Podcast Notes: Nature is Rebounding
A Long Now Seminar. Nature is Rebounding: Land-and-Ocean-sparing through Concentrating Human Activities (Jesse Ausubel)
It’s so surprising to hear someone talk about things that are going well, as opposed to how we’re headed towards imminent doom and destruction. (I was just as surprised when I ran across Hans Rosling’s talk DON’T PANIC. The Truth About Population, in which he presents data indicating that the increase in population growth seems to have peaked)
Given the role that Jesse Ausubel has played in climate change research and environmentalism, it’s not like he can be accused of being an anti-conservationist.
His main point is:
American use of almost everything except information seems to be peaking. This is not because the resources are exhausted, but because consumers have changed consumption, and because producers changed production.*
His key arguments are:
The land used for farmland has peaked. Agriculture has increasingly become more productive, achieving higher yields with less input (land, water, etc.).
Timber use has peaked, resulting in an increase in forest area.
The use of other important commodities, like plastics, has peaked.
Americans may have reached peak car travel and petroleum consumption.
Unfortunately, "ocean life is getting a raw deal”. Ocean conservation is about 100 years behind land conservation.
Of course, it doesn’t mean we should stop our conservation efforts. It just means that, fortunately, some of the efforts put in place are having an effect. But it’s also interesting to note that innovations/practices not related to conservation (like eReaders) are also having a positive impact.
* Quote taken from the essay he wrote based on this talk: The Return of Nature. How Technology Liberates the Environment.