Coping with the pace of change
We tend to under-estimate the extent of change -- and we tend to under-estimate what can be achieved. For example, no one would have believed 20 years ago what could be achieved in 2005 via the Google search engine -- it has transformed research.
I have just returned from the annual conference of The Club of Rome, held this year at Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia. The Duke of Edinburgh once referred to The Club of Rome as the “global conscience of humanity”. It is a think tank of 100 members drawn from across the world and a variety of disciplines.
The Club made its name in 1972 with a report warning about the dangers to the environment arising out of the rapid economic growth: The Limits to Growth. The world has changed a great deal since 1972 -- both in terms of what has been achieved and some of the increased risks.
This year’s conference reviewed the progress in sustainable development, the future of work (how to create employment in a globalised world), how to improve education to fit the new era, and how to improve cultural understanding.
The 1972 report was based on “systems thinking”. This was then a fairly new science based on seeing the interconnectedness of issues. Academics by contrast have a tendency to specialise in specific issues and so lose sight of the big picture and how one issue has a bearing on others.
The 2005 conference re-affirmed the value of system thinking. It called on decision-makers to see the interconnectedness of problems and solutions.
One recommendation was a suggestion for a “cross-generational contract”, which would oblige the present generation to refrain from practices which may destroy or severely deteriorate the conditions of life for future generations.
A second recommendation was that education in both developed and developing countries should be given much greater priority to overcome social exclusion, unemployment and poverty.
Education is not a guarantee of national success -- but it is a guarantee against national failure. In other words, no thriving society today has a poor record on education. It may well be that some societies do well in educational terms and yet are still not thriving. This is because education is a necessary but not sole key to success.
A third recommendation is that decision-makers take an immediate and deeper look into the serious threat of climate change and its consequences for humankind and the global economy.
Being in the US in the last few days has certainly been an interesting experience. The country is still reeling from “Katrina” and “Rita” and it will take years for the states affected to recover fully. There have been concerns raised about the ability of the three levels of government to cope with natural disasters. If the experts on weather are correct, then the hurricane situation will get worse rather than better. Some parts of the southern US may become uninsurable.
A second issue has been the high price of petrol. This has been due both to the loss of oil production in the southern US because of the hurricanes as well as the instability in the Middle East. But there is also a fear that perhaps the “age of oil” is drawing to a close because supplies are running down -- a warning issued by The Club of Rome in 1972. President Bush is now calling on fellow Americans to be more conservative in their use of oil.
But who knows what can be achieved if enough people are now aware of the new dangers and are prepared to act? The Club of Rome has provided some ideas over the years on what could be done.
Keith Suter, PhD, Consultant for Social Policy. Reprinted with permission.
Broadcast 7th October 2005 on Radio 2GB's 'Brian Wilshire Programme' (Sydney, Australia) at 9pm.
Tagged: club+of+rome, climate+change, global+warming, oil, education
I have just returned from the annual conference of The Club of Rome, held this year at Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia. The Duke of Edinburgh once referred to The Club of Rome as the “global conscience of humanity”. It is a think tank of 100 members drawn from across the world and a variety of disciplines.
The Club made its name in 1972 with a report warning about the dangers to the environment arising out of the rapid economic growth: The Limits to Growth. The world has changed a great deal since 1972 -- both in terms of what has been achieved and some of the increased risks.
This year’s conference reviewed the progress in sustainable development, the future of work (how to create employment in a globalised world), how to improve education to fit the new era, and how to improve cultural understanding.
The 1972 report was based on “systems thinking”. This was then a fairly new science based on seeing the interconnectedness of issues. Academics by contrast have a tendency to specialise in specific issues and so lose sight of the big picture and how one issue has a bearing on others.
The 2005 conference re-affirmed the value of system thinking. It called on decision-makers to see the interconnectedness of problems and solutions.
One recommendation was a suggestion for a “cross-generational contract”, which would oblige the present generation to refrain from practices which may destroy or severely deteriorate the conditions of life for future generations.
A second recommendation was that education in both developed and developing countries should be given much greater priority to overcome social exclusion, unemployment and poverty.
Education is not a guarantee of national success -- but it is a guarantee against national failure. In other words, no thriving society today has a poor record on education. It may well be that some societies do well in educational terms and yet are still not thriving. This is because education is a necessary but not sole key to success.
A third recommendation is that decision-makers take an immediate and deeper look into the serious threat of climate change and its consequences for humankind and the global economy.
Being in the US in the last few days has certainly been an interesting experience. The country is still reeling from “Katrina” and “Rita” and it will take years for the states affected to recover fully. There have been concerns raised about the ability of the three levels of government to cope with natural disasters. If the experts on weather are correct, then the hurricane situation will get worse rather than better. Some parts of the southern US may become uninsurable.
A second issue has been the high price of petrol. This has been due both to the loss of oil production in the southern US because of the hurricanes as well as the instability in the Middle East. But there is also a fear that perhaps the “age of oil” is drawing to a close because supplies are running down -- a warning issued by The Club of Rome in 1972. President Bush is now calling on fellow Americans to be more conservative in their use of oil.
But who knows what can be achieved if enough people are now aware of the new dangers and are prepared to act? The Club of Rome has provided some ideas over the years on what could be done.
Keith Suter, PhD, Consultant for Social Policy. Reprinted with permission.
Broadcast 7th October 2005 on Radio 2GB's 'Brian Wilshire Programme' (Sydney, Australia) at 9pm.
Tagged: club+of+rome, climate+change, global+warming, oil, education
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home