Darwinian Response

Darwin's theory of Natural Selection tells us that survival is dependant upon a species being well adapted to its surroundings. We are changing our world at an unprecedented rate, of that there can be no doubt, undoubtedly leading to the extinction of many species. Will we be one of them?

Homo Sapiens are an adaptable species and will probably be able to survive anything, even a large scale nuclear war. The question is what will our society look like? Will we be able to maintain our "civilisation" or will we be forced back into a subsistence existance? Can our economy exist without cheap energy? Where will our energy come from once fossil fuels run out (this is only a question of time and whether we care about future generations)? The chances are that we will have to consume less and that there will need to be fewer of us in order to reach long term sustainability.

I believe the debate needs to move on from the symptom issues of Climate Change, environment destruction and extinction to discuss "Sustainability". We need to address the question of how to sustain our society in the long term? Starting with the basics of food, water, heating and clean air, how much energy and raw materials are required to sustain us? It is safe to assume that we want our future society to include good health care, education, be safe (i.e. policing, fire, social services, etc), that we wish to continue to improve our knowledge of the world. What other things really matter to us and what resource do we need to have them? We could apply a "hierarchy of needs" similar to that proposed my Maslow to identify necessities and luxuries.

The upper levels of Maslow's hierarchy focus on Esteem and Self-Actualisation, those things that give us pleasure in rich, free countries where basics are taken for granted. As a result of our study of sustainability we might find that our materialistic approach to building self-esteem has to change. Could we evolve as a society so that big homes, inefficient cars and regular foreign holidays are no longer the things we strive for?

It seems to me that we are much more likely to be able to develop a sustainable society if we are in harmony with our environment, in other words we are well adapted, therefore it makes sense to minimise the disruption that we cause to the planet.