Aquarium of the Pacific

Aquarium Event

Climate Change and Biodiversity & Energy from the Sea

Dr. Daniel B. Botkin is a world-renowned ecologist. The New York Times called him “one of the world’s leading environmental researchers,” who has “done much to popularize the concept of using yet maintaining the world’s natural resources.”

Join him for a two-part lecture series at the Aquarium of the Pacific. On November 3, he will discuss climate change and biodiversity. Then, on November 4, he will discuss the ocean’s potential as a resource for energy, posing the question: Can a long-term dream become one of the world’s major solutions to energy needs?

Over the past 40 years, Dr. Botkin has studied the potential ecological effects of global warming. He invented the first successful computer program to forecast how environmental change will affect forests. His software is in use worldwide and has been one of the major methods to forecast global warming effects on endangered species and forest ecosystems. Under contracts with the states of Oregon and Washington, he led projects to find out what was causing salmon declines. He has done research on the history of commercial hunting of the bowhead whales, work that has been important in the international conservation of this endangered species. Under contract with the Department of Defense, he led a project to develop ecosystem management on our nation’s military bases. For the state of California, he directed studies that helped save Mono Lake, helped protect the California Condor, and proposed new ways to plant trees and flowers in Los Angeles to conserve water and at the same time improve the quality of people’s lives.

Dr. Botkin is professor emeritus for the department of ecology, evolution, and marine biology at the University of California, Santa Barbara and president of The Center for the Study of the Environment, a nonprofit that provides independent, science-based analyses of complex environmental issues. He is the author of Discordant Harmonies: A New Ecology for the 21st Century and the text book Environmental Science: Earth as a Living Planet.

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© Daniel Botkin

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