This talk explores the many ways that humans have used rivers over time, and how we continue to do so today. Since our earliest cities established along
the Tigris-Euphrates, Indus, Nile, and Yellow Rivers, anthropogenic use of rivers has changed over time and space. Yet their critical importance persists
because they provide five fundamental benefits: access, natural capital, territory, well-being, and power. The manifestations of these benefits have
changed, but societal demands for them have not.
Professor Smith has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles, essays and books about the Arctic, water resources, and satellite remote sensing
technologies. He is a Guggenheim Fellow and American Geophysical Union Fellow. His research has been reported by The New York Times, The Wall Street
Journal, The Economist, The Los Angeles Times, NPR, BBC, and others, and he was an invited speaker at the World Economic Forum in Davos. His
general-audience book THE WORLD IN 2050: Four Forces Shaping Civilization's Northern Future won the Walter P. Kistler Book Award and was a Nature
Editor's Pick of 2012. His second book Rivers of Power about rivers and society, was a Geographical best book of 2020.
http://riversofpower.org/ 
