We post the paper The Forester’s Lever: Industrial Ecology and Wood Products, which
appeared recently in the Journal of Forestry.
We post the talk The Census of Marine Life and the Role of Aquariums, which Jesse
presented at the Musee Oceanographique, Monaco, 23 November 2000.
We post the paper “Restoring the Forests”, by David G. Victor and Jesse H. Ausubel,
which recently appeared in the journal Foreign Affairs.
The Forester’s Lever: Industrial Ecology and Wood Products, Iddo K.
Wernick, Paul E. Waggoner, and Jesse H. Ausubel, appeared in the Journal of
Forestry 98(10):8-14, 2000
and
Restoring the Forests, David G. Victor and Jesse H. Ausubel, appeared in
Foreign Affairs 79(6): 127-144, 2000
A column about us, “Optimistic about our environmental future”, is syndicated in many newspapers across the country.
By MITZI PERDUE, Scripps Howard News Service
September 11, 2000
As director of the Program for the Human Environment at Rockefeller University, Jesse Ausubel doesn’t have a lot of faith in man’s capacity for sacrifice and responsibility. Nevertheless, he’s optimistic about our environmental future.
We’ll get to the reasons for his optimism in a moment. But first, why is he so pessimistic about changing human behavior?
“Human nature hasn’t changed much since biblical times,” he points out. “We have to be very cautious in expecting abstinence or self-control.”
And he goes on to remind us, “The seven deadly sins are still very much with us today. It doesn’t matter whether we’re talking about the president or a local auto mechanic, people are still driven by avarice, envy, jealousy, pride and so on.”
In Ausubel’s view, there’s a biological reason why these kinds of behaviors are difficult to change. It has to do with how our brains are structured.
The most primitive part of our brains has structures and functions that closely resemble a reptile’s brain. This reptilelike part controls such things as self-preservation, aggression, patrolling territory and displays of dominance or submission.
A second, less primitive, part of the human brain has a lot in common with the brains of other mammals. This section controls emotions and behaviors such as care of the young and mutual grooming.
The third and largest area of our brains, the neocortex, is the part that makes humans unique. The neocortex makes possible intellectual tasks such as reading, writing or abstract thinking.
Unfortunately, the reptilelike part of our brain is resistant to change. It’s extremely difficult to change, for example, the instinct for territoriality. The instinct to maximize territory, whether actual territory or physical possessions, is deeply wired into our brains and not easily satisfied. “Bill Gates may have $100 billion,” Ausubel points out, “but he hasn’t run out of ideas on how to spend his money.”
Ausubel can imagine a time when people may no longer have an innate desire for space and mobility and possessions, but unfortunately, the time scale for this could be a million years. He’d rather see us rely on changing technology instead of hoping that the human brain will change.
The good news is that technology is enabling us to have less impact on the environment. For example, improved agricultural technology means less land needs to be cultivated.
“If, during the next 60 to 70 years the world farmer reaches the average yield of today’s USA corn grower, the 10 billion people likely to live on Earth will need only half of today’s cropland.”
To show how this has already worked, he noted that since 1966 wheat farmers in India have increased yields so much that they have been able to save 50 million hectares of land from being plowed. That’s an area equivalent to the size of Spain.
Or take energy production. “The total efficiency of the energy system, from extracting a kilo of coal to the light it ultimately generates so you can read Harry Potter, is only about 5 percent. We’re far from the potential performance of what we could do,” he says.
Ausubel hopes that environmental engineers will help change technology since our brains aren’t going to change anytime soon. If you know of a young person who is looking for a career where he or she could make a difference, why not suggest environmental engineering?
On the Net: https://phe.rockefeller.edu.
(Mitzi Perdue writes about environmentally related matters for Scripps Howard News Service.)
SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE
1090 Vermont Ave. N.W. Suite 1000
Washington, D.C. USA 20005
GENERAL LINE: 1.202.408.1484
FAX: 1.202.408.5950
On 10 September 2000 our beloved friend and valued colleague William A. Nierenberg, former director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography, passed away. A Tribute was prepared for the Memorial Service held in Bill’s honor at Scripps on 28 September.
The Department of Commerce has established a new Panel on Ocean Exploration on which Jesse is serving. The work of the panel is described at https://oceanpanel.nos.noaa.gov.
New essay on the Great Reversal of the
destruction of nature on-line.
The ruckus continues over Jesse’s
Millennial energy essay, with
The Industrial Physicist running several letters about it and Jesse’s
replies in its April and June issues, and more to come in August.
Virtual U released! University management goes high tech.
Culminating 5 years of work, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Jackson
Hole Higher Education Group, and Enlight Software announce the release of
Virtual U, a new software product
that enables a player to preside over a university and provides a compelling
new way to understand and work with the challenges of higher education.
Virtual U was conceived by William Massy and Jesse. Purchase your copy at
the Virtual U web site.
The Census of Marine Life officially begins with the
announcement of 8 grants involving more than 60 institutions in 15 countries to begin the
creation of the Ocean Biogeographical Information System, as reported in
Science magazine 288:1575-1576 (2 June 2000).