Archive by Author
Climate Change: Two Book Reviews
I’ve read a lot of books about climate change in the past few years. Two of the most stunning are essentially picture books. I think I know why they had a bigger impact on me than traditional books. When I talk with people about climate change, the ones who live close to the land all, [...]
Full StoryThe Visible Business
The Canadian paper, The Globe and Mail, did a phone interview with me over the Thanksgiving weekend (they interviewed a number of futurists). They asked great questions, and I won’t steal their thunder by repeating them here, except for one. They wanted to know what the “big business trend” will be in 2018. I thought [...]
Full StorySeattle Shines
The City of Seattle reported that its on-target to its Kyoto goals. That is fabulous. There’s a conference of Mayor’s meeting there this week that includes other global warming luminaries as well (Clinton/.Gore – sound like a ticket to you? And perhaps they are now doing even more good than they did in the White [...]
Full StoryWhy plan for possible futures?
Sometimes people ask me “Why plan for the future?” They go on to say something like, “The world is changing so fast we don’t even know what the future will be.” Well, we do know a lot. We’ve also had a fabulous example of planning that paid off in the California fires. Disaster planning is [...]
Full StoryA Thousand Points of Light: Some Perils in “Think Global and Act Local” Thinking
I’m at the National Association of Telecommunications Officers annual meeting in Portland. I’m quite impressed with the people, and with what I see many of the cities and counties here doing to keep some level of local and free press available, and to build community networks for everything from economic development to closing digital divides. [...]
Full StoryProfessional Organizations Going Green
By the time Friday morning is over, I’ll have given two speeches in a week. Now, since I’m so busy, I only give about five keynotes a year, so this is pretty unusual. As different as the two industries I’m speaking to (restaurants and architects) are, I noticed a really pleasing similarity. The Oregon Restaurant [...]
Full StoryClimate Change: The Elephant in the Room and the Jazz Band
I spent yesterday at the Discover Brilliant conference in Seattle. Very nice, long first day. PS Reilly, the conference organizer, made a choice about how to start the conference. She trotted out one of the bigger elephants in the climate change room and let it wander about and break some myths. Her opening speakers were [...]
Full StoryThe Digital Divide
An AP article, We work hard: U.S. at the top in productivity, by Bradley S. Klapper, has been generating discussion. According to the article, a good portion of why we are the most productive first world country is because of the information technology revolution. This is scary. Yes, Microsoft and Oracle and Apple and Dell [...]
Full StoryWhy Google Earth (and now Sky) Matter
I’ve been managing geographic information systems (GIS) professionals for a long time, I’ve listened to Jack Dangermond, who owns the biggest GIS company – Environmental Systems Research Institute talk passionately about mapping as a way to save the world. Look in our archives for an article I wrote in 2000. ESRI has always been a [...]
Full StoryStepping Back: The Strange Pace of Change
As a futurist, I’m usually watching the leading edge of change: new user interfaces, new ideas, new products. But a futurist also has to think about the way the past impacts the future. About the way living history keeps the future coming a little slower. This past week, six of us took the Coast Starlight [...]
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