MONDAY LUNCHEON
Monday, July 30, 2007
12:45-1:15 p.m.
The Great Ecological Restoration Begins
Jared Diamond is wrong. Human civilization and the world’s ecosystems will not collapse in this century. This presentation looks at the emerging positive ecological trends that will dominate the next hundred years. It features scientific and economic analyses showing how humanity will increasingly withdraw its productive activities from wild nature enabling ecosystems to heal themselves and to thrive. Trends that will be highlighted include: human population growth, urbanization, dematerialization, agricultural and energy efficiency, forest growth, global temperature, and overall economic growth. More than 80% of the world’s wealth is intangible and that percentage will increase throughout the 21st century.
Attendees will realize that global ecological trends are not nearly as dire as they are often portrayed. Of course, there are still major ecological problems—declining fisheries, shrinking tropical forests, growing scarcity of fresh water—but these problems are transitory. Come learn what policies and institutions are necessary to hasten the Great Restoration!
Ronald Bailey, science correspondent, Reason magazine; author, Liberation Biology: The Scientific and Moral Case for the Biotech Revolution, Charlottesville, Virginia
key words: ecology, environment, civilization