The tendency of humans to stick with what they know and avoid change could prevent us moving in to a more sustainable future, says Joss Tantram
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Digital Sustainability's insight:
Sustentabilidade tornou-se um conceito que, por determinadas medidas, a tendência dominante. Tornou-se uma expectativa, em vez de uma exceção, que as empresas de significado (e menores) global têm pessoal e esforço despendido para alguma forma de cidadania sustentável, responsável ou relacionado esforço.
No entanto, isso não significa que a "guerra" para a protecção e valorização do ambiente global foi vencida. Ao contrário, todas as evidências científicas nos diz que as tendências globais esmagadora na qualidade ambiental são para baixo (com o estranho pedaço de menos más notícias ).
De uma perspectiva psicológica e neurológica, existem alguns fatores interessantes no trabalho.
As forças da reação e as forças de protecçãoAlém das forças da reação - aqueles que acreditam que os ambientalistas estão errados, são equivocada, ou que tenham voluntariamente ou ingenuamente interpretado de dados, e para além das forças do protecionismo - aqueles que podem privada concordam que os ambientalistas têm um ponto, mas estão tendo muito bom um tempo de querer mudar, há um outro desafio que enfrentamos na construção de um mundo sustentável - viés status quo.
Viés status quo - o melhor de todos os mundos possíveis?Viés status quo é o fenômeno (apoiada por alguns evidência significativa ) que os seres humanos têm uma preferência objetivamente não-racional para o status quo. Um estudo de 2009 publicado pela National Academy of Sciences EUA descobriram que, quando confrontados com escolhas difíceis, as pessoas são mais propensos a escolher o status quo. Além disso, o estudo também observou que essas escolhas não eram muitas vezes os "melhores", mas que a dificuldade de tomar a decisão foi um fator na condução de pessoas para ficar com o familiar.
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The Brazilian government's geographic department (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística-roughly equivalent to the U.S. Census Bureau) has compiled an fantastic interactive world factbook (available in English and Spanish as well as Portuguese). The ease of navigation allows the user to conduct a specific search of simply explore demographic, economic, environmental and development data on any country in the world.
Via Seth Dixon 
Jesse Gauthier's comment,
October 24, 2012 10:23 AM
The world, here, is literally at your fingertips. It is a simple way for anyone to locate a multitude of data about any given place around the world. It is another way that brings the whole world that much closer in this technological era.
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By moving the slider, the user can compare 1990 false-color Landsat views (left) with recent true-color imagery (right). Humans are increasingly transforming Earth’s surface—through direct activities such as farming, mining, and building, and indirectly by altering its climate. This interactive feature includes 12 places that have experienced significant change since 1990. This is an user-friendly way to compare remote sensing images over time. Pictured above is the Aral Sea, which is and under-the-radar environmental catastrophe in Central Asia that has its roots in the Soviet era's (mis)management policies.
Via Seth Dixon 
Lisa Fonseca's comment,
October 9, 2012 9:19 PM
On the left side of the ARAL SEA, KAZAKHSTAN photo the landsat view provides a large deep blue beautiful lake but the right side gives the actual size of the lake which seems to be decreasing drastically in size. MOUNT KILIMANJARO photo provides a small view of the snow and ice, which correctly describes scientists theory of snow and ice drastically disappearing. COLUMBIA GLACIER, ALASKA UNITED STATES, the prediction of the left side states glaciers melting would be more drastic then the way it actually is in the visual to the right. GULF OF FONSECA, HONDURAS, the false color view shows more area being used by shrimp farms. COASTAL MALAYSIA, the right side image with the more recent information gives a more visible view of the large oil palm plantations what they should now determine is the possible destruction to the rain forest that should be foreseen. SANTA CRUZ, BOLIVIA, large parts of land have been converted to cropland. The image of 1990 demonstrates many changes that are evident to see. ISAHAYA BAY, JAPAN, the image to the left doesn't allow the human eye to view any detail, the image to the right provides a view of where the land has been divided into agriculture. MOUNTAIN TOP REMOVAL, WEST VIRGINIA UNITED STATES, the mountain tops have been altered little by little all mountain tops will have been striped and the area effected will become much much larger then viewed in this image. DONGGUAN, CHINA, wow, this image shows population and industrial increase drastically over time. PALM SPRINGS CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES, the image to the right provides a much better descriptive view. LOUDOUN COUNTRY VIRGINIA, UNITED STATES, this is another image where the population increase is greatly shown.
Derek Ethier's comment,
October 18, 2012 1:32 AM
The Aral Sea is literally shrinking before our eyes and people are doing very little to stop it. Due to years of poor farming techniques (growing cotton and rice in this dry climate) the Aral Sea is literally being sucked dry by these crops. People can do very little about it because growing these crops represents their well being. It is a Catch 22 situation...
Sam Capron's curator insight,
March 27, 9:43 PM
As I sat in class, and Professor Dixon began to tell us about humans changing the world around them I was not surprised, after all I have heard about how we caused global warming by destroying the ozone layer and we cut down trees ect. However what I was not prepared for was the speed with which we reshape the world. In a span of about 20 years we have destroyed entire ecosystems, and it is to late to do anything about it. The Aral Sea is dead, and it would be very difficult to nearly impossible to fix it now.
On top of all that damage, we also learned in class that the area where sea water used to be, but is now land because of the receding water is so salty and baron that it is wasteland and not fit for any type of use. When that water dries up, there will be none left for the nearby countries to utilize. Delete the scoop?
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This infographic provides an overview of the electric car industry and describes their environmental and energy impact... This visualization offers numerous statistics, facts and global comparisons on the future of electric vehicles, in terms of costs, environment, sales and the role of electric vehicles in our transportation systems across the globe. Via Lauren Moss Delete the scoop?
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With water levels set to rise, how will buildings adapt to this changing environment? Here's a roundup of some innovative solutions.
One of the many problems that will accompany this catastrophe is a rise in sea levels due to the melting polar ice caps. Coastal cities and towns are obviously the ones under the greatest threat but so are low-lying lands. We could be saying goodbye to the Netherlands as we know it. So, unless our next evolutionary step is to grow gills then we’re going to have to face up to the facts and find new ways to live within our watery environment. Before we all run for the hills there are ways that architecture can integrate the design of buildings into their aquatic surroundings, giving us the possibility of living with this new world. So, with that in mind, lets take a look at some potential architectural solutions... Via Lauren Moss Delete the scoop?
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It wasn’t too long ago that the term ‘Smart City’ was not on very many people’s radar screens, but recently, it has been more familiar, and people are understanding the concepts behind smart cities.
A smart city uses information combined with technology to improve quality of life, reduce environmental impact, and decrease energy demand. This list of the smartest cities on the planet takes those factors into consideration, as well as the ‘smart’ plans the city might have for the future... Via Lauren Moss, Toni Sánchez, association concert urbain 
ComplexInsight's curator insight,
February 12, 12:26 PM
Great find from Peter Jasperse's blog and an inspirational read for those interested in building a smarter cities and environments since these cities have already started along the journey. Delete the scoop?
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A proposal imagines 300,000 housing units built into six hyper-energy efficient domes. This year Istanbul Design Week goes back to the future with a very ambitious project: HavvAda, a cutting-edge net-positive-energy residential island conceptualized by New York-based Studio Dror. HavvAda, will be built off the shore of Istanbul using excavated soil from a new massive canal planned between the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara.
For the design, Dror has drawn on spatial geometry, as well as Buckminster Fuller’s legacy in structural engineering and Ebenezer Howard’s Garden City. Six months of intensive dialog with a team of experts have allowed Dror to realize an ambitious concept that offers a high quality of life and helps the environment. The island is envisioned as a landscape of six residential hills, surrounding a circular valley dedicated to parks and recreation, supported by a mega-dome structure, allowing for a “three-dimensional grid” that aims to maximize energy and structural efficiency.
Read the complete post to learn more about the process and design of the integrated renewable energy system, water recycling, as well as efficient heating and cooling (which allow the community to produce more energy than it consumes). Also, read further to find additional images and diagrams of how these systems and concepts function in the context of this innovative and ambitious project. Via Lauren Moss Delete the scoop?
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Building a green home, while increasingly popular in recent years, isn't a completely new concept, and the House in Regensburg by Thomas Herzog, built in 1977, still resonates today as a unique and beautiful example of thoughtful, site-responsive architecture. Elegant in its simplicity, the design employs key sustainable principles, including passive heating and cooling, appropriate material selection and responsive building form, all of which enable the structure to have minimal development impact while maintaining a high degree of efficiency- the result of an integrated approach to site, technology, and design. Herzog's House in Regensburg is not only a beautiful example of modern design, but also a testament to the fact that creativity is not compromised by sustainability. In fact, creativity is enhanced by this type of contextual and innovative thinking, making for a project that is not only green, but timeless and visually engaging, in both concept and execution. Via Lauren Moss Delete the scoop?
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Animated time-lapse video of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions in map form, spanning the 18th century until this current first decade of the 21st centur...
This is not a complete data set, but the video still shows the striking connection between CO2 emissions and the historical geography of industrialization. Via Seth Dixon, Lauren Moss 
's comment, August 2, 2012 12:54 PM
What data did you use? Historical, proxy or climate station? From 1800-1920's, was CO2 derived from historical observations, ice cores? Pre- to post-war had the maximum extent of climate stations, which captured CO2 (broadens extent). Throughout the mid-50's to present, due to lack of funding, climate stations plummeted from over 400 stations worldwide to approximately 80. When we reconstitute all these different types of data, we often get what geographer's call the modifiable areal unit problem... Furthermore, this is compounded not only by extent but also by timeline/data availability.
Seth Dixon's comment,
August 2, 2012 2:21 PM
I'd love to take credit for this, but I didn't create this video, but am simply sharing a resource that I found online with the broader community. Follow the YouTube link to see info about the creator there (Cuagau1).
's comment, September 4, 2012 11:41 AM
Frightening and guilt inducing. The US and Europe the biggest historical violators, plus living in the northeastern part of the country which shows the highest concentrations.
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Scooped by Digital Sustainability onto Digital Sustainability