Why Environmental Sustainability is Not a Technological Problem

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After more than 25 years as an environmental sustainability researcher, Dr. Roland Geyer has concluded that: 1) Humanity is not moving any closer toward environmental sustainability. In a variety of critically important dimensions, we’re moving further away from it. 2) This lack of progress is not due to lack of sustainability science or sustainable technologies. It is at this point entirely a behavioral problem rather than a technological one.

In his lecture, he will first show how existing scientific assessments and global time series data substantiate the first conclusion. This enables us to identify an important mechanism behind our lack of environmental progress. Then, through a variety of examples–such as food production, transportation, and other energy services–he’ll show why the reason behind this lack of progress is behavioral rather than technological. He will finish with important conclusions from this insight.

Dr. Roland Geyer, Professor of Industrial Ecology at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at UCSB
Prior to joining the Bren School, Dr. Geyer held research positions at the Centre for Environmental Strategy (University of Surrey, UK), the Centre for the Management of Environmental Resources (INSEAD, France), and was a financial risk management consultant in Germany. In his research, Dr. Geyer uses life cycle assessment, material flow analysis, regression analysis, and other methods to assess pollution prevention strategies based on reuse, recycling, and material and technology substitution. His work on plastics and the circular economy is widely covered in the media and received various awards. Roland received a graduate degree in physics from the Technical University Berlin, Germany, and a Ph.D. in engineering from the University of Surrey, UK.