Professor Emeritus Albert Bartlett of the University of Colorado at Boulder physics department will give his classic lecture on "Arithmetic, Population and Energy" for the 1,468th time on Saturday, Dec. 7.
His talk, part of the new monthly Saturday Physics Series, will begin at 2 p.m. in Duane Physics room G1B20 on the CU-Boulder campus.
Bartlett created the talk in 1969 to explain the arithmetic of steady growth and to alert the public to the consequences of a steadily growing human population and steadily growing rates of consumption of nonrenewable resources like petroleum.
His overall message is that population growth and growth in the rates of consumption of resources cannot be sustained. He supports that message by explaining the concept of doubling time, or how long it takes a growing quantity to double in size. He presents examples of how the steady growth of the human population affects everything from natural resources to the destruction of democracy that follows from population growth.
"I hope people will understand that population growth at its current rate can't be sustained," Bartlett said. If unaltered, the growing human race will overwhelm all the things we depend on, including fresh water, food and fossil fuels, he said.
During the presentation he also describes the steady growth in consumption of finite resources such as fossil fuels. He shows that when such steady growth occurs, the end of these resources comes frighteningly fast.
When it comes to the growth of the human population, Bartlett believes we have missed the warning, and if humans don't solve the problem, nature will. In fact, he usually begins his talk with these words: "The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function."
Bartlett, who this semester began his 53rd year as a faculty member in the physics department, has given his talk throughout the United States and Canada. Since his first presentation in 1969, he has given the talk an average of roughly every nine days.
An ever-increasing population doesn't just affect resources it also affects quality of life, including democracy, according to Bartlett. Since he moved to Boulder in 1950 the population has increased by a factor of five, but there are still only nine city council members, he said.
"Therefore, democracy in Boulder is a fifth of what it was in 1950," he said.
But Bartlett warns that steady human population growth won't continue, because at some point nature will solve the problem through famine, disease and war.
Bartlett's presentation "Arithmetic, Population and Energy" is available for purchase in videotape ($25) or DVD ($35) format. For more information call (303) 492-2670 or send an e-mail to herb.rodriguez@colorado.edu.
The new Saturday Physics Series is sponsored by an outreach grant from the Division of Continuing Education at CU-Boulder.
The remaining 2002-03 Saturday Physics Series includes:
Jan. 11, 2 p.m., Duane Physics room G1B20, Professor Patricia Rankin of physics, "Time Traveling with Physics."
Feb. 8, 2 p.m., Duane Physics room G1B20, Professors Margaret Murnane and Henry Kapteyn of physics, "Lasers and Light."
March 8, 2 p.m., JILA Auditorium, Professor Allan Franklin of physics, "The Road to the Neutrino."
April 12, 2 p.m., Duane Physics room G1B20, Professor Neil Ashby of physics, "Global Positioning System."
For more information about the series call (303) 492-6952.