THE ISSUE DEFINED
Humanity is facing an existential emergency unparalleled in the history of life on earth. Major ecosystems are on the verge of collapse, due to human activities. Citizens are increasingly coming to the realization that human beings are not the centre of the universe, and that while life of earth can exist without humans, humans cannot exist without the living biota of the earth. We are now at a major tipping point, where rational solutions based on science, not ideology, must obtain. Scientific facts are stubborn entities; the laws of physics and chemistry hold true, and operate as much in the biological/living world as much as they do in the physical /non-living world. The ills and effects of climate change, and ecosystem degradation are all about us. Not much time is left. We ignore or deny these simple truths at our peril.
THE HISTORY: TECHNOLOGICAL AND DEMOGRAPHIC
Our most recent problems began with the beginning of the Industrial Revolution around 200 years ago, when a series of inventions replaced human and horse power with engines which
increasingly relied on the burning of fossil fuels for energy. The trends of technological fixes continued apace after World War II with increasing developments in areas such as agriculture (The Green Revolution; GMO’s (genetically modified crops), monocultures supported by treatments with organic chemicals, and animal husbandry; medicine (antibiotics, vaccines, water and sewage treatments); growth of cities (high rises, suburbs, shopping malls); and communications (electronic revolution, automation, IT); and rising expectations (more wealth, vacations & travel, goods & services, a longer, healthier life); and democracy. The result of these factors has been a demographic surge, with today’s global population, even when factoring in the deaths due to the Covid 19 pandemic, is now approaching 8 billion people.
THE WARNINGS BY ECOLOGISTS: IGNORED FOR THE MOST PART
Primarily since World War II, there have been multiple warnings from the scientific community, especially from ecological scientists, that the false paradigm of limitless growth of the economy, and of human population, would lead to a tragic end. Capitalists have distorted Darwin’s evolution by natural selection by seeing nature as ‘Red in Tooth and Claw’ where biological fitness for humans is measured by aggressive competition for natural resources, by corporate hegemony, including warfare, against weaker states. Ecosystem degradation inevitably follows. When push comes to shove, ecological concerns virtually always come after, or never, to economic ones. Mitigation rarely works as intended. Poor hindsight has brought all of us to the present state of uncertainty, as major ecosystems, unable to adapt to the multitude of changes, experience extirpation or extinction of various species of animals, plants, microbiota, and their habitats.
Biologists have for over 50 years warned of the folly of destroying nature for purely economic ends. To name a few important workers, we think of Paul Ehrlich (The Population Bomb: ills of overpopulation), Rachael Carson (Silent Spring: pesticide poisoning; formation of EPA), E.O.Wilson (:Biophilia: humans with innate drive to connect with nature and its life forms), James Lovelock (Gaia Hypothesis: life on earth maintains a synergistic, self-regulating, complex system interacting with inorganic surroundings), Dave Forman (Earth First! Global eco-defence movement, motto: ‘No compromise in defence of Mother Earth’ ), Arne Naess (Deep Ecology: (see below), filmmakers David Attenborough, David Suzuki, and Brian Cox, and lately Greta Thunberg and Suzanne Simard (cooperation of microbiome communities under the soil). The horrendous 2020 wildfires in California and Australia, with losses of infrastructure and wildlife in the millions, suggest that the return to the status quo is no longer the proper yardstick, and we must change to a better course of recovery and stability.
Is is too late to make the needed changes, or is there a way to resolve the ecological crisis?
A NEW MORALITY: CALL IT ECO-HUMANISM
Deep Ecology, a philosophical movement began with Arne Naess in 1972, was based on the idea that viewed human life as just one of many equal components of global ecosystems. Thus humans are considered in (that is imbedded), and not on (that is, ruling over) natural ecosystems. Its core idea is that the living environment is to be respected and regarded as
“having basic moral and legal rights to exist and flourish independent of its instrumental benefit from human use.” For humanity to reach a state of wisdom, it is necessary to attain self-realization, whereby one regards not merely self or family or community, but the whole ecosphere, of plants, animals, fungi, and the microbiome, and their myriad interconnections.
The word ‘philosopy’ itself means love of wisdom, and that wisdom now is necessary for the salvation of the earth and its biota.
Humanism is a philosophical stance which is non-theistic (vs. atheistic) whereby rationality and reason, based on the trust that scientific methodology is a better means to discover truth, has recently embraced the ecological principles of deep ecology, and has identified a new morality, which it is calling Eco-humanism. It can be witnessed almost daily today, in movements all over the earth, to protest eco-social as well as eco-depredations. As we see more people daily gaining knowledge about how the biota of the earth is essential for its enduring sustainability, the next logical step is wisdom, and seeking the new ways to resolve the crisis. There are no shortage of these, these days. Pick your brains, but use your heart too.