Is God the Biosphere? - 1 - Avoidance And The Addiction System

The Hidden Power

When we finished series 2 - Preflight Checklist - one thing was clear, any governance for Spaceship Earth going forward must put the Biosphere at the centre. Governance models from households, up through companies and countries, to international bodies must include the Biosphere as their central partner.

So far, perhaps, so obvious. We know we need to act, and in many cases, we know what we need to do. But it's not happening. We just can't seem to muster sufficient focus.

In Series 3 - Is God the Biosphere? - we interrogate this state of play.

In this episode we introduce the background and take a look a the systemic straight-jackets that contain us - politically, economically, psychologically - in a kind of trap that makes it almost impossible to avoid feeding the beast. But this is not doom and gloom, not at all. As we constantly reiterate, Change Is Possible - this is our purpose. And there can be no effective change without a frank assessment of reality, so this is where we start.

And then. As the series progresses, we will explore the tranquil jungles of possibility, armed with the question:

What, exactly, would make the Biosphere a compelling object for our attention?

Talking Points:

The attractions of Systems Thinking, and what it is

The challenge - Biodiversity Revisited

Urgency of IPCC report: what does Systems Thinking have to contribute?

Why has the biosphere not proved a compelling object for our attention?

1 - The Tragedy of The Commons: shortsightedness

2 - The Global Addiction System: The monetary system, and the Technosphere

3 - Avoidance: The doom bar, the scale of the challenge, the vast constituency of the very rich, the fantasies

Links:

Biodiversity Revisited:

https://luchoffmanninstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/biodiversity-revisited-research-agenda-2020.pdf

IPCC Summary - (MIT Technology Review)

https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/04/04/1048832/un-climate-report-carbon-removal-is-now-essential/?truid=&utm_source=the_download&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the_download.unpaid.engagement&utm_term=&utm_content=04-05-2022&mc_cid=1ab39c4971&mc_eid=24fa1486a0

Original Peter Haff article describing the Technosphere - Technology as a Geological Phenomenon: Implications for Human Well-Being:

https://pne.people.si.umich.edu/PDF/Haff%202013%20Technology%20as%20a%20Geological%20Phenomenon.pdf

Epic sweep of monetary system (book review):

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/the-financial-system-is-supposed-to-serve-the-economy--not-harm-it/2019/12/26/59c26028-1d0c-11ea-8d58-5ac3600967a1_story.html

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