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NIH BCIG June 22, 2006

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed Jared Diamond Part Four: Practical Lessons, Ch 14-16. Presented by: Melanie Swan, Futurist MS Futures Group 650-681-9482 m@melanieswan.com http://www.melanieswan.com. NIH BCIG June 22, 2006. Overview.

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NIH BCIG June 22, 2006

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  1. Collapse:How Societies Choose to Fail or SucceedJared DiamondPart Four: Practical Lessons, Ch 14-16 Presented by: Melanie Swan, FuturistMS Futures Group650-681-9482m@melanieswan.comhttp://www.melanieswan.com NIH BCIG June 22, 2006

  2. Overview • Ch 14: Why do some societies make disastrous decisions? • Ch 15: Big businesses and the environment: different conditions, different outcomes • Ch 16: The world as a polder: what does it all mean to us today? • Tipping point choices: societal and individual • What can I as an individual do? • Summary

  3. Ch 14: Why do some societies make disastrous decisions? • Failure to anticipate • Failure to perceive that a problem has arisen • Rational bad behavior (ISEP) • Conflicts of interest between elites and the masses • Disastrous societal values • Religion • Irrational failures • Unworkable solutions • Poor leadership • Isolated elites

  4. Ch 15: Big businesses and the environment: different conditions, different outcomes • Resource extraction • Non-renewable: depletion and damage from extraction • Oil: Pertamina (Indonesia) vs. Chevron (Papua New Guinea) • Hardrock mining • Renewable: sustainable harvest strategies are possible • Logging and the Forest Stewardship Council • Seafood and the Marine Stewardship Council • Conclusion • Public is responsible for the behavior of big business (short supply chains help)

  5. Ch 16: The world as a polder: what does it all mean to us today? • The most serious problems • Loss of natural resources • Half world’s forests gone • Ceilings on energy, freshwater and photosynthesis • Harmful substances: chemicals, species and gases • Increase in human population • The past and the present are different • Reasons for hope • Problems are human-caused and not intractable • Problem stage is perceptible not crisis-level • Globalization • Increasing public environmental thinking worldwide

  6. Tipping point choices: societal and individual • Long-term planning • Successful: US air pollutant reduction, Asian tropical diseases and China, Bangladesh family planning • Willingness to reconsider core values • Unsuccessful: Norse did not rethink European, Christian, pastoral • Successful: Tikopia Islanders expunged pigs, Britain and France as former world powers, Japan abandoned military tradition, Russia abandoned communism • Can the US forsake isolationism and consumerism?

  7. What can I as an individual do? • Politically • Vote • Communicate thoughts to legislative leaders once a month • Economically • Buy or don’t buy as a consumer • Example: demand for FSC-certified wood products exceeds supply • Be an activist (embarrassment more powerful than force) • Vacation in environmentally-principled locales • Socially • Dialogue these issues in your social circles • Philanthropically • Support environmental causes (FSC, WWF, Zero Population Growth, Trout Unlimited, etc.)

  8. Summary • Societies have made and still make poor decisions regarding environmental resources for many reasons • Big business is the lever for extracting environmental resources and must be governed by the public • Humanity rapidly advancing on a non-sustainable course • Resource consumption dramatically exceeds replacement and full demand is understated • As societies and individuals, we must engage in long-term planning and (painfully) rethinking of core values

  9. Thank you Melanie Swan, FuturistMS Futures Group650-681-9482m@melanieswan.comhttp://www.melanieswan.com NIH BCIG June 22, 2006 Licensing: Creative Commons 3.0

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