{"id":327,"date":"2020-07-15T17:12:05","date_gmt":"2020-07-15T07:12:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aninconvenientspecies.com\/?p=327"},"modified":"2021-08-18T11:50:23","modified_gmt":"2021-08-18T01:50:23","slug":"problem-experts-arent-solutions-experts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aninconvenientspecies.com\/?p=327","title":{"rendered":"Problem experts AREN'T always solutions experts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>\u201cWhile we were finishing the book [<em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.drawdown.org\/solutions\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"undefined (opens in a new tab)\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Drawdown<\/a><\/em>] I spoke with three of the best-known international climate change experts\u2014professors and authors who have been leading this field for the past 25-30 years. I asked them to write down their top-5 solutions for global warming. It took them a long time.<\/p><p>Moreover: They were all wrong. <\/p><p>Their top solutions are not the top solutions according to the data of the leading institutions as we have researched those.<\/p><p>Here\u2019s my point:&nbsp;<strong>We are 40 years into global warming<\/strong>. It is the most serious problem humanity has ever faced. We have created it and<strong>&nbsp;the authorities in the field cannot name the top-5 solutions<\/strong>. That\u2019s an astonishing anthropological fact. There is no plan\u2026\u201d&nbsp;(emphasis added)&nbsp;<\/p><cite>Paul Hawken in <a aria-label=\"undefined (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.optimistdaily.com\/2018\/12\/solutions-thinking-climate-change\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Optimist Daily<\/a>, 2018<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Most problem experts on global warming are academics and scientists. - meteorologists, climatologists, botanists, hydrologists and the like.   They know a lot about their chosen field and the politics within their academic silos - but how much do they know about the worlds of business, including manufacturing and distribution? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Business <strong><em>matters<\/em><\/strong>!  <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The multiple planetary boundaries we're challenging all have their roots in the 1-way mine\/make\/use\/dump design thinking that industry inherited from the 19th and 20th centuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Academics and scientists often operate in very traditional organisations and specific silos.  So they can sometimes have suprisingly mainstream \"solutions\" ideas collect from what \"everybody knows\" - thinking like:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>\"government controls business\" <\/li><li>\"government can deliver effective supply chain innovation\"<\/li><li>\"innovation happens AFTER the populace agrees on the need and votes accordingly\"<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>So it's not surprising that they would automatically look to \"the authorities\" for action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>\"We've got to get the people to tell the government to tell business that its alright to take action\" <\/p><cite>Famous environmental campaigner<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What's focal becomes seen as causal<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Unfortunately, human perception automatically designates <a aria-label=\"undefined (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=cFdCzN7RYbw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">the focus of a message as the causal factor.<\/a>   <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If \"everyone knows\" that the environment is a government responsibility, then many of our more traditionally-minded experts are all to likely to act from that mindset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So what happens when you tell the average consumer or business person about the environment and the need for government action?  They worry - and then get on with doing business as usual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">So you never get beyond \"everybody knows\"<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Who changes industrial design?  Who delivers economic innovation at scale?   Who designs, constructs and delivers the vast majority of the products and services we use every day?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Look at the smartphone in your pocket or bag and think about its history?  Whose idea was it?  Who paid the engineers who built the factories that manufacture them at scale?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To reverse the harm we've caused, we need to get our best and brightest business innovators scaling <a aria-label=\"undefined (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/balance3.com.au\/from-the-club-of-rome-to-today-regenerative-thinking-in-action\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the design solutions of the last 40 years<\/a> into practical, regenerative solutions.  We need  to accelerate smarter, more efficient, more profitable models like Circular Economy and Biomimcry and turn them into globally scaled industrial practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Government policy change isn't the only - or best - option for accelerating an industrial revolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I absolutely agree that governments can - when they choose - create supportive environments for sustainability innovation.    I absolutely agree that government policies can be counter-productive (at least).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I know from 20 years of my own observation that there <strong><em>are <\/em><\/strong>many, many, many national, state, regional and local governments doing amazing things - and they have been doing them for decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Still, the most powerful, immediate leverage point for reversing global warming probably ISN'T voting for a government to make policy changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Vote, lobby AND go industrial...<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Getting in to an entrepreneur's head is seriously powerful<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the world's most sustainable businesses is Interface, and their approach has consistently been to \"do well BY doing good\".  They take a strategic, longer term view - but they're about \"good for the environment, good for the community AND good for our bottom line\".<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They have proven that strategic sustainability - like quality and safety in previous decades - is an innovation driver that offers trillions of dollars in business opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Interface journey started when a series of events put s<a href=\"https:\/\/balance3.com.au\/could-you-help-generate-the-next-ray-anderson\/\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"undefined (opens in a new tab)\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ustainability front and centre in their CEO's head<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So arm yourself with information about the <a aria-label=\"undefined (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/balance3.com.au\/from-the-club-of-rome-to-today-regenerative-thinking-in-action\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">wealth of design solutions <\/a>and the massive <a aria-label=\"undefined (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/balance3.com.au\/are-you-interested-in-trillions-in-opportunity\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">business opportunit<\/a>ies.  Then go out and start some solutions conversations in your local business community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The top three climate change experts interviewed by Paul Hawken could not correctly name the top 5 solutions for reversing global warming.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":342,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,18],"tags":[3],"class_list":["post-327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-mental-models","tag-featured"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Problem experts AREN&#039;T always solutions experts - An Inconvenient Species<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The top three climate change experts interviewed by Paul Hawken could not correctly name the top 5 solutions for reversing global warming.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/aninconvenientspecies.com\/?p=327\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Problem experts AREN&#039;T always solutions experts - An Inconvenient Species\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The top three climate change experts interviewed by Paul Hawken could not correctly name the top 5 solutions for reversing global warming.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/aninconvenientspecies.com\/?p=327\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"An Inconvenient Species\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-07-15T07:12:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-08-18T01:50:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/aninconvenientspecies.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/science-lab-michael-longmire-L9EV3OogLh0-unsplash-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Leigh Baker\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Leigh Baker\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aninconvenientspecies.com\\\/?p=327#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aninconvenientspecies.com\\\/?p=327\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Leigh Baker\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aninconvenientspecies.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/73c54d547e929d40175f489ae4e89794\"},\"headline\":\"Problem experts AREN'T always solutions experts\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-07-15T07:12:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-08-18T01:50:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aninconvenientspecies.com\\\/?p=327\"},\"wordCount\":743,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aninconvenientspecies.com\\\/?p=327#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aninconvenientspecies.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/07\\\/science-lab-michael-longmire-L9EV3OogLh0-unsplash-scaled.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"featured\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Business\",\"Mental Models\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aninconvenientspecies.com\\\/?p=327\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aninconvenientspecies.com\\\/?p=327\",\"name\":\"Problem experts AREN'T always solutions experts - An Inconvenient Species\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aninconvenientspecies.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aninconvenientspecies.com\\\/?p=327#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aninconvenientspecies.com\\\/?p=327#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aninconvenientspecies.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/07\\\/science-lab-michael-longmire-L9EV3OogLh0-unsplash-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-07-15T07:12:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-08-18T01:50:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aninconvenientspecies.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/73c54d547e929d40175f489ae4e89794\"},\"description\":\"The top three climate change experts interviewed by Paul Hawken could not correctly name the top 5 solutions for reversing global warming.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aninconvenientspecies.com\\\/?p=327#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/aninconvenientspecies.com\\\/?p=327\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aninconvenientspecies.com\\\/?p=327#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aninconvenientspecies.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/07\\\/science-lab-michael-longmire-L9EV3OogLh0-unsplash-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aninconvenientspecies.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/07\\\/science-lab-michael-longmire-L9EV3OogLh0-unsplash-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"Photo by Michael Longmire on Unsplash\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aninconvenientspecies.com\\\/?p=327#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aninconvenientspecies.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Problem experts AREN'T always solutions experts\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aninconvenientspecies.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aninconvenientspecies.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"An Inconvenient Species\",\"description\":\"The real inconvenient truth about global warming\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aninconvenientspecies.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aninconvenientspecies.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/73c54d547e929d40175f489ae4e89794\",\"name\":\"Leigh Baker\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/44f054bac8f14fb641e2eebc3ede79915bccad455809223c923848be2ed46dab?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/44f054bac8f14fb641e2eebc3ede79915bccad455809223c923848be2ed46dab?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/44f054bac8f14fb641e2eebc3ede79915bccad455809223c923848be2ed46dab?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Leigh Baker\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/leighbaker.com.au\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aninconvenientspecies.com\\\/?author=2\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Problem experts AREN'T always solutions experts - An Inconvenient Species","description":"The top three climate change experts interviewed by Paul Hawken could not correctly name the top 5 solutions for reversing global warming.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/aninconvenientspecies.com\/?p=327","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Problem experts AREN'T always solutions experts - An Inconvenient Species","og_description":"The top three climate change experts interviewed by Paul Hawken could not correctly name the top 5 solutions for reversing global warming.","og_url":"https:\/\/aninconvenientspecies.com\/?p=327","og_site_name":"An Inconvenient Species","article_published_time":"2020-07-15T07:12:05+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-08-18T01:50:23+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1707,"url":"https:\/\/aninconvenientspecies.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/science-lab-michael-longmire-L9EV3OogLh0-unsplash-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Leigh Baker","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Leigh Baker","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/aninconvenientspecies.com\/?p=327#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/aninconvenientspecies.com\/?p=327"},"author":{"name":"Leigh Baker","@id":"https:\/\/aninconvenientspecies.com\/#\/schema\/person\/73c54d547e929d40175f489ae4e89794"},"headline":"Problem experts AREN'T always solutions experts","datePublished":"2020-07-15T07:12:05+00:00","dateModified":"2021-08-18T01:50:23+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/aninconvenientspecies.com\/?p=327"},"wordCount":743,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/aninconvenientspecies.com\/?p=327#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/aninconvenientspecies.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/science-lab-michael-longmire-L9EV3OogLh0-unsplash-scaled.jpg","keywords":["featured"],"articleSection":["Business","Mental Models"],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/aninconvenientspecies.com\/?p=327","url":"https:\/\/aninconvenientspecies.com\/?p=327","name":"Problem experts AREN'T always solutions experts - An Inconvenient Species","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/aninconvenientspecies.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/aninconvenientspecies.com\/?p=327#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/aninconvenientspecies.com\/?p=327#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/aninconvenientspecies.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/science-lab-michael-longmire-L9EV3OogLh0-unsplash-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2020-07-15T07:12:05+00:00","dateModified":"2021-08-18T01:50:23+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/aninconvenientspecies.com\/#\/schema\/person\/73c54d547e929d40175f489ae4e89794"},"description":"The top three climate change experts interviewed by Paul Hawken could not correctly name the top 5 solutions for reversing global warming.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/aninconvenientspecies.com\/?p=327#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/aninconvenientspecies.com\/?p=327"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/aninconvenientspecies.com\/?p=327#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/aninconvenientspecies.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/science-lab-michael-longmire-L9EV3OogLh0-unsplash-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/aninconvenientspecies.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/science-lab-michael-longmire-L9EV3OogLh0-unsplash-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1707,"caption":"Photo by Michael Longmire on Unsplash"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/aninconvenientspecies.com\/?p=327#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/aninconvenientspecies.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Problem experts AREN'T always solutions experts"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/aninconvenientspecies.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/aninconvenientspecies.com\/","name":"An Inconvenient Species","description":"The real inconvenient truth about global warming","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/aninconvenientspecies.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/aninconvenientspecies.com\/#\/schema\/person\/73c54d547e929d40175f489ae4e89794","name":"Leigh Baker","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/44f054bac8f14fb641e2eebc3ede79915bccad455809223c923848be2ed46dab?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/44f054bac8f14fb641e2eebc3ede79915bccad455809223c923848be2ed46dab?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/44f054bac8f14fb641e2eebc3ede79915bccad455809223c923848be2ed46dab?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Leigh Baker"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/leighbaker.com.au"],"url":"https:\/\/aninconvenientspecies.com\/?author=2"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aninconvenientspecies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aninconvenientspecies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aninconvenientspecies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aninconvenientspecies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aninconvenientspecies.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=327"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/aninconvenientspecies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":374,"href":"https:\/\/aninconvenientspecies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327\/revisions\/374"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aninconvenientspecies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aninconvenientspecies.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aninconvenientspecies.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aninconvenientspecies.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}