I found this presentation by Michael Crichton to be fairly interesting. Some may think it comes off as anti-environmentalist and dismissive of global warming. Seems to me he is just trying to make a point that the environment needs to be considered from a different angle. Environmentalists’ hearts are in the right place, but we need to understand that the environment is a complex system rather than a linear system with clear cause and effect relationships. I suppose he is saying the current environmentalist and media movement of using fear as a call to action is probably working against the goal.
And I don’t like the misuse of scare tactics, whether it relates to terrorism or the environment. Rarely does frightening a population result in sound decision making.
[Update: Turns out the Crichton read was worthwhile if only for the presentation of linear versus complex systems. This gave me a new level of understanding with regard to a topic that came up at work. The concept will allow me to be much more cogent in some arguments I'll be having in a meeting Monday morning.]
