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Scientists around the world give us 10 to 20 years to change our behavior. But negative "Doom and Gloom" environmentalism will not move the people toward positive change. Nobody wins if we feel powerless to change or do not know how. There are three ingredients, three stages, of this talk - information, motivation and inspiration. "Tell me what's in it for me, lift my sights and my spirits, and show me where to start".
Principal Points:
- GDP (GNP) = Consumption. Consumption of what? Consumption of resources, of Earth. We expect GDP to expand indefinitely - but Earth is finite, there is only so much of it. How do we reconcile that?
- There is no long-term conflict between what is good for the economy and what is good for the environment.
- In our grandparents' era, providing for us meant harvesting Earth's abundance. Now, providing for our grandchildren means the careful, conservative preservation of Earth's natural bounty.
- Religious traditions teach us that we have dominion over the Earth. We took "dominion" to mean "control" and "licence to use". We can reinterpret "dominion" to mean "responsibility for" and "stewardship".
- "Sustainability" means the greatest good for the greatest number of people for the greatest period of time. Sustainability can be accomplished through conservation and technological innovation.
- "Can we save the Earth?" is the wrong question. Humans are fragile, not the Earth. And of course we can. Will we? Our values and our choices will determine that outcome
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