6.9. Sharman

Keynote Presentations from the 5th ALTER-Net Summer School, Peyresq 5 - 14 September 2010

Speaker: Martin Sharman

martin.sharman -at- ec.europa.eu

Policy Officer - Biodiversity and Ecosystems, Unit DI-4 Management of Natural Resources, CDMA 3/165, Directorate General for Research, European Commission, Street address (not for mail): Rue du Champ de Mars 21, B-1049 Brussels, Belgium

Title of the talk: The chimp´s tale (pdf: 9MB)

Abstract

In it I shall use the eyes of our closest living cousin, Pan troglodytes, to look at the relationship between humans and biodiversity. While I borrow her eyes, I lend her human intelligence and analytic capacity, and I try not to speak in pant-hoots. This vantage point allows us to examine humans as others, to step outside our own world view, and to look at the human achievement - and the human future - from the perspective of an interested but involuntary participant in the great human adventure. Ecosystem services, valuation, resource efficiency and economic activity all take on new shades of meaning, and we may find that what seems obvious to us as humans is not quite so obvious to a chimp.

Recommended background literature on this presentation:

Four of these are books, not papers. I selected them because they are intelligent, well written, and interesting, and show how biodiversity and evolution, human history and development are linked. The 5th, a blog, contains some interesting ideas on how sustainability might be defined. The 6th is a short report from an influential economist, well-worth reading to glimpse a world-view in which biodiversity seems not to figure at all, and in which human populations can grow forever. You don't need to read any of them for my presentation, but each of them is in one way or another thought-provoking.

• Bryson B (2004) A short history of nearly everything. Black Swan, London ISBN: 978-0-5529-9704-1
  Review: http://jdupuis2.blogspot.com/2006/09/bryson-bill-short-history-of-nearly.html
• Dawkins R (1995) River out of Eden. Phoenix, London ISBN: 978-1-8579-9405-6
  (This is especially good if you haven't yet read "The Selfish Gene", "The Extended Phenotype" and "The Blind Watchmaker.")
  Review: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/3.07/dawkins.html
• Diamond J (2005) Collapse: How societies choose to fail or succeed. Penguin, London ISBN: 978-0143036555
  Synopsis: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collapse:_How_Societies_Choose_to_Fail_or_Succeed
  Unfavourable review: http://www.pixelsurgeon.com/reviews/review.php?id=644
  Favourable review: http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/01/03/050103crbo_books
• Diamond J (1999) Guns, germs & steel: The fates of human societies. W.W.Norton, New York ISBN: 978-0-3933-1755-8
  Review: http://dannyreviews.com/h/Guns_Germs_Steel.html
• Heinberg R (2007) Five axioms of sustainability. MuseLetter #178 http://www.energybulletin.net/node/25649
• Simon J (1995) The state of humanity: Steadily improving. Cato Policy Report http://www.cato.org/pubs/policy_report/pr-so-js.html

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