The End of Contagious Optimism and Denial

dc.contributor.author	Cairns, John Jr.	en
dc.contributor.department	Biological Sciences	en
dc.date.accessioned	2014-01-23T02:36:30Z	en
dc.date.available	2014-01-23T02:36:30Z	en
dc.date.issued	2008	en
dc.description.abstract	The term tipping point was coined in the field of epidemiology to explain the concept that small changes will have little or no effect on a system until a specific critical mass is reached. Once this pint is reached, any further small change _tips the system and a large effect is observed. Tipping points indicate when slow, gradual change switches suddenly and becomes irreversible and the return to the predisturbance state is impossible. One distinct attribute of both societal and ecological tipping points is that they go unrecognized until the damage has already been done. Earth has already passed one tipping point and if the focus is not shifted from protecting the economy to protecting the environment more irreversible damage will be done.	en
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10919/25060	en
dc.identifier.url	http://www.johncairns.net/Commentaries/endofdenial.pdf	en
dc.language.iso	en_US	en
dc.publisher	Virginia Tech	en
dc.rights	In Copyright	en
dc.rights.uri	http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/	en
dc.subject	tipping points	en
dc.subject	carrying capacity	en
dc.subject	climate change	en
dc.subject	resource depletion	en
dc.subject	positive feedback loop	en
dc.title	The End of Contagious Optimism and Denial	en
dc.type	Article	en
dc.type.dcmitype	Text	en

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