Browsed by
Category: climate change

Evolutionary processes work at multiple levels

Evolutionary processes work at multiple levels

To shape whole communities. Article at Phys.org. The introduction: “Evolutionary theory has long held that natural selection largely operates at the level of individuals. Findings from Northern Arizona University researchers, recently published in the Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics, suggest that selection can also occur at multiple levels to shape whole communities. This multi-level selection arises from the interactions of key species that cascade to alter communities and ecosystems.”

Robert Frank: Putting peer pressure to work to save the planet

Robert Frank: Putting peer pressure to work to save the planet

Video below. Here’s the blurb: Psychologists have long understood that social environments profoundly shape our behavior, sometimes for the better, often for the worse. But social influence is a two-way street—our environments are themselves products of our behavior. Author Robert Frank joins us with insight from his book Under the Influence: Putting Peer Pressure to Work, identifying ways to unlock the latent power of social context—perhaps even on a level that could save the planet. Frank draws our attention to…

Read More Read More

Winter 2020 discussion prompts

Winter 2020 discussion prompts

What is humanity’s situation with respect to surviving long-term with a good quality of life? (Frame the core opportunities and obstacles.) What attributes of our evolved, experientially programmed brains contribute to this situation? (What are the potential leverage points for positive change within our body-brain-mind system?) What courses of research and action (including currently available systems, tools, and practices and current and possible lines of R&D) have the potential to improve our (and the planetary life system’s) near- and long-term…

Read More Read More

Climate change and social transformations

Climate change and social transformations

Article subtitled “Is it time for a quantum leap?” By Karen O’Brien (2016), Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, 7(5), 618-626.  She is Professor of Sociology and Human Geography,  University of Oslo.  She has been heavily involved in the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Global Change Programmes and the transition to Future Earth, a 10-year global change research initiative. More bio here. The abstract: “Climate change is recognized as an urgent societal problem with widespread…

Read More Read More