http://rs.resalliance.org coping with ecological suprise in a human dominated world Thu, 01 May 2008 01:36:09 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en People or organizations can focus their effort on a narrow goal, or they can diversify the uses of resources to explore and innovate. It is hard to do both at the same time. This pattern arises in politics as well as in corporations, agencies or academic institutions. When politics of ... http://rs.resalliance.org/2008/04/30/scenarios-and-resilience/ From the April 26th New York Times, Environmental Cost of Shipping Groceries Around the World, discusses the complexities of global food trade. Its great efficiency, the hidden subsidies to transport, and the politics of carbon footprint calculations: Cod caught off Norway is shipped to China to be turned into filets, ... http://rs.resalliance.org/2008/04/27/ecological-economics-of-the-global-food-trade/ On Pruned Alexander Trevi describes the sculptor David Nash's art created from following the movement of a wooden boulder down a stream. Nash tried to use the river to move the wood to his studio, and when it became stuck he documented the movement of the wooden boulder ... http://rs.resalliance.org/2008/04/24/slow-ecological-art/ Last week at Resilience 2008 in Stockholm, I gave a presentation on the Practitioner’s workbook Assessing and Managing Resilience in Social-Ecological Systems. The workbook incorporates key principles underlying resilience thinking and provides a framework for assessing the resilience of social-ecological systems and considering options to set the system on ... http://rs.resalliance.org/2008/04/23/wiki-launch-of-the-practitioners-guide-to-resilience-assessment/ The Stockholm Resilience Centre has released two press releases on the conclusion of Resilience 2008. The first Novelty thinking key to sustainable development reports on the concluding panel of the conference in which Elinor Ostrom, Sverker Sörlin, Carole Crumley, Line Gordon and Buzz Holling reflected on the conference, lessons from the ... http://rs.resalliance.org/2008/04/18/novelty-needed-for-sustainable-development-resilience-2008/ Agriculture are argueably is the human activity that has the largest impact on the world, impacting many ecosystem services. However, most farmers have minimal financial incentive to enhance ecosystem services other than crop yield. WRI Earthtrends reviews the evidence that Expanding Agriculture and Protecting Ecosystems: Can Payments to ... http://rs.resalliance.org/2008/04/17/can-payments-to-farmers-expand-agricultural-production-and-the-supply-of-other-ecosystem-services/ Melissa Leach, co-author of the well known book Misreading the African Landscape and director of the STEPS centre, provides her perspective on the Resilience 2008 conference, on STEP's Centre's Crossings blog.  She writes: Despite the avowed interdisciplinarity of resilience studies, one such tension is still beteween those who come primarily ... http://rs.resalliance.org/2008/04/17/melissa-leach-reports-from-resilience-2008/ The Stockholm Resilience Centre has an online picture gallery from Resilience 2008. Buzz Holling, considered the father of resilience thinking, took the audience on a journey through his 50 year long environmental research. Photo: J. Lokrantz/Azote. http://rs.resalliance.org/2008/04/16/resilience-2008-picture-gallery/ Australian economist John Quiggin writes on The sustainability of improving living standards in a world of climate change. He discusses responses to the Stern Review on the economics of climate change. In particular, its conclusion that stabilizing at the atmosphere at 500 ppm CO2 equivalent in 2050 would ... http://rs.resalliance.org/2008/04/12/the-sustainability-of-improving-living-standards/ Realise, Reorganise, Adapt - Reorganising knowledge for sustainability is a student led resilience workshop that follows the Resilience conference on Friday April 18, 10.00-14.00 at Stockholm Resilience Centre. It will address the questions: How should we organise knowledge for sustainability? Is the adaptive cycle a useful tool for organising interdisciplinary research and building ... http://rs.resalliance.org/2008/04/10/student-led-resilience-workshop-at-resilience-2008/