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?

These questions are on the minds of many as we face unprecedented environmental challenges. The same issues arise when we investigate progress traps. These come about when human ingenuity, in pursuing progress, inadvertently 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 many reasons why we confine ourselves to a development mode that precludes awareness of the changes we bring to our environment. Especially harmful changes. This site, and the book it accompanies, explore those reasons, which are not baffling when you take a fresh perspective. As with any good problem-solving excercise, the causes point to the solutions.

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

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