I just attended a meeting at CRED. We discussed Herman Daley, an environmental economis,. who suggests that only an environmental macroeconomic theory can help us think about sustainability in ways that include the value of the environment and its creatures. The question of what people value and desire is typically hard to measure precisiely because there is no pure type for value or desire, all have been operated on by culture. Yet, according to Daley, we can give value to our earth and its creatures either by understanding their worth to us, or by assessing their instrinsic value independent of their relationship to humans. Either way, the equations we use to calculate optimal scale have to incorporate the larger context in which we are embedded.
On Peoples' Minds: A neighbor of mine wonders whether or not to drive or fly to her vacation destination. The price of gas makes the plane flight almost cheaper, but the plane's engine emissions are also costly to the ecosystem. I note that the idea of not travelling isn't an option. We have grown so used to travel. What happens if we have to cut back? What if travel to far away places was exotic for a reason?
In the News: Simple and brilliant editorial in todays NYTimes. We have all the evidence we need to articulate that climate change is already happening. Global warming is upon us. It won't suffice to simply switch over our consumerist practices and to buy green products. We have to alter the way we use and acquire resources, and change the way we live. My work is all about articulating what such a changed life might look like.

Mind and Matter

There is a tendency for people to think that we can solve global warming simply by changing our technologies. Not true, We have to also change our behavior and learn to live with limitations, and less wastefulness. Unfortunately, people have grown so accustomed to convenience and to acting on impulse that living sustainably may prove to be a very large challenge. At CRED, researchers are talking about decision making and the environment --- what will influence people's abilities to choose things like water management or land use policies that are good for them in the long term but require changes or sacrifice in the short term. One recurrent finding is that people need maps, strategies and cognitive plans that they can easily follow. I'm thinking about what sustainable maps of the mind might look like.

On Peoples' minds: "I've been trying to make notes on my carbon footprint, to keep a waste inventory. It's staggering! My life is organized in a way that depends on being able to throw things away - from coffee at Starbucks to packaged foods to all the energy I use just by watching TV. This ecology thing is much bigger than people think. For me, it would be like a personal revolution --- and I'm not sure I would even know how."

"If we can design our way into difficulty, we can design our way out . . . [but] to do things differently, we must perceive things differently" John Thackara.

In the News: You are what you spend, and consumption is spreading faster than ever. Good for prosperity, bad for the environment. Time to look at economic models that don't require all this excess to hold together a nation's financial health.