Why are people so slow to take action on climate-change? Why is there such a disconnect between scientists and artists? What is science for? What will it take to make people change their habits? Aren't we supposed to make the most of nature's bounty?

Such questions are often voiced as we face environmental challenges and potential progress traps. These come about when human ingenuity introduces problems that it does not have the resources to solve, preventing further progress. Environmental degradation, followed by social decline, is a key example and provides the starting point for this study. Jared Diamond (Collapse, Guns, Germs and Steel), describes the oft-repeated collapse of formerly brilliant societies as a "baffling phenomenon."

There are reasons why we short-circuit our awareness of man-made changes to the environment. This site and the book it accompanies explore those reasons, which become less baffling as you venture beyond conventional viewpoints. With any good problem-solving exercise, causes point to solutions.

Progresstrap.org is a companion site to the book Escaping the Progress Trap by Daniel B. O'Leary

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