Haller Hall, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
Hybrid Book Presentation
Speaker: Saleem H. Ali, Chair, Blue and Gold Distinguished Professor of Energy and the Environment at the University of Delaware and a senior fellow at the Columbia University Center on Sustainable Investment. He is a member of the United Nations International Resource Panel and the Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel of the Global Environment Facility.
“With approachable storytelling, in Soil to Foil, environmental scientist Saleem Ali masterfully traces one such story—the story of aluminum…”
—Katrin Daehn, Science
Aluminum is the most abundant metal in the earth’s crust. It is also ubiquitous in the modern world, from aircraft to soda cans. Today, the efficiency with which we use—and reuse—aluminum is vital to addressing key environmental challenges and understanding humanity’s fraught relationship with the earth. In Soil to Foil (Columbia University Press, 2023), Saleem Ali tells the extraordinary story of aluminum. He reveals its pivotal role in the histories of scientific inquiry and technological innovation as well as its importance to sustainability. He highlights scientists and innovators who discovered new uses for this remarkable element, ranging from chemistry and geoscience to engineering and industrial design. Ali argues that aluminum use exemplifies broader lessons about stewardship of nonrenewable resources: its seeming abundance has given rise to wasteful and destructive practices.
Free event parking at the 52 Oxford Street Garage.
Presented by the Harvard Museum of Natural History and the Harvard Museums of Science & Culture.
Advance registration required for both in-person and online attendance.
About the Speaker:
Saleem H. Ali was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts but grew up in Lahore, Pakistan until his college years. He received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Tufts University and his master’s and PhD degrees in environmental policy and planning at Yale University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, respectively.
He is chair of the Department of Geography and Spatial Sciences and the Blue and Gold Distinguished Professor of Energy and the Environment at the University of Delaware. He is also a member of the United Nations International Resource Panel. Before embarking on an academic career, professor Ali worked as an environmental health and safety professional at General Electric Corporation. He is a National Geographic Explorer with field experience in more than 160 countries and all continents; was selected as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum; and has served on the boards of notable nonprofit charitable organizations including RESOLVE, Adventure Scientists and Mediators Beyond Borders International.
His books include Soil to Foil: Aluminum and the Quest for Industrial Sustainability (Columbia University Press, 2023) Earthly Order: How Natural Laws Define Human Life (Oxford University Press, 2022), and Treasures of the Earth: Need, Greed, and a Sustainable Future (Yale University Press, 2010). Dr. Ali is a citizen of the United States by birth, Pakistan by parental lineage, and Australian by naturalization.
