Frequently Asked Questions About COR Work

2. Why is no work being done with the Club of Rome lately?

1. What is the Club of Rome?

According to their website, the Club of Rome is:

"...a global think tank and centre of innovation and initiative. As a non-profit, non governmental organization (NGO), it brings together scientists, economists, businessmen, international high civil servants, heads of state and former heads of state from all five continents who are convinced that the future of humankind is not determined once and for all and that each human being can contribute to the improvement of our societies."

In the 1970s and 80s the Club of Rome was the best known and most effective environmental NGO in the world, due to one phenomenal success: correct identification of what is now widely acknowledged as the biggest, most urgent problem in the world.

This is the global environmental sustainability problem. It was described and communicated in easy-to-read format by the runaway best seller Limits to Growth in 1972, which went on to become the top selling environmental book of all time, at about 30 million copies. This compares to about 10 million copies for Silent Spring. What is even more astounding is Limits to Growth was a technical book, written in layman's language. It was not an easy read. But its basic thesis, that civilization was about to overshoot its environmental limits and that this would lead to collapse unless civilization drastically change course, was so revolutionary that tens of millions read it anyhow. What they read was a book based on a novel, irrefutable computer simulation model of how society and the environment interacted, complete with simulation run scenarios about what probably would or would not happen depending on what course society chose.

As a result of the Limits to Growth project, the Club of Rome enjoyed immense prestige and influence for years. But it was a first-time-up-at-bat home run that was never repeated. Subsequent reports, projects, conferences, and work have led to very little of tangible value. Today, while some remember the Club for what it once was, most view it as just another early player in the history of the environmental movement. However, the Club still maintains branches in about 40 countries and holds an annual conference.

2. Why is no work being done with the Club of Rome lately?

This is a delicate matter. It appears the US Association of the Club of Rome, USACOR, has had an allergic reaction to the concepts at Thwink.org. COR, the international Club of Rome, has been fine to work with. But USACOR has been less so, though a few of its members have been very supportive of these new ideas.

Like most environmental organizations, the Club of Rome has not been achieving its objectives lately. So after I became a member of USACOR in January of 2006, in an effort to help out I performed an assessment of the Club's process maturity. This was published in their internal newsletter. The paper is titled Can These Best Practices Make the Club Effective Once Again? It caused quite a stir in the organization. You can read it here, at Best Practices Paper.

An assessment of where you are today is standard business practice as the first step for serious organizational improvement. Unfortunately, it received a non-standard reaction. The powers that be at USACOR were so upset about the conclusions in the paper and what they implied, that I have been booted out of the club, on the pretense that my membership was approved at a board meeting that did not have a quorum. Well, what really happened is this is another case of shooting the messenger, combined with a heavy addiction to Classic Activism. Shooting the messenger is another name for change resistance.

Read the Best Practices paper and decide for yourself: Was this a case of shooting the messenger or not?

Perhaps, after the great stream of life takes a few more twists and turns for all of us, I will be able to work with the Club again.