GEONOMICS 101
- Christopher Clugston
- September 29, 2015
- Forum Papers
- Forum Paper
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GEONOMICS 101
by Chris Clugston
Human Misperceptions
Water comes from a faucet; food comes from a grocery store; electricity comes from a wall socket; light comes from flipping a switch; heat and air conditioning come from adjusting a thermostat; motor fuel comes from a gas station; cars and trucks come from factories; the myriad consumer products that we use come from Walmart and Amazon; and instantaneous global communications come from pushing buttons on handheld electronic devices – right?
Few of us understand how our modern industrialized existence is enabled; nor do we understand that it is unsustainable. Perhaps we should spend less time watching TV, chatting on social media, and playing with our iToys – and more time studying geonomics.
It’s All About Geonomics!
At present, no branch of science focuses specifically on our industrial lifestyle paradigm and how it is enabled. Our currently existing, narrowly focused physical science and behavioral science “silos” permit, at best, cognizance regarding our industrialized existence akin to that of the four blind men describing an elephant.
Regrettably, owing to the lack of a viable and comprehensive framework for perceiving and analyzing our industrialized existence, we develop flawed perceptions, which lead to flawed conclusions, prescriptions, and actions.
Geonomics fills the void.
Geonomics?
Geonomics (geological economics) is a synthesis of physical sciences and behavioral sciences that studies nonrenewable natural resources (NNRs), humanity’s NNR utilization behavior, and the consequences associated with our NNR utilization behavior.
More specifically, geonomics examines the interrelationships and interactions among global NNR requirements, costs, supplies, prices, and demand – the phenomena that govern humanity’s NNR utilization behavior and determine industrialized human prosperity. Drawing extensively from geology and economics,[…]
Since 2006, Clugston has conducted extensive independent research into the area of “sustainability,” with a focus on NNR (nonrenewable natural resource) scarcity. NNRs are the fossil fuels, metals, and nonmetallic minerals that enable our modern industrial existence.
He has sought to quantify from a combined ecological and economic perspective the extent to which America and humanity are living unsustainably beyond our means, and to articulate the causes, magnitude, implications, and consequences associated with our “predicament.” His research includes the publication of Scarcity – Humanity’s Final Chapter? in 2012, and several analytical updates.
