It’s always hard to mark up your mind about the way the world is heading. I am generally quite optimisc, believing in Ester Boserup’s population theories and “necessity is the mother of invention”. With my Year 10 students, we do an opinion line where they place themselves according to the “Boomster vs Doomster” opinion line. The Boomster side is Ester Boserup and Julian Boserup, the Doomster side are the Malthusians and the Neo-Matlhusians. When I do that activity in class, most students cluster towards the middle / optimistic side, while there are always some who choose one of the opposite ends; and are able to defend their position very strongly.
Next time I do this in class, I plan to show them two videos from TED2012. This came from a post by @BiologyStephen on http://i-biology.net/2012/03/02/so-is-the-earth-full-or-is-abundance-our-future-ted2012/
Here are the two videos:
Paul Diamandis shares his view on an optimistic future in which human ingenuity (excuse the MYP reference) finds solutions to such pressing problems as energy and water scarcity.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BltRufe5kkI
Paul Gilding focuses on the pressure to change in his video: “The earth is full”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZT6YpCsapg
Both men agree that we are entering a stage of radical change, both agree that humanity is facing unpresendented challenges. Paul Diamandis believes we will find a way out ourselves through technology while Paul Gilding believes the radical change will be forced by the Earth itself.
There’s quite a bit of buzz about these two videos: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/us-news-blog/2012/mar/01/ted-talks-best-buzz-videos