A Dangerous Mix of Natural & Human Unsustainability

On the NYTimes Dot Earth blog, Andrew Revkin writes:. Two reports out today on conflict and the environment mesh in a disturbing way. One, from the United Nations Environment Program, asserts that persistent conflicts within states most often relapse when the root cause is scarce natural resources and environmental issues are not incorporated into efforts to forge peace. The other study, “Warfare in Biodiversity Hotspots,” has been published in the journal Conservation Biology. The authors find that “more than 80 percent of the world’s major armed conflicts from 1950 to 2000 occurred in regions identified as the most biologically diverse… Read More

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Tweet, Tweet, Tweet

Welcome to Twitter Nation. What was once an easily avoided subculture of needy and annoying online souls is now a growing part of the social and media landscapes, with Twittering tentacles reaching into the operations of major newspapers, networks, corporations and political campaigns. With this lede, Alexander Zaitchik launches into a welcome screed about the impact of Twitter. Readers of this blog will already know that I am very skeptical that computer-based social networking technology produces positive outcomes. In spite of claims that Twitter radiates messages that reveal how the twitterer is doing or feeling, the tweets lack any significant… Read More

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Time to Smell the Roses

Maybe the light of sustainability is beginning to dawn. With the economic system collapsing more and more in spite of the biggest infusion of new capital ever, and the environmental world becoming sicker everyday, people are starting to realize that both losses play havoc with their psyches and their ability to flourish in general. A couple of articles today focused on this growing human concern, but from two different perspectives. Both illustrate the importance of the human dimension of sustainability as flourishing, and recognize the interconnectedness of our health and that of the environment. The first raises questions about the… Read More

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Is There No Place on Earth Without Ads (ctd)?

Front and center on the online Times today is a story headlined, “The Body as Billboard: Your Ad Here.” The copy speaks for itself. TERRY GARDNER, a legal secretary in California, returned home from work recently to find two police officers waiting. They said her brother had told them he thought she might be having a breakdown because she had shaved her head. Ms. Gardner, 50, said in a telephone interview that she had told the officers that she was fine and had shaved her head for an advertising campaign by Air New Zealand, which had hired her to display… Read More

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Who Will Tell the People?

David Brooks wrote today in the Times about the American Dream, as he often does. He was summarizing the results from a Pew survey asking “where Americans would like to live and what sort of lifestyle they would like to have.” The first thing they found is that even in dark times, Americans are still looking over the next horizon. Nearly half of those surveyed said they would rather live in a different type of community from the one they are living in at present. In short, Americans may indeed be gloomy and hunkered down. But they’re still Americans. They… Read More

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The Power of a Milking Stool

I mentioned in a blog a few days ago that I participated in a workshop on Learning and Leadership for Sustainability, sponsored by Society of Organizational Learning and led by Peter Senge. I was part of the resource team and offered a short discussion of the concept of sustainability developed in my book. Other than that I was just like all the rest of the attendees. Now some 10 days later I have had time to reflect and gather my thoughts. I took home many lessons, but one in particular stands out as reinforcing something I already had come to… Read More

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Post-Valentine Day Thoughts

I’ve noticed that most of my posts are focused on the environmental facet of sustainability. It’s not hard to explain; it’s relatively easy to access the world of environmental concerns. They are vast, but relatively focused. Complexity, the other story of how the world works, is not easy to embody but it fairly concise. But when it comes to a new story of what it means to be human, the sustainability story is much more diffuse and hard to pin down. But as I have said in my book, it is the human side of sustainability that needs to be… Read More

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A Sustainability Valentine

Connectedness is part of the new sustainability story. I heard the Kingston Trio sing “Let’s Get Together” first about 1965. Later the Youngbloods made a hit out of it. Love is but a song to sing Feels the way we’ll die. You can make the mountains ring Or make the angels cry. Though the bird is on the wing And you may know not why. Oh! Come on you people now Smile on your brother Everybody get together Try to love one another right now Come on you people now Smile on your brother Everybody get together Try to love… Read More

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Synchronicity at Work

On the heels of finding the new website featured in the last post, I came on this story in WorldWatch about Buzz Hollings by Thomas Homer-Dixon. Hollings is a pioneer in developing models for describing and governing complexity. He calls the framework “adaptive management.” I prefer to call it adaptive governance because complex systems cannot be “managed” in the usual sense of the word. Complexity is a central part of the new story of sustainability. Maybe the discovery of two excellent discussions of the subject in the course of only a day is a sign that this story of how… Read More

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A New Website about Resilience and Complexity

I recently discovered People and Place, a new website for complexity mavens that is well worth a good look. Here’s what the site says about itself: About P&P Some relationships are long familiar. Boy meets girl. Summer turns to fall. Other connections are newly recognized or scarcely affirmed. The DNA we share. The biosphere that supports all life. What are the ties that draw people together and to place? How have these connections – and our understandings – evolved over time? What social-ecological relationships support a more reliable prosperity? How is meaningful change accelerated? Part weblog, part web-based journal, People… Read More

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