Response Diversity Builds Resilience in Ecosystems - Society, Too?

In recent talks, Andy Revkin, the New York Times Dot Earth blogger, has been proposing that the adaptive value in ecosystems of "response diversity" -- varied responses to an environmental shift -- could also hold for societies. Think about this in the context of humanity's energy choices and climate challenge, with some pursuing fossil fuel divestment, others clean-energy innovation and others new generation of nuclear power plants. Rather than looking at these preferences as right or wrong, why not look at them as all part of a broadening commitment to new energy norms? More soon on Dot Earth. My long essay on 30 years of climate learning explores this: http://j.mp/revkin30yearsclimate An older post that gets at this: Is There Room for Varied Approaches to Energy and Climate Progress? http://nyti.ms/WJ0Sad The original 2003 ecology paper: http://www.esajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1890/1540-9295%282003%29001%5B0488%3ARDECAR%5D2.0.CO%3B2Read less