Global Solution Networks Blog
Recent articles and research reports
Extreme Disparity of Wealth Dominates Davos
Don Tapscott reports from Davos: (Davos) With extreme wealth also comes extreme political clout which results in extreme human suffering, said Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of Oxfam International at a panel session this week in Davos. Byanyima helped set the...
Davos 2015 Wrap-Up: Get Ready for Breakthroughs About the Brain
Don Tapscott reports from Davos: The World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos is over for another year. Amazingly, most of what was discussed this year had not been on the radar a year ago. A year ago there was no discussion of oil prices dropping to say $50; the...
At Davos, Technology CEOs Discuss The Digital Economy
Don Tapscott reports from Davos Davos: One of the most anticipated discussions at this year’s meeting was the plenary session on The Digital Economy. Given that I wrote the book that coined that term 20 years ago, I attended with great interest. On the panel were...
Davos 2015: What Future Do You Want?
Don Tapscott reports in from Davos 2015. Davos: Do you agree or disagree that in the future we will think “Inserting radio-frequency identification in our babies’ bodies is as normal as vaccination”? This is just one of many provocative questions put to the...
Davos 2015: International Conflict is Top Global Risk
Davos: There is much discussion of global risks this week at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, and illustrating today’s volatility, the biggest threat to the stability of the world was not even on last year’s list — international conflict. That is the...
Davos 2015: Wealth Inequalities and the Collapse of Trust
Don Tapscott reports from Davos 2015. Davos: Undoubtedly timed to the opening of the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, a new report by Oxfam says the richest 1 percent of people in the world will have a majority of the wealth on the planet next year. “The...
Davos 2015: Can the World’s Problems be Solved?
Don Tapscott reports in from Davos 2015. Davos: Against a disturbing global backdrop that includes ongoing hostilities in Ukraine, the crashing of oil prices, a global jobless recovery and the recent slaughter at Charlie Hebdo, more than 2,500 delegates will squeeze...
Obama moves to bring order to agencies addressing climate change in the Arctic
The Arctic Council and a sprawling network of agencies, departments and state, local and Alaska Native tribal governments deal with Arctic-related issues. They are challenged by a lack of clear direction and specific resources for a collaborative effort. "Inside...
Resilience to disruptive change in the 21st century—topic of new GSN research
A growing number of ambitious initiatives are giving communities the ability to adapt to and recover from the chronic and catastrophic shocks of climate change, population growth and global challenges. Our new report, "Building Resilience: Network Solutions for a New...
Lord Stern pulls climate back up the Davos agenda.
Stern brings the authority of a respected economist to an audience that tends to be more concerned with the short-term issues of quarterly results than the long-term issues of climate change. Importantly for these attendees, he made the point that tackling climate...
Al Gore is in Davos promoting his plan to redesign cities so they don’t need cars…
One of the more ambitious ideas knocking around Davos this week comes from former US Vice President Al Gore, former Mexican President Felipe Calderon and the Global Commission on Economy and Climate. The $90 trillion proposal is based on anticipated infrastructure...
Snowmen of Davos with a message about global poverty, inequality and climate change
A Global Solution Advocacy Network, Action/2015 http://www.action2015.org/ —a movement made up of over 1,000 organizations, coalitions and partnerships from over 50 countries around the world that want to see concrete action and ambitious agreements to tackle the root...
Full Day at Davos to be Devoted to Climate Change
Gina McCarthy, administrator of the US EPA, will emphasize that climate change is a fundamental economic decision in her address at the World Economic Forum. http://tinyurl.com/kvowqr6 as new studies are released on effects of temperature increases on economic...
Planetary boundaries: Guiding human development on a changing planet
We have already crossed four “planetary boundaries,” including carbon dioxide levels and extinction rates, deforestation and the flow of nitrogen and phosphorous into the oceans
New Research Paper: Building Resilience
Network Solutions for a New Era of Global Instability Diverse communities with urgent interests are developing innovative, networked solutions that build resilience to many of the critical disruptions unfolding in the 21st century. While the somewhat overused concept...
GSNetworks.org Research Featured in Innovations
Four GSN research papers were featured in the latest edition of Innovations Journal.
Leave fossil fuels buried to prevent climate change
New research published in the journal Nature reveals that keeping coal in the ground is the only way to contain ongoing warming trends.
UN climate deal in Peru ends historic North-South split
…unexpectedly, the gavel came down on UN climate talks that had almost collapsed because of wide gaps between the positions held by rich and poor nations. So how was the agreement reached? And does it take the world any closer to dealing with climate change? Read the...