Julian Cribb

Last updated
Julian Cribb

OccupationScience writer, author, activist
LanguageEnglish
Nationality United Kingdom, Australia
Alma mater University of Western Australia [1]
Genre Non-fiction
Subjectscience, agriculture, food, mining, energy, the environment
Notable works
  • The Coming Famine (2010)
  • The Global Food Crisis and What We Can Do to Avoid It (2010)
  • Poisoned Planet: How Constant Exposure to Man-made Chemicals is Putting Your Life at Risk (2014)
  • Surviving the 21st Century: Humanity's Ten Great Challenges and How We Can Overcome Them (2016)
  • Food Or War (2019)
  • Earth Detox (2021)
  • How to Fix a Broken Planet (2023)
ChildrenAlex, Jasmine, Olivia [1]
Website
juliancribb.net

Julian Cribb AM FTSE is a British-Australian author and science writer, known for his extensive contributions in the fields of science, agriculture, food, mining, energy, and the environment. Cribb worked in various editorial roles, advisory positions, and leadership roles in professional bodies. He is known for his prolific output, including over 12 books and more than 9000 articles. His literary focus primarily revolves around addressing existential risks to humanity, with notable works such as "The Coming Famine," "Surviving the 21st Century," "Food or War," and "How to Fix a Broken Planet." [2] [3]

Contents

Early life and education

Cribb grew up in the UK was educated at Radley College. [1]

Career

Journalism

In 1966, [4] he migrated to Australia and started working as a reporter to a local newspaper. [5]

Cribb edited six newspapers and magazines, and received over thirty journalism awards. He moved to science communication and became the director of national awareness for the Australian national scientific organisation, CSIRO. [1]

Advocacy

Cribb is an outspoken advocate for adopting global solutions to the ten megathreats described in his books, in ways that make none of them worse. He argues these threats constitute the greatest existential emergency humans have ever faced in their million years on the planet. Attempting to solve these threats one at a time will not work, he warns.

In his books, Cribb also calls for: [6]

  1. a stewards of the earth program to rewild and repair damaged natural ecosystems globally;
  2. a new human right not to be poisoned;
  3. an earth standard currency;
  4. a global truth commission;
  5. the right of all humans to inhabit a non-poisoned world; and
  6. a world plan to save humanity.

In a 2018 interview to Vision.org, Cribb said that humanity faces multiple existential threats, which require holistic solutions rather than isolated fixes. He advocated for collective action, stressing the importance of political engagement and consumer choices in shaping global outcomes. Cribb stressed the disproportionate investment in warfare over essential needs like food security and urged a shift towards prioritizing peace and sustainability. Calling for a reevaluation of societal beliefs and values, Cribb urged the exercise of both wisdom and foresight in addressing looming crises. [7]

During the same year, Cribb gave an interview to Nora Young for her show Spark on CBC Radio One. Cribb discussed the centralized nature of the global food distribution system and highlighted how a few corporations control the food trade. He described the detrimental effects of this centralization, including poor diets, vulnerable food chains, and environmental degradation caused by unsustainable farming practices. Cribb also talked about food waste at various stages of the supply chain, from transportation to consumer habits, pointing out the inefficiencies and lost nutrients. He also outlined his vision for a sustainable food system, which includes regenerative farming, urban food production, [8] and deep ocean aquaculture.

Council for the Human Future

In 2019 he co-founded the Council for the Human Future to raise global awareness of the growing existential crisis, comprising ten catastrophic risks, and help devise solutions to them all. He is a strong proponent of an Earth System Treaty, [9] a universal agreement by all of humanity to act to save both our civilization and the world that sustains it.

Bibliography

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Related Research Articles

The carrying capacity of an environment is the maximum population size of a biological species that can be sustained by that specific environment, given the food, habitat, water, and other resources available. The carrying capacity is defined as the environment's maximal load, which in population ecology corresponds to the population equilibrium, when the number of deaths in a population equals the number of births. The effect of carrying capacity on population dynamics is modelled with a logistic function. Carrying capacity is applied to the maximum population an environment can support in ecology, agriculture and fisheries. The term carrying capacity has been applied to a few different processes in the past before finally being applied to population limits in the 1950s. The notion of carrying capacity for humans is covered by the notion of sustainable population.

<i>The Limits to Growth</i> 1972 book on economic and population growth

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul R. Ehrlich</span> American biologist (1932–present)

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Space and survival</span> Idea that long-term human presence requires to be spacefaring

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human extinction</span> Hypothetical end of the human species

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nuclear holocaust</span> Scenario of civilization collapse or human extinction by nuclear weapons

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Global catastrophic risk</span> Potentially harmful worldwide events

A global catastrophic risk or a doomsday scenario is a hypothetical event that could damage human well-being on a global scale, even endangering or destroying modern civilization. An event that could cause human extinction or permanently and drastically curtail humanity's existence or potential is known as an "existential risk."

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Earth Overshoot Day</span> Calculated calendar date when humanitys yearly consumption exceeds Earths replenishment

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Planetary boundaries</span> Limits not to be exceeded if humanity wants to survive in a safe ecosystem

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<i>The Precipice: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity</i> 2020 book about existential risks by Toby Ord

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<i>Food or War</i> (book) 2019 book by Julian Cribb

Food or War is a 2019 book by British-Australian science writer Julian Cribb published by Cambridge University Press. The book discusses the central role of food in global stability, arguing that the modern food system, if unchecked, risks precipitating widespread conflict due to its unsustainable practices. Cribb proposes a reimagined food system that harnesses human creativity and technological innovation to secure a renewable, diverse, and safe food supply, thereby promoting global peace.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Sustaining a Future". www.abc.net.au.
  2. "Julian Cribb AM FRSA FTSE" (PDF).
  3. "Julian Cribb - Surviving the 21st Century - Unstress with Dr Ron Ehrlich". 2020-05-18.
  4. "About". Surviving C21. 2017-03-22.
  5. "Canberra Conversations Julian Cribb - ABC Canberra - Australian Broadcasting Corporation". Archived from the original on 30 October 2011.
  6. A World Plan of Action for Human Survival
  7. "Interview: Humanity's End Game". www.vision.org.
  8. "Industrialized food production is 'a very foolish system', says author".
  9. Frey, Dr Sibylle (2023-08-24). "Why We Need an Earth System Treaty-A MAHB Dialogue with Julian Cribb, Council for the Human Future". MAHB.