As we move into a new year, and try to square 2017 in our rear view mirrors, it’s an opportune moment to contemplate how we avoid repeating the mistakes of the past, both recent and ancient. This week on Sea Change Radio, we get philosophical with Jeremy Lent, whose new book, The Patterning Instinct seeks to explain what has made us tick as a species over the millennia. Lent and host Alex Wise talk about what the patterning instinct is, what we can learn from these human patterns, and how we can apply them to fight climate change.
Society
Jeremy Lent: Human History and the Climate
By Alex Wise, Jeremy Lent, originally published by Sea Change Radio
January 23, 2018
Alex Wise
Alex Wise is the host and executive producer of Sea Change Radio, a nationally-distributed interview-format radio show concerned with the advances being made toward a more environmentally sustainable world, economy, and future.
Tags: building resilient societies, pattern languages, social history
Related Articles
Tribes of the Klamath Basin show us how to heal a river
By Taylor Steelman, Post-Growth Institute
With the tenacity of salmon swimming home, Un-dam the Klamath is liberating their river before our eyes.
September 16, 2026
Confronting climate failure: How we dig ourselves out of the climate-catastrophe hole – Part 2
Humanity has dug itself into a hole. The first step to digging ourselves out is to acknowledge the depth of our civilizational failure.
September 15, 2026
We evolved to cooperate. So how did we create unequal societies?
By Chris Burcher, The 10,000 Year Problem blog
For all our flaws, we evolved toward community and cooperation. Toward enough. Yet somehow, we got Egypt. What happened between ten and five thousand years ago that made this possible?
September 15, 2026






Comments
Welcome to the new Resillience commenting system!
We have moved from the former Disqus commenting system to a new system as of September 10, 2026.
We made this change because of privacy concerns regarding Disqus. It's also part of a set of changes to bring more services to the Resilience community under a single login: commenting, (coming September 2026), and online courses (coming 2027). Unfortunately, your old Disqus comments may not reliably link to your account in this new system. Please contact us if you have any questions or concerns.