Vaclav Smil (; born 9 December 1943) is a Czech-Canadian scientist and policy analyst. He is
Distinguished Professor
Distinguished Professor is an academic title given to some top tenured professors in a university, school, or department. Some distinguished professors may have endowed chairs.
In the United States
Often specific to one institution, titles such ...
Emeritus in the Faculty of
Environment
Environment most often refers to:
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* Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally
* Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...
at the
University of Manitoba
The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a Canadian public research university in the province of Manitoba.Winnipeg, Manitoba
Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,60 ...
, Canada. His interdisciplinary research interests encompass a broad area of energy, environmental, food,
population
Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction usi ...
, economic, historical and
public policy
Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to solve or address relevant and real-world problems, guided by a conception and often implemented by programs. Public ...
WWII
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
in
Plzeň
Plzeň (; German and English: Pilsen, in German ) is a city in the Czech Republic. About west of Prague in western Bohemia, it is the fourth most populous city in the Czech Republic with about 169,000 inhabitants.
The city is known worldwid ...
, at that time in the German
Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia; cs, Protektorát Čechy a Morava; its territory was called by the Nazis ("the rest of Czechia"). was a partially annexed territory of Nazi Germany established on 16 March 1939 following the German oc ...
(present-day
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
). His father was a police officer and his mother a bookkeeper. Growing up in a remote mountain town in the
Plzeň Region
Plzeň Region ( cs, Plzeňský kraj; german: Pilsner Region) is an administrative unit (''kraj'') in the western part of Bohemia in the Czech Republic. It is named after its capital Plzeň ( English, german: Pilsen). In terms of area, Plzeň ...
, Smil cut wood daily to keep the home heated. This provided an early lesson in energy efficiency and density.
Smil completed his undergraduate studies and began his graduate work (culminating in the RNDr., an intermediate graduate degree similar to the Anglo-American
Master of Philosophy
The Master of Philosophy (MPhil; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. In the United States, an MPhil typically includes a taught portion and a significant research portion, during which a thesis project is conducted under supervision. An MPhil ...
credential, in 1965) at the Faculty of Natural Sciences of
Charles University
)
, image_name = Carolinum_Logo.svg
, image_size = 200px
, established =
, type = Public, Ancient
, budget = 8.9 billion CZK
, rector = Milena Králíčková
, faculty = 4,057
, administrative_staff = 4,026
, students = 51,438
, under ...
in Prague, where he took 35 classes a week, 10 months a year, for 5 years. "They taught me nature, from geology to clouds," Smil said. After graduation he refused to join the
Communist party
A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of '' The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engel ...
, undermining his job prospects, though he found employment at a regional planning office. He married Eva, who was studying to be a physician. In 1969, following the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia and also Eva's graduation, the Smils emigrated to the United States, leaving the country months before a Soviet travel ban shut the borders. "That was not a minor sacrifice, you know?" Smil says. Smil then received his Ph.D. in
geography
Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, an ...
from the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences of
Pennsylvania State University
The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a public state-related land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvania. Founded in 1855 as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania, Penn State becam ...
in 1971.
Career
In 1972, Smil took his first job offer at the
University of Manitoba
The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a Canadian public research university in the province of Manitoba.
Smil noted in 2018 that coal, oil, and natural gas still supply 90% of the world's primary energy. Despite decades of growth in newer renewable energy technologies, the worldwide proportion of energy supplied by fossil fuels had increased since 2000. He emphasizes that "the greatest long-term challenge in the industrial sector will be to displace fossil carbon used in the production of primary iron,
cement
A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel (aggregate) together. Cement mixe ...
,
ammonia
Ammonia is an inorganic compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . A stable binary hydride, and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinct pungent smell. Biologically, it is a common nitrogenous ...
and
plastic
Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be moulded, extruded or pressed into solid objects of various shapes. This adapta ...
s" which account for 15% of the total fossil fuel consumption globally. Smil favours reducing demand for fossil fuels through
energy conservation
Energy conservation is the effort to reduce wasteful energy consumption by using fewer energy services. This can be done by using energy more effectively (using less energy for continuous service) or changing one's behavior to use less service (f ...
, and calls for having the price of energy reflect its real costs including greenhouse gas emissions.
Position on economic growth
Smil believes economic growth has to end, that all growth is logistic rather than exponential, and that humans could consume much lower levels of materials and energy.
Reception
Included among Smil's admirers is Microsoft co-founder
Bill Gates
William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions ...
, who has read all of Smil's 36 books. "I wait for new Smil books the way some people wait for the next
Star Wars
''Star Wars'' is an American epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has been expanded into various film ...
movie," Gates wrote in 2017. "He's a slayer of bullshit," says David Keith, an energy and climate scientist at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...
.
Personal life
His wife Eva is a physician and his son David is an organic synthetic chemist.
He lives in a house with unusually thick insulation, grows some of his own food, and eats meat roughly once a week. He reads 60 to 110 non-technical books a year and keeps a list of all books he has read since 1969. He "does not intend to have a cell phone ever."
Smil is known for being "intensely private", shunning the press while letting his books speak for themselves. At the University of Manitoba, he only ever showed up at one faculty meeting (since the 1980s). The school accepted his reclusiveness so long as he kept teaching and publishing highly rated books.
Awards and honors
He is a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Canada
The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; french: Société royale du Canada, SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bil ...
(Science Academy) and the recipient of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...
Award for Public Understanding of Science and Technology in 2000. In 2010, he was named by ''
Foreign Policy
A state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterally or through ...
'' magazine to its list of FP Top 100 Global Thinkers. In 2013, he was appointed by the
Governor General
Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy ...
to the
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit.
To coincide with the cen ...
. In the fall of 2013, he was the EADS Distinguished Visitor at the American Academy in Berlin.
He has been an invited speaker in more than 300 conferences and workshops in the US, Canada, Europe, Asia and Africa, has lectured at many universities in
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...
, Europe and
East Asia
East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea ...
and has worked as a consultant for many US,
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...
Quill & Quire
''Quill & Quire'' is a Canadian magazine about the book and publishing industry. The magazine was launched in 1935 and has an average circulation of 5,000 copies per issue, with a publisher-claimed readership of 25,000. ''Quill & Quire'' reviews ...
'', September 28, 2022.
Publications
Books
* 2022 : ''How the World Really Works: A Scientist's Guide to Our Past, Present and Future''. Viking/Penguin.
* 2021 : ''Grand Transitions: How the Modern World Was Made''.
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print book ...
.
* 2020 : ''Numbers Don't Lie: 71 Things You Need To Know About The World''. Penguin.
* 2019 : ''Growth: From Microorganisms to Megacities''. The MIT Press.
* 2017 : '' Energy and Civilization: A History''. The MIT Press.
* 2015 : ''Natural Gas: Fuel for the 21st Century''. Wiley.
* 2015 : ''Power Density: A Key to Understanding Energy Sources and Uses''. The MIT Press.
* 2013 : ''Making the Modern World: Materials and Dematerialization''. Wiley.
* 2013 : ''Made in the USA: The Rise and Retreat of American Manufacturing''. The MIT Press.
* 2013 : ''Should We Eat Meat? Evolution and Consequences of Modern Carnivory''. Wiley.
* 2013 : ''Harvesting the Biosphere; What We Have Taken from Nature''. The MIT Press.
* 2012 : ''Japan’s Dietary Transition and Its Impacts''. The MIT Press.
* 2010 : ''Prime Movers of Globalization: The History and Impact of Diesel Engines and Gas Turbines''. The MIT Press.
* 2010 : ''Energy Myths and Realities: Bringing Science to the Energy Policy Debate''. The AEI Press.
* 2010 : ''Energy Transitions: History, Requirements, Prospects''. Praeger.
* 2010 : ''Why America Is Not a New Rome''. MIT Press.
* 2008 : ''Global Catastrophes and Trends: The Next Fifty Years''. The MIT Press.
* 2008 : ''Oil: A Beginner's Guide''. Oneworld Publications.
* 2008 : ''Energy in Nature and Society: General Energetics of Complex Systems''. The MIT Press.
* 2006 : ''Energy: A Beginner's Guide''. Oneworld Publications.
* 2006 : ''Transforming the Twentieth Century: Technical Innovations and Their Consequences''. Oxford University Press.
* 2005 : ''Creating the Twentieth Century: Technical Innovations of 1867–1914 and Their Lasting Impact''. Oxford University Press.
* 2004 : ''China’s Past, China’s Future''. RoutledgeCurzon.
* 2003 : ''Energy at the Crossroads: Global Perspectives and Uncertainties''. The MIT Press.
* 2002 : ''The Earth's Biosphere: Evolution, Dynamics and Change''. The MIT Press.
* 2001 : ''Enriching the Earth: Fritz Haber, Carl Bosch and the Transformation of World Food Production''. The MIT Press.
* 2000 : ''Feeding the World: A Challenge for the 21st Century''. The MIT Press.
* 1998 : ''Energies: An Illustrated Guide to the Biosphere and Civilization''. The MIT Press.
* 1997 : ''Cycles of Life: Civilization and the Biosphere''. Scientific American Library.
* 1994 : ''Energy in World History''. Westview Press.
* 1993 : ''China's Environment: An Inquiry into the Limits of National Development''. M. E. Sharpe. Winner of the 1995 Joseph Levenson Book Prize.
* 1993 : ''Global Ecology: Environmental Change and Social Flexibility''. Routledge.
* 1991 : ''General Energetics: Energy in the Biosphere and Civilization''. Wiley.
* 1988 : ''Energy in China's Modernization''. M.E. Sharpe.
* 1987 : ''Energy Food Environment: Realities Myths Options''. Oxford University Press.
* 1985 : ''Carbon Nitrogen Sulfur: Human Interference in Grand Biospheric Cycles''. Plenum Press.
* 1984 : ''The Bad Earth: Environmental Degradation in China''. M.E. Sharpe.
* 1983 : ''Biomass Energies: Resources, Links, Constraints''. Plenum Press.
* 1982 : (in collaboration with P. Nachman and T. V. Long, II). ''Energy Analysis in Agriculture: An Application to U.S. Corn Production''. Westview Press.
* 1980 : (in collaboration with W. E. Knowland). ''Energy in the Developing World''. Oxford University Press.
* 1976 : ''China's Energy: Achievements, Problems, Prospects''. Praeger.
Articles
* Good Eats . ''Inference'', vol. 5, no. 1 (December 12, 2019)
* Sputnik at 60 . ''IEEE Spectrum'', September 26, 2017.
* A Skeptic Looks at Alternative Energy . ''IEEE Spectrum'', July 2012.
* "Energy innovation as a process: Lessons from LNG". ''Master Resource: A Free-Market Energy Blog'', January 11, 2010.
* "Two decades later: Nikkei and lessons from the fall". ''The American'', December 29, 2009.
* "The Iron Age & coal-based coke: A neglected case of fossil-fuel dependence". ''Master Resource: A Free-Market Energy Blog'', September 17, 2009.
* "U.S. energy policy: The need for radical departures". ''Issues in Science and Technology'', Summer 2009:47–50.
* "Long-range energy forecasts are no more than fairy tales". ''Nature ''453:154 (2008).
* "Moore's curse and the great energy delusion". ''The American'' 2(6): 34–41 (2008).
* "Water news: bad, good and virtual". ''
American Scientist
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''American Scientist'' (informally abbreviated ''AmSci'') is an American bimonthly science and technology magazine published since 1913 by Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society. In the beginning of 2000s the headquarters was in ...
'', 96:399–407 (2008).
* "On meat, fish and statistics: The global food regime and animal consumption in the United States and Japan". ''Japan Focus'', October 19, 2008.
* James N. Galloway, Marshall Burke, G. Eric Bradford, Rosamond Naylor, Walter Falcon, Ashok K. Chapagain, Joanne C. Gaskell, Ellen McCullough, Harold A. Mooney, Kirsten L. L. Oleson, Henning Steinfeld, Tom Wassenaar and Vaclav Smil. "International trade in meat: The tip of the pork chop". ''Ambio'' 36:622–629 (2007).
* "The two prime movers of globalization: history and impact of diesel engines and gas turbines". '' Journal of Global History'', 3:373–394 (2007).
* "Global material cycles". '' Encyclopedia of Earth'', June 2, 2007.
* "The unprecedented shift in Japan's population: Numbers, age, and prospects". ''Japan Focus'', May 1, 2007.
* "Light behind the fall: Japan's electricity consumption, the environment, and economic growth". ''Japan Focus'', April 2, 2007.
* 21st century energy: Some sobering thoughts . ''OECD Observer'', 2006.
* "Peak oil: A catastrophist cult and complex realities". ''World Watch'' 19: 22–24 (2006).
* Naylor, R., Steinfeld, H., Falcon, W., Galloway, J., Smil, V., Bradford, E., Alder, J., Mooney, H. "Losing the links between livestock and land". ''
Science
Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence ...
'' 310:1621–1622.
* "The next 50 years: Unfolding trends:. ''Population and Development Review'', 31: 605–643 (2005).
* "Feeding the world: How much more rice do we need?" In: Toriyama K., Heong K.L., Hardy B., eds. ''Rice is life: scientific perspectives for the 21st century''. Proceedings of the World Rice Research Conference held in Tokyo and Tsukuba, Japan, November 4–7, 2004. Los Baños (Philippines): International Rice Research Institute, pp. 21–23.
* "The next 50 Years: Fatal discontinuities". ''Population and Development Review'', 31: 201–236 (2005).
* "Improving efficiency and reducing waste in our food system". ''
Environmental Sciences
Environmental science is an interdisciplinary academic field that integrates physics, biology, and geography (including ecology, chemistry, plant science, zoology, mineralogy, oceanography, limnology, soil science, geology and physi ...
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...
American Scientist
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''American Scientist'' (informally abbreviated ''AmSci'') is an American bimonthly science and technology magazine published since 1913 by Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society. In the beginning of 2000s the headquarters was in ...
IEEE Spectrum
''IEEE Spectrum'' is a magazine edited by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
The first issue of ''IEEE Spectrum'' was published in January 1964 as a successor to ''Electrical Engineering''. The magazine contains peer-reviewe ...