FEATURE: "10 Fixes for the Planet: Scientists, inventors and entrepreneurs are focusing on ways to help the environment. Some of our favorite ideas." By Anne Underwood, Newsweek, 14 April 2008, p. 52.
The cool quote: "We have to stop treating the earth as a wholly-owned subsidiary of our economy."
Not a problem when the bulk of the world lives either in the Malthusian reality of the Gap (wealth and population are inversely related) or the Soviet bloc (where all are equally lower-middle class) and only a fraction of the planet lives within America's liberal international trade order (about 15% of humanity in 1980 that controls two-thirds of the world's productive power and wealth). But once you jump to about 5/6ths of the planet living within that order, and the consumption ramps up dramatically just like it did in the West after 1800 (see A Farewell to Alms by Gregory Clark, then you have to start factoring in your "natural capital" in the manner advocated by Amory Lovins (whose ideas are being featured in more and more books, making him a powerful grand strategist in big-thinking circles today—and yes, he really is a grand strategist for today's world, which is way beyond the vision of the classic balance-of-power crowd).
Comments (3)
You've got to love Amory Lovins. Even if you find a reason to disagree with some things, here is a guy committed to thinking about the future in real and practical ways. As for consumption, I have the feeling that most development/save-the-earth discussions center around Energy Issues. Development can be productive and not destroy the planet if, and only if, we find a way to convert the world from fossil fuels to something else. The ancillary consumption issues of raw materials, land use, etc don't seem to me to be much on the radar. Perhaps it's just a process that must occur one step at a time. But, the more forward thinking we have committed to trying to anticipate problems, the better.
Posted by Drexel Kleber | April 30, 2008 8:26 AM
I think energy generation near energy usage is the world changing idea. Combine it with what is happening in automation/robotics and you start to glimpse a future that is very much the same -- yet based on a totally different rule set.
Posted by Christopher Thompson | May 1, 2008 1:38 AM
I'm a bit at a loss as to why Tom recognizes "natural capital" as a factor in "everything else" yet skims over its significance in his book The Pentagon's New Map. Energy, while possibly the most immediate natural capital factor, may prove the easiest to control. The globe has finite resourses as any signifigant narrowing of the connectivity gap will soon remind us. I'd like to see more of the natural capital factor included in his global prognostications.
Posted by Chris Bartholomew | May 2, 2008 8:58 PM