Slow solutions to fast-moving ecological crises won’t work – changing basic human behaviours must come first

Tue, 21 Nov 2023 04:57:54 +1100

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

Andrew Pam
<https://theconversation.com/slow-solutions-to-fast-moving-ecological-crises-wont-work-changing-basic-human-behaviours-must-come-first-215055>

"As the world grapples with multiple ecological crises, it’s clear the various
responses over the past half century have largely failed. Our new research
argues the priority now should be addressing the real driver of these crises –
our own maladaptive behaviours.

For at least five decades, scientists have worked to understand and document
how human demands exceed Earth’s regenerative capacity, causing “ecological
overshoot”.

Those warnings of the threats posed by the overshoot’s many symptoms, including
climate change, were perhaps naive. They assumed people and governments would
respond logically to existential threats by drastically changing behaviours.

The young researchers in the 1970s who published the Limits to Growth
computer models showed graphically what would happen over the next century if
business-as-usual economic growth continued. Their models predicted the
ecological and social disasters we are witnessing now.

Once people saw the results of the research, the authors believed, they would
understand the trajectory the world was on and reduce consumption accordingly.
Instead, they saw their work dismissed and business-as-usual play out."

Cheers,
       *** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net               Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/                 Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/            Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/               Manager, Serious Cybernetics

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