Talk by Peter Kareiva, Chief Scientist of the Nature Conservancy

This is a brief report of the talk by Peter Karieva, Chief Scientist of the Nature Conservancy, given Nov. 10, 2011 at the Beckman Center for the National Acadamies of Science and Engineering.  The youtube video of the talk will appear on their Distinctive Voices series.

He first illustrated the wrong approaches used by environmental groups in the past, that has 50% of the public convinced that they are extreme and unreasonable. The wrong approaches are:

pristine wilderness believers;  making the case of nature versus jobs; claiming that nature is fragile and any situation is apocalyptic; and the rejection of technology, including genetically modified crops.

The more reasonable approaches are to quit romanticising; bring nature into cities, since four-fifths of Americans live in cities; broaden their constituency through education and youth experiences; embrace helpful technology; partner with business (80% of Fortune 500 companies have sustainability officers); and see nature as for people and with job creation.

In comprimising with projects, the approach is to:  avoid, mitigate when you can’t avoid, and offset when you can’t do either.

Afterwards he said they are also considering nuclear power as a bridge technology in the next thirty years.

 

 

 

About Dennis SILVERMAN

I am a retired Professor of Physics and Astronomy at U C Irvine. For two decades I have been active in learning about energy and the environment, and in reporting on those topics for a decade. For the last four years I have added science policy. Lately, I have been reporting on the Covid-19 pandemic of our times.
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