There are people in the world who habitually say yes. And there are people who habitually say no. The people who say yes are rewarded by the adventures they get to go on, and the people who say no are rewarded by the safety they attain. We now live in a world of complex challenges, not just complicated problems. In an increasingly exponential world, there needs to be a distinct difference between our approach to tackling complex challenges as opposed to complicated problems. The future is notoriously difficult to predict. Our shortcomings in seeing and extrapolating the exponential trends that…
In addition to my writings on the Anthropocene, climate change, biophysical limits, depletion of raw materials, massive extinction of species, etc., there is a major issue that is happening right under our nose: socio-economic disparities weaken the resilience of our cities. Stretching the boundaries of my knowledge on economics and social science I dare to state that resilience can only remain useful as a concept and as progressive practice, if social dimensions are taken into account. Social-economic exclusion, disparities, inequality etc and the resulting poverty, are complex problems that manifests themselves in many different areas of life, are multidimensional and…
Ecosystems, species, wild populations, local varieties and breeds of domesticated plants and animals are shrinking, deteriorating or vanishing. The essential, interconnected web of life on Earth is getting smaller and increasingly frayed. This loss is a direct result of human activity and constitutes a direct threat to human well-being in all regions of the world. Once we're over the threshold...you're dealing with how the Earth works, and it goes on its own ride. CURRENT GLOBAL RESPONSE INSUFFICIENT; TRANSFORMATIVE CHANGES NEEDED Human activities are transforming Earth’s atmosphere, ocean and land surfaces at a scale and magnitude not previously seen during the…
The replacement of natural processes with synthetic ones indicates a world that is becoming increasingly more pliant and malleable. By deliberately tinkering with some of the planet’s most physical and biological operations, humans stand on the verge of turning a world that was found into a world that is made. Moreover, the new technologies driving this new epoch will not only transform how the planet looks but will drastically alter how the planet works too. In this era of the Anthropocene, humanity is rapidly altering our ecosystems and outpacing existing rates of evolution and adaptation for many organisms. Our species’…
