Navigating the Future: The Global Landscape in 2076 with Thomas Barnett

Air Dates: Nov. 6-12, 2023 

Globalization is often portrayed as the bogeyman in American politics. Thomas Barnett credits it with making the world better, more peaceful, and even more equitable. In the future, he argues, it will continue to drive even more profound shifts in the way the world operates—with real challenges for American leadership and security.  

Barnett is a strategic planner who has worked in United States national security affairs across his entire career.  He also operates a consulting practice, Barnett Consulting LLC. A New York Times bestselling author and nationally known public speaker who addresses government officials as a forecaster of global conflict and an expert on globalization.  Barnett is the author of three bestselling books, including, “America’s New Map: Restoring Our Global Leadership in an Era of Climate Change and Demographic Collapse,” which was released this year. Barnett was a Senior Strategic Researcher and Professor in the Warfare Analysis & Research Department, Center for Naval Warfare Studies, U.S. Naval War College, Newport, R.I.  There, he taught and served military and civilian leaders in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Staff, Central Command, Special Operations Command, and Joint Forces Command. He co-authored the U.S. Navy’s historic white paper From The Sea and pioneered and managed CNAC’s contractual relationship with the U.S. Agency for International Development.  ​​ 

On this episode of “Story in the Public Square,” Barnett discusses our future with climate change, saying, “we are positing that roughly two Australia’s worth of livable, arable land is going to disappear in the lower latitudes, but appear in the northern latitudes. That’s the economic upside of this change. The north is going to have a lot more opportunity to grow food and to resettle some portion of these people trying to escape this difficult environment in the lower latitudes.” 

“Story in the Public Square” broadcasts each week on public television stations across the United States. A full listing of the national television distribution is available at this link. In Rhode Island and southeastern New England, the show is broadcast on Rhode Island PBS on Sundays at 11:00 a.m. and is rebroadcast Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. An audio version of the program airs Saturdays at 8:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. ET, Sundays at 4:30 a.m., 2:30 p.m., 9:30 p.m. ET on SiriusXM’s popular P.O.T.U.S. (Politics of the United States), channel 124. “Story in the Public Square” is a project of the Pell Center at Salve Regina University. The initiative aims to study, celebrate and tell stories that matter.