This documentary by the BBC on Global Dimming is probably the most alarming global climate issue I have seen to date (and I was reminded of it this morning as the sun was dimmed from a local fire). It points out the simple long term agricultural measurements that show the amount of sunlight hitting the. . .   Read More

Muir Glacier as seen on August 13, 1941 (left) and August 31, 2004 (right).

Photography has now been around long enough that re-photography of certain sites can show over a century of change. Recent photographs depicting glacier retreat, like the ones above, have become the canary in the mineshaft of climate change discussion. Just. . .   Read More

photo of flooded Thames by elyob

The Long Now’s Long Bets project asks us, active bettors and wider public alike, to think more deeply and carefully about the medium- to long-term future than our assumptions (and busy schedules) might otherwise allow.

Nudging our culture towards assuming greater responsibility for addressing (and creating) possible. . .   Read More

A little while ago the design for the Svalbard International Seed Vault was released (BBC article).  They are building a long term vault for seed stock preservation.  Interestingly they seem to have chosen the site mainly under the assumption that the planet will only get warmer in the next 200 years.  My understanding of the. . .   Read More

As part of the series of “Long Shorts” (videos, generally short ones, that exemplify long term thinking or longer perspective).

This German made Academy Award winning short is one of my absolute favorites in the Long Short category. . .   Read More

Catastrophic drought is coming back

There are two kinds of historians, Brian Fagan says, parachutists and truffle hunters. Parachutists command an overview of the landscape, while truffle hunters dig deeply to uncover marvelous treasures. Fagan is a parachutist. In his talk Fagan emphasized a wide view of human history as it unrolls in the landscape. . .   Read More

Welcome to the Anthropocene

The graphs we see these days, John Baez began, all look vertical— carbon burning shooting up, CO2 in the air shooting up, global temperature shooting up, and population still shooting up. How can we understand what really going on? “It’s like trying to understand geology while you’re hanging by. . .   Read More

Climate change and nuclear prospects

Given the power to decide who would go first— anti-nuke Ralph Cavanagh from Natural Resources Defense Counsel or pro-nuke Peter Schwartz from Global Business Network— the large audience Friday night voted for Schwartz to make the opening argument.

It is the threat of “abrupt climate change” that converted. . .   Read More

Finessing the future

Instead of one podium there were four chairs on the stage of Wednesday’s seminar. In three seats, three Dysons: Esther, George and Freeman. They were appearing together on stage for the first time. The fourth held Stewart Brand who led the three through an evening of queries. The questions came from. . .   Read More

The rainforests of home

SPENCER BEEBE is founder and head of Ecotrust, the Portland-based organization that is setting in motion a permanently prosperous conservation economy for the entire Pacific Coast from San Francisco north to Alaska— the temperate rain forest also known as “Salmon Nation.”

SPENCER BEEBE began his Seminar About Long-term Thinking. . .   Read More