Why Systems Collapse

Tension exists between science predicting disastrous consequences caused by climate change and economists predicting gains in prosperity that guarantee future well being. Consumers, governments and business maintain their traditional viewpoints about how technological innovation and entrepreneurship will fix any problems. For example, advertisements on TV tell us the American goal is to preserve the value of vast reserves of coal as an energy source that requires only a technological fix and we will have clean coal.

The strategies used today are conservative and rely on business-as-usual practices. These strategies preserve the existing economic system and rely on traditional values. These strategies result in three failures that lead to a system collapse:

1. Failure to anticipate the problem.
2. When the problem arrives, failure to recognize the problem.
3. When the problem is recognized, failure of attempting to solve the problem.
4. When action is taken, failure to actually solve the problem.

 Diamond, Jared M. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. New York: Viking, 2005.