Foundation For the Future | Walter P. Kistler Book Award 2008


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Search Foundation Website Announcements 2011 Kistler Prize Call for Nominations Deadline: September 30, 2010 Streaming Video Cosmic Origins: From Big Bang to Humankind Where Does Humanity Go from Here? Interview with Dr. J. Craig Venter Planned Events “Water – The Crisis Ahead” Humanity 3000 Workshop April 2010 Peter Ward Lecture Walter P. Kistler Lecture Series June 16, 2010, Seattle (revised date) Young Scholars Inquiry Young Scholars Seminar June 2010 Lecture Walter P. Kistler Lecture Series September 2010 11th Annual Kistler Prize September 2010 Humanity 3000 Seminar November 2010 RECENT Events Brian Fagan Lecture Walter P. Kistler Lecture Series November 2009 10th Annual Kistler Prize October 2009 Donald Johanson Lecture Walter P. Kistler Lecture Series September 2009 Walter P. Kistler Book Award April 2009 Recent Publications Foundation News Vol. 12 Fall 2009 [1.9 MB PDF] “Anthropogenic Climate Change: A Worst-case Scenario” Executive Summary [2 MB PDF] “Future of Planet Earth” Proceedings [28.1 MB PDF] “Energy Challenges” Executive Summary [2 MB PDF] All Foundation publications are available for download from our Publications page.	Awards Walter P. Kistler Book Award HOME \| NOMINATION PROCESS RECIPIENTS 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 David Archer Receives Walter P. Kistler Book Award for 2009 Dr. Archer is the 2009 recipient of the Walter P. Kistler Book Award, which recognizes authors of science-based books that make important contributions to the public’s understanding of the factors that may impact the long-term future of humanity. In The Long Thaw, Dr. Archer discusses the scientific realities of humankind’s continuing increases in the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Civilized humanity, he writes, has never seen a climate change as severe as global warming: “The benefits of using fossil fuels accrue now and into the current century until the fuel runs out, while the costs will last for millennia.” What costs? The natural world is taking up CO2 about half as quickly as humans are releasing it, resulting in regional heat waves, stronger than normal hurricanes, droughts, and other climatic changes. Such shifts are already visible. But climatic shifts of the magnitude that causes the ice sheets to melt “would rearrange the landscape and societies of the Earth,” says Archer. Humankind has the potential to alter the climate of the Earth for hundreds of thousands of years into the future. … Climate change is a global issue that ramps up slowly and lasts for a long time. Negotiating a solution would require a degree of global cooperation that is I think unprecedented in human history. — Dr. David Archer, The Long Thaw Copyright © 1996–2010 Foundation For the Future