by Larry Caswell

Is our world trade-reliant industrial economy organized and operating in a manner that makes the long term viability of civilization likely? This question can be asked in a more personal way: what are the chances that our children, grandchildren, and their children will have the opportunity for peaceful, productive lives centered in a healthy natural environment?

Archaeologists who study past civilizations are continually looking for clues as to why these civilizations ceased to prosper and were abandoned. They have increasingly realized that the leading cause of the failure of civilizations has been expansion beyond the resource base, and the destruction of vital resources such as land, forests, and water. Jared Diamond documents this very well in his acclaimed book, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. The conclusion of scores of scientists of many disciplines and countries of origin is that we are making the same mistakes as many doomed past civilizations, and that we are doing so at breakneck speeds.

This project of the institute seeks to delve into these questions and to gain insight into the problems that are increasingly being faced by human civilization throughout the world. We hope to gain further understanding of these problems and then promote solutions which will curb our present path. We plan to look at topics such as local/regional economies; personal lifestyles; extreme resource efficiency in industry; renewable energy; sustainable agriculture; non carbon-producing transportation; and certain perils associated with free international trade and the growth of multinational corporations.