GEOblogging – an Introduction to the Global Environmental Outlook report

Natural resources and ecosystems underpin all our hopes for a better world.

These words, from the recently-issued UNEP Global Environmental Outlook GEO 4 report, should be tattooed mirror-wise on the foreheads of every politician and on every officer of suitably large corporations, so they can see them when they get up and look in the mirror every morning.

The forward to GEO 4, over the signature of the UN Secretary-General Bai Ki-Moon, strikes the familiar themes of dire events awaiting us if we as societies don’t come to grips with climate change, resource depletion and loss of biodiversity. For a lot of Americans, I’ll wager that the message is being received with all of the enthusiasm with being told to “eat your vegetables”, something else we in the US aren’t doing enough of either.

Issued on the 20th anniversary of the World Commission on Environmental and Development report “Our Common Future” (also known as the Brundtland Commission) which coined the term “sustainable development”, GEO 4 promises to be another in the series of “global integrated environmental assessment reports aimed at providing comprehensive, reliable, scientifically credible, and policy relevant assessments on the interaction between environment and society”, which scarcely anyone will read. Perhaps blogging about it will present GEO 4 in more digestible packets, disseminating a more nuanced view of the report beyond the monotonic and childishly simplistic “we’re doomed as a species” message which I’ve seen in more than one newspaper article.

Before the Brundland Commission’s report, development corresponded to industrialization and measured solely by economic activity and increases to wealth, with protection of the environment seen as an obstacle to development (Chapter 1, page 10). Today, with the emergence of concepts such as natural capital and ecosystem services, the linkage between environment and development is more strongly perceived. Indeed, it is possible to say with conviction that the voices who would oppose the message that we need to be stewards of natural resources and ecosystems are either speaking from ignorance or serving as agents of disinformation for stakeholders who would be required to relinquish wealth, status and power in order for our societies to provide this stewardship.

Don’t wait for me – go ahead, dig in, start reading, start blogging about this.