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The Growth Lab Research Seminar series is a weekly seminar that brings together researchers from across the academic spectrum who share an interest in growth and development.
Anthropogenic Material Cycles and Sustainable Development
Abstract: Modern society relies on the use of more diverse materials and the growing amount of each material, and results in several relevant sustainability challenges including exhaustion of natural resources, over-generation and emissions of solid wastes, and carbon emissions from materials industries. In this talk, I will use some cases to demonstrate how human activities, from urbanization, industrialization, trade, to the pursue for carbon-neutral society, rely on the use of materials and drive the cycles of materials in the anthroposphere. I argue that our sustainable future will heavily rely on the close-loop cycles of materials, and more attentions should be paid to the challenges in sustainability of physical materials and resources.
Dr. Wei-Qiang Chen is a professor of Resources and Urban Sustainability at the Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). He obtained his bachelor and PhD degrees in Environmental Science and Engineering from the School of Environment at Tsinghua University, Beijing, and worked at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies during 2010-2015. His research focuses on material-energy nexus, sustainable management of materials and urban sustainability. His studies have appeared in PNAS, Nature Communications, Environmental science and Technology, and other first-level journals. He served in the board of the International Society for Industrial Ecology during 2018/01-2020/21, and was the founding president of the Chinese Society for Industrial Ecology built in 2015. He is now serving as associate editor for the journals Resources, Conservation, and Recycling and Journal of Industrial Ecology.
Please register in advance.