Al
Bartlett (Arithmetic,
Population and Energy, on YouTube)
Compiled
by Jane Jackson in August 2013.
Many of Al
BartlettÕs articles, presentations, and interviews are at http://www.AlBartlett.org
* Dr. Al Bartlett has given his lecture, ÒArithmetic, Population and
EnergyÓ, over 1,600 times.
* Al Bartlett's work led to Paul Hewitt's
discussion in his Conceptual Physics textbook.
* Mark Schober, a Modeling Workshop
leader in New York, adapted it for the energy unit in Modeling Instruction: http://modelingphysics.org/energy/sframe.htm
* Some physics teachers, notably Cory
Waxman at Bioscience High School in Phoenix, have their students watch and then
discuss the 8 10-minute videos of ÒArithmetic, Population, and EnergyÓ on
YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-QA2rkpBSY
* Dr. BartlettÕs
article, ÒThe Meaning of SustainabilityÓ, was an invited talk at the AAPT
Meeting in August 2011. You can
download it at http://www.albartlett.org/ or directly at
http://www.albartlett.org/articles/art_meaning_of_sustainability_2012mar20.pdf
* Reprints of Prof. Bartlett's papers are
in the book, "The Essential Exponential! For the Future of Our Planet." You can order it at his website: http://www.AlBartlett.org .
* David Hestenes
includes Al BartlettÕs work in the ASU summer graduate course for high school
teachers, PHS 540: Integrated Math & Physics. http://modeling.asu.edu/MNS/MNS.html
I excerpt this
post by Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University, to an
AERA listserv on July 25, 2013.
(Dick Hake did research on the Force Concept Inventory (FCI), and he
popularized the normalized gain for the FCI.)
-------------------------
In a disturbing
discussion-list post on 23 Jul 2013 titled "My Cancer" Al Bartlett
(2013a) <http://bit.ly/19jfGEU> wrote: "In 2008 I had six months of chemotherapy
for a non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. It
has remained dormant until now. A
PET scan shows it has exploded and now I have many cancers in many places. The doctors gave me 30 days, plus or
minus."
Some
discussion-list subscribers may not be aware of one of Al Bartlett's latest
attempts to emphasize the crucial but under-appreciated importance of
*overpopulation*. In his pungent "Population Press" letter
"Close the Fire Department!" [bracketed by lines "BBBBBB. . . .
. "] Al wrote:
BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB
In February of
2013 I attended the annual meeting of the American Association for the
advancement of Science (AAAS). . . . . . . . . . Many symposia at the AAAS
meeting seemed to be devoted to or related to the vital topic of
sustainability. This interest in sustainability is understandable because it's
clear that if humans can't make a transition to real sustainability then we as
a society, face a very grim future.
The importance of "limits" and "sustainable living"
was projected in the book "Limits to Growth" as early as 1972 . . . .
. . .[["The Limits to Growth: A Report for the Club of Rome's Project on
the Predicament of Mankind"(Meadows et al., 1972)]]. . . . . . . .The idea
that there might be limits was rarely mentioned in the AAAS symposia even though
real sustainability implies a society that depends solely on solar energy with
no dependence on finite reserves of fossil fuels.
I attended as
many of these symposia as I could and was struck by the common threads. A frequent preface to these discussions
was the fact that projections show that world population will continue its
growth and increase by another two or three billion people by mid-century. For
most speakers this projected population growth was taken as a given. To most of
the speakers it seemed to follow
then that our society has only to
meet the food, water and resource challenge that this growth presents. . . . .
. . . . . . . .
ALMOST WITHOUT
EXCEPTION, THE VARIOUS PLANS [FOR SUSTAINABILITY] THAT WERE PRESENTED NEVER
MENTIONED THE FACT THAT REDUCING OVERPOPULATION IS A NECESSARY, BUT NOT
SUFFICIENT, CONDITION FOR ACHIEVING SUSTAINABILITY. . . . .[[EMPHASIS in the
original.]]. . . . .
In the
discussion period following one symposium I asked one of the panelists why the
obvious benefits of reducing our present overpopulation were never
mentioned. One of the panelists
responded with a "picture perfect" recitation of the standard answer
that is so often given to annoying inquiries such as mine. With a smile and
with suitable restraint, the respondent patiently explained that the United
Nations figures show that the growth rate of world population is declining and
world population growth is expected to stop on its own later in the century. So
the population is under control and there is no need to worry ourselves about
it at this time.
I responded by
inviting the panelist to come with me to City Hall where we would seek to
convince the city government that the city does not need a Fire
Department. It is an established
fact that, if left to itself, all fires, residential, industrial or in the
forest, will ultimately go out. Why rush to put out fires if all fires will
ultimately go out on their own?
There was no
response. In the meantime we fiddle while Rome continues to burn.
BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB
The editor of
"Population Press" tells me that Al Bartlett's letter will be online
at <http://populationpress.org/> within a week, i.e. on or before 01
August 2013. Some previous Bartlett contributions to "Population
Press" are at <http://bit.ly/1aIOMEC> - see also Bartlett's website <http://www.AlBartlett.org for an extensive collection of his
articles, presentations, and interviews.
[Four quotes by
A.A. Bartlett]
"The
greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the
exponential function."
"
'Sustainable growth' is an oxymoron."
"Smart
growth destroys the environment. Dumb growth destroys the environment. The only
difference is that 'smart growth' does it with good taste. It's like booking
passage on the Titanic. Whether you go first-class or steerage, the result is
the same."
"Can you
think of any problem in any area of human endeavor on any scale, from
microscopic to global, whose long-term solution is in any demonstrable way
aided, assisted, or advanced by further increases in population, locally,
nationally, or globally?"
REFERENCE:
Bartlett, A.A. 2013a. "My Cancer," online on the CLOSED! Physoc
archives at <http://bit.ly/1bhixA5>. Post of 23 Jul 2013 08:21:09-0600 to Physoc. To access the archives of PHYSOC one
needs to subscribe by clicking on <http://bit.ly/dVm2AM> and then clicking on "Subscribe
or Unsubscribe" in the right-hand column. If you're busy, then subscribe using the "NOMAIL"
option under "Miscellaneous." Then, as a subscriber, you may access
the archives and/or post messages at any time, while receiving NO MAIL from the
list!