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USU anthropologist to discuss energy future at BYU Oct. 30

Utah State University anthropologist and historian Joseph Tainter will present a lecture to Brigham Young University faculty and students on “Energy Gain and Future Energy: Collapse or Sustainability” on Tuesday, Oct. 30, at 3 p.m. in the Harold B. Lee Library Auditorium.

Tainter's interest in sustainability led to collaboration with two ecologists to write “Supply-Side Sustainability,” the first book on this topic to combine social, historical and biological science. His work has been used in countries across the world.

He studied anthropology at the University of California and Northwestern University, where he received his doctorate in 1975. His previous positions include project leader of cultural heritage research at the Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station in Albuquerque, N.M., and professor of anthropology at the University of New Mexico. He is currently the head of the Department of Environment and Society at Utah State University.

For more information, contact Evie Forsyth at the BYU Anthropology Department at 801-422-6108.

Writer: Marissa Ballantyne

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Photo by Ann Swidler

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