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(36) New Ideas for New Times: Three Quick Techniques
Viviane Simon-Brown - Oregon State University, Corvallis OR
Session: Concurrent session B4: Increasing Leadership and Community Capacity
Climate change. Within 20 years, temperate forests will be hit hard by rising temperatures. What are the implications for Extension foresters and our clientele?
Population growth. The Pacific Northwest’s growth rate since 1990 has been twice the North American rate, faster than India’s, and almost equal to Egypt’s. If the birth and in-migration rates continue, population in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and southern British Columbia will double to 32 million in 2040. What likely impacts will this population increase have on natural resources? How can we talk about it?
Peak oil. Worldwide oil production has peaked. While petroleum products will continue to be available at least until 2050, they will become increasingly scarce and expensive. How will this scarcity affect natural resource practitioners? What can we do to prepare for it? What alternatives are there?
Invasive species. They’re here – and they’re staying. Blackberry, gorse and cheatgrass. Cereal weevils, knotweeds, knapweeds, and zebra mussels. Oh my. How can we turn these liabilities into assets?
The majority of Extension work involves responding to the immediate and obvious needs of our clientele. However, our clientele are not focusing on the above-mentioned potential disasters in progress, perhaps because the concepts are too overwhelming or daunting. Three quick communication techniques can help Extension educators to minimize fears, define the real issues, identify underlying values, break out of the usual brain patterns, and find unexpected opportunities. Useful in almost any group setting, Open Sentences, Drill Down, and What If, are established tools to gently guide our clientele in making giant leaps in new directions, as well as incremental baby steps to mitigate the consequences.
Viviane Simon-Brown
Oregon State University
Peavy Hall 280
Corvallis, OR, 97331, USA
Phone: 541-737-3197
Fax: 541-737-3049
viviane.simon-brown@oregonstate.edu