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Peter Raven, President Emeritus, Missouri Botanical Garden, will deliver the 2019 Brandwein Lecture at the National Science Teachers Association Annual Meeting in St. Louis, Missouri, on Saturday, April 13, at 11am. He will also receive the 2019 Brandwein Medal for his lifetime of work inspiring new generations, regardless of age, to experience, embrace, and love nature firsthand.

Dr. Raven describes his lecture, “Saving Life, Saving Ourselves,” as follows.

More than three times as many people (7.6 billion) inhabit the world now as they did when I was born (1936), and the demand we are placing on the productivity of our planet is approaching twice what it can sustain (www.footprintnetwork.org) .  Our numbers are growing at about 200,000 net per day towards a predicted 9.9 billion 30 years from now. In consequence of these pressures, a fifth of all kinds of living organisms could be extinct within the next two or three decades, and as many as half, most of which are unknown scientifically, by the end of the century. We have a unique opportunity to make matters better by limiting our numbers, adopting moderate, fair consumption standards, empowering women and children everywhere, spreading love for all people in the world, slowing and ultimately halting climate change, and acting sustainably in our own lives, learning about change, and voting for people who are committed to understand and address the worst challenge humanity has ever faced. We cannot all be “the greatest” on a limited planet whose capacity we are already exceeding. We manage the planet and its resources together. We need to seize this opportunity now before through neglect and selfishness, it is gone.

See Dr. Raven’s Bio.