Vaclav Smil

Vaclav Smil

Vaclav Smil CM (born  December 9, 1943 in Pilsen ) is a Canadian of Czech origin, professor of environmental science at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg , Canada. He mainly deals with interdisciplinary questions on the topics of energy, the environment, food, population, economy, history and public policy .

Live and act

Smil studied at the Charles University in Prague at the Faculty of Natural Sciences, where he received his doctorate in 1965. In 1969, shortly after the Warsaw Pact invasion of the Czechoslovakia , he went to the United States, where he studied at Pennsylvania State University and obtained a Ph.D. completed.

Smil thinks that globalization only leads to an approximation of living conditions on the surface. In fact, inequality in the so-called developed world, such as the USA and Canada, has risen sharply in recent years.

“The surface may seem to be getting flatter (the same brands, cars, e-gadgets, the world of Sony , Toyota and LG , are encountered from Seoul to Soweto ). But underneath, the differences (economic but also cultural and, most distressingly, the religious ones) are actually getting greater. This is not only in China and India (where the proverbial tide lifts all boats, but those of the new urban class float now relatively lot higher than decades ago) but for the past generation even in the US and Canada, where inequality is increasing. Think of nearly 50 million Americans living on food stamps. "

Smil is the author of 37 books (until 2017). In 2010 he was named one of the 100 most influential global thinkers by Foreign Policy magazine (49th place).

In autumn 2013 he was an EADS Distinguished Visitor at the American Academy in Berlin .

Publications

Monographs

• Biomass Energies: Resources, Links, Constraints. Plenum Press, New York 1983.
• The Bad Earth: Environmental Degradation in China. Sharpe, Armonk 1984.
• Carbon Nitrogen Sulfur: Human Interference in Grand Biospheric Cycles. Plenum Press, New York 1985.
• Energy Food Environment: Realities Myths Options. Oxford University Press , Oxford 1987.
• Energy in China's Modernization. Sharpe, Armonk 1988.
• General Energetics: Energy in the Biosphere and Civilization. Wiley, New York 1991.
• Global Ecology: Environmental Change and Social Flexibility. Routledge, London 1993.
• China's Environment: An Inquiry into the Limits of National Development. Sharpe, Armonk 1993.
• Energy in World History. Westview Press, Boulder 1994.
• Energies: An Illustrated Guide to the Biosphere and Civilization. MIT Press , Cambridge 1998.
• Cycles of Life: Civilization and the Biosphere. Scientific American Library, New York 2000.
• Feeding the World: A Challenge for the 21st Century. MIT Press, Cambridge 2000.
• Enriching the Earth: Fritz Haber, Carl Bosch and the Transformation of World Food Production. MIT Press, Cambridge 2001.
• The Earth's Biosphere: Evolution, Dynamics and Change. MIT Press, Cambridge 2002.
• China's past, China's future. RoutledgeCurzon, New York, Londres 2004.
• Creating the Twentieth Century: Technical Innovations of 1867-1914 and Their Lasting Impact. Oxford University Press, New York 2005.
• Energy at the Crossroads Global Perspectives and Uncertainties. MIT Press, Cambridge 2005.
• Transforming the Twentieth Century: Technical Innovations and Their Consequences. Oxford University Press, New York 2006.
• Energy in Nature and Society: General Energetics of Complex Systems. MIT Press, Cambridge 2007.
• Global Catastrophes and Trends: The Next Fifty Years. MIT Press, Cambridge 2008, ISBN 978-0-262-19586-7 .
• Oil: A Beginner's Guide. Oneworld, Oxford 2008.
• Why America is Not a New Rome. MIT Press, Cambridge 2010, ISBN 978-0-262-19593-5 .
• Energy Myths and Realities: Bringing Science to the Energy Policy Debate. AEI Press, Washington, DC 2010, ISBN 978-0-8447-4328-8 .
• Energy transitions: history, requirements, prospects . Praeger, Santa Barbara. 2010 ISBN 978-0-313-38177-5

Web links

• Vaclav Smil's website
• Bill Gates on Smil on energy issues
• Interview with Smil (The New York Times) (2009)
• Interview with Smil (American Scientist)
• Andrea Freiermuth: Our planet is finite. This also applies to growth , interview with Václav Smil in Migros Magazine , No. 5, January 27, 2014, about consumerism, nuclear power plants, risk perception and the future of Europe.

Individual evidence

1. ^ University of Manitoba: Faculty of Environment
2. ↑ American Scientists ( Memento of the original from July 11, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
3. ^ "Local scientist's theories on globalization and energy consumption have wide influence"
4. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from September 3, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
5. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from September 3, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
6. ↑ Vaclav Smil as EADS Distinguished Visitor ( Memento of the original from October 19, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the website of the American Academy in Berlin , accessed October 18, 2013.