSTART:20250227T120000Z
DTEND:20250227T130000Z
UID:TALK228316@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Daniel Dalton
DESCRIPTION:About this talk: \n \nIn the last few centuries\, we have buil
 t a comfortable industrial society with combustion energy released from th
 e carbon laid down by past and present living things. We feed ourselves by
  clearing their land for our simplified farm ecosystems and carelessly pol
 lute the world. We power ourselves from the great disequilibrium in the at
 mosphere that they created. Our water comes from reaching ever further ups
 tream for fresh water and dumping our waste as close to our doorstep and w
 ith as little treatment as we can get away with. We have now learnt how to
  get the energy we need from renewable sources and to utilise it with elec
 trical systems that cause little pollution\, we are beginning to learn how
  to better manage land\, giving space to other living things and to work w
 ith more diverse and complex ecosystems to provide both food and a wider r
 ange of ecosystem services. There is a great deal still to learn about how
  we must change our energy and food systems and then the vast challenge of
  building whole new infrastructure and land management systems. How do we 
 transition from consuming and despoiling the natural ecosystem to living a
 s part of that system with infrastructure and behaviour that replenishes a
 nd enhances\, compared to a world without us. This talk will set out a nov
 el set of principles for this\, metrics to track progress and plan action\
 , and a framework for implementation of change by engaging stakeholders at
  all levels to transform their local infrastructure to provide the service
 s they need by working in partnership with nature.\n\nAbout the Speaker\n\
 nSimon Spooner is an Associate Director at AtkinsRéalis\, a technical con
 sultancy with about 36\,000 professional staff worldwide. His has been ele
 cted AtkinsRéalis Fellow for Water Quality and Carbon\, one of 40 top tec
 hnical experts in the company. His day to day work now mostly focuses on i
 mproving the water quality of our rivers and resilience of our water resou
 rces. He has spent nearly half his career in China working on water policy
  and technical exchange between Europe and China and also as a Director of
  Atkins Urban Planning business there. His work covers climate change and 
 novel ways of planning transition to truly sustainably living. He is a fel
 low of the institute of Environmental Sciences\, Chair of the Foundation f
 or Water Research and an Honorary Professor of Nottingham University\, UK 
 and Ningbo (China) campuses.
LOCATION:Seminar Room\, 2nd Floor South Wing (2S)\, Roger Needham Building
 \, University of Cambridge
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