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.