Nature and Ecology

As we have seen, Nature consists of reciprocal connections that create balance, congruence, and harmony. But humans do not operate in this reciprocal manner, neither among themselves nor between themselves and Nature. Therefore, since humans are a part of Nature, their lack of congruence with it and among themselves throws the entire system off balance, as the previous example of the orcas demonstrated. While the whole of Nature follows the principle of mutual guarantee—give what you can and receive what you need—humans operate to the contrary—take what you can and give what you must. We humans exploit one another, and all of us as humanity exploit Nature. Indeed, we have nearly depleted our planet of its resources.

“Our ecological footprints are already using the renewable resources of 1.4 planet Earths, and probably will be using that of two planet Earths by 2050. In other words, we are living unsustainably and depleting the earth’s natural capital. No one knows how long we can continue on this path, but environmental alarm bells are going off.”

G. Tyler Miller, Scott Spoolman,
Living in the Environment: Principles, Connections, and Solutions [29]

Human beings have become a cancer-like tumor in Nature. Humanity is sucking up everything for itself, irrespective of the environment. But just as cancer dies along with the organism that it puts to death, so, too, will humanity if it does not transform itself into a healthy organ in the organism of Nature.

To understand why humanity is behaving in this irresponsible, irrational manner, we need to take a closer look at human nature. As biologist Sahtouris explained in the above-mentioned quote, “Every molecule, every cell, every organ ... has self-interest.” Yet, self-interest does not mean that humankind must be oblivious to the fact that maintaining the well-being of the organism—which is humanity—is in one’s self-interest.

What obscures that fact from us is our sense of entitlement, or “narcissism.” Psychologists Jean M. Twenge and Keith Campbell describe our society as “ increasingly narcissistic.” [30] In their insightful book, The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement, Twenge and Campbell talk about “ The relentless rise of narcissism in our culture,” [31] and the problems it causes. “The United States is currently suffering from an epidemic of narcissism. …narcissistic personality traits rose just as fast as obesity,” they explain. “Worse yet,” they continue, “the rise in narcissism is accelerating, with scores rising faster in the 2000s than in previous decades. By 2006, 1 out of 4 college students agreed with the majority of the items on a standard measure of narcissistic traits. Today, as singer Little Jackie put it, many people feel that ‘Yes, siree, the whole world should revolve around me.’” [32]

In Webster’s Dictionary, narcissism is defined as “egoism,” and this, to be blunt, means that we have become unbearably selfish.

Our overblown egoism has led us to develop a culture of consumerism, which entails the aggressive production, marketing, and consumption of goods and services not because they genuinely improve our lives, but because we can show them off. We buy because others buy, because we don’t want to be left behind.

Consumerism has caused every industry to accelerate its production, resulting in a slew of redundancies produced at an alarming rate. These are now polluting the planet and depleting it of its resources only to cater to the never-ending pursuit of wealth and social status. But there is a limit to everything, and we have nearly reached the end of our rope.

Following the 2011 International Energy Agency (IEA) report, Internatonal Energy Outlook 2011, Fatih Birol, chief economist at the agency told Fiona Harvey of The Guardian, “The door is closing. I am very worried—if we don't change direction now on how we use energy, we will end up beyond what scientists tell us is the minimum [for safety]. The door will be closed forever.” [33]

Similarly, a digest by Yale University reports, “A draft report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says there is a 2-in-3 probability that human-caused climate change is already leading to an increase in extreme weather events. The draft summary ... said that increasingly wild weather ... will lead to a growing toll in lost lives and property damage, and will render some locations ‘increasingly marginal as places to live.’ The report says that scientists are ‘virtually certain’ that continued warming will cause not only an increase in extreme heat waves and drought in some regions, but also will generate more intense downpours that lead to severe flooding.” [34]

Humankind’s lack of concern for the environment has already been disastrous to our most vital needs—our sources of food and water. Already, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), “Over fishing ... is devastating fish populations. Over 75 percent of fisheries are already fully exploited or over fished.” [35]

Also, Ian Sample of The Guardian writes, “Some 40% of the world's agricultural land is seriously degraded. The UN millennium ecosystem assessment ranked land degradation among the world's greatest environmental challenges, claiming it risked destabilizing societies, endangering food security, and increasing poverty.” [36]

But the facts about water—the most essential substance for all life—are the most alarming. An official publication by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) details the harm and danger of drinking unsafe water: “Almost fifty per cent of the developing world’s population—2.5 billion people—lack improved sanitation facilities, and over 884 million people still use unsafe drinking water sources. Inadequate access to safe water and sanitation services, coupled with poor hygiene practices, kills and sickens thousands of children every day, and leads to impoverishment and diminished opportunities for thousands more. Poor sanitation, water, and hygiene have many other serious repercussions. Children—and particularly girls—are denied their right to education because their schools lack ... decent sanitation facilities. Women are forced to spend large parts of their day fetching water. Poor farmers and wage earners are less productive due to illness, health systems are overwhelmed, and national economies suffer. Without WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene), sustainable development is impossible.” [37]

“Since it is the destruction of the economy’s natural supports and disruption of the climate system that are driving the world toward the edge, these are the trends that must be reversed. To do so requires extraordinarily demanding measures, a fast shift away from business as usual.”

“As land and water become scarce, as the earth’s temperature rises, and as world food security deteriorates, a dangerous geopolitics of food scarcity is emerging.”

Lester R. Brown,
environmental analyst, founder and president of the Earth Policy Institute,
and author of World on the Edge:
How to Prevent Environmental and Economic Collapse [38]

On May 6, 2011, Matthew Lee of the Associated Press, reported, “U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton, warned that global shortages of food and spiraling prices threaten widespread destabilization and is urging immediate action to forestall a repeat of the 2007 and 2008 crisis that led to riots in dozens of countries around the developing world. ...The U.N. estimates that 44 million people have been pushed into poverty since last June because of rising food prices, which could lead to desperate shortages and unrest. Clinton said the world could no longer ‘keep falling back on providing emergency aid to keep the Band-Aid on.’” [39]

Sadly, a week later came the disheartening report that “The world wastes 30% of all food.” [40] According to the report, “30% of all food produced in the world each year is wasted or lost. That’s about 1.3 billion tons, according to a new report by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. ...That’s as if each person in China, the world’s most populous country with more than 1.3 billion people, had a one ton mass of food they could just throw into the trash can. ...Breaking apart that big number, we find the people with the most money are the ones who waste the most. ...And these numbers come as we’ve just been reporting about soaring food prices around the world in the past week.” “A major change of mindset is what is needed,” concluded CNN reporter Ramy Inocencio.

Indeed, we need to shift our mindset into one supporting mutual guarantee. With such a mindset, no food will be thrown into the trash when there are people in the world who go to bed hungry. In a mutual guarantee society, this would be tantamount to letting your own family starve while gorging yourself to obesity.

Michel Camdessus, former Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for 13 years, explains the connection between the state of the economy, the state of the environment, and the lack of mutual guarantee, which he sees as the origin of both crises. “What has taken place is a kind of ethical, global problem. For years and years, we have allowed all the sound warnings ... to the financial actors to moderate their financial appetites, to care about the community, to care about their neighbors—all these principles have been forgotten. We must reestablish a kind of global, ethical system, which is missing. ...Both of them [financial and environmental crisis] find their origins in the over-exploitation of the natural resources or of the economic mechanisms. All of that means that all of us must rethink our own conception models; we must all be more conscious that in the years to come we’ll have more responsibilities.” [41]

Yet, despite the obvious limits on Earth’s resources and the growing evidence of the damage we have caused, we keep “milking” Mother Earth, needlessly polluting the air, water, and ground, leaving a planet for our children that will provide them with neither food nor energy.

Concerning our continuing depletion of these limited energy sources, Steve Connor of The Independent interviewed Fatih Birol, chief economist of the IEA. According to Connor, “Dr. Birol said that the public and many governments appeared to be oblivious to the fact that the oil on which modern civilization depends is running out far faster than previously predicted and that global production is likely to peak in about 10 years—at least a decade earlier than most governments had estimated.” [42]

[29] G. Tyler Miller, Scott Spoolman, Living in the Environment: Principles, Connections, and Solutions, 16th Edition (U.S.A., Brooks/Cole, September 24, 2008), 15

[30] Jean M. Twenge and W. Keith Campbell, The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement (New York: Free Press, A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. 2009), 78

[31] Jean M. Twenge and W. Keith Campbell, The Narcissism Epidemic, 1

[32] Jean M. Twenge and W. Keith Campbell, The Narcissism Epidemic, 1-2

[33] Fiona Harvey, “World headed for irreversible climate change in five years, IEA warns,” The Guardian (November 9, 2011), http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/nov/09/fossil-fuel-infrastructure-climate-change

[34] e360 digest, “Extreme Weather Events Likely Linked to Warming, IPCC Says” (November 1, 2011), http://e360.yale.edu/digest/extreme_weather_events_likely_linked_to_warming_ipcc_says/3195/

[35] “Fishing, Why It Matters, WWF, http://www.worldwildlife.org/what/globalmarkets/fishing/whyitmatters.html

[36] Ian Sample, “Global food crisis looms as climate change and population growth strip fertile land” ( The Guardian, August 31, 2007), http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/aug/31/climatechange.food

[37] “Water, Sanitation and Hygiene,” UNICEF (December 21, 2011), http://www.unicef.org/wash/

[38] Lester R. Brown, World on the Edge: How to Prevent Environmental and Economic Collapse (USA, W. W. Norton & Company, January 6, 2011), 16

[39] Matthew Lee, “Hillary Clinton Raises Alarm on Rising Food Prices,” Associated Press (May 6, 2011), published on cnsnews.com, http://cnsnews.com/news/article/hillary-clinton-raises-alarm-rising-food-prices

[40] Ramy Inocencio, “World wastes 30% of all food,” CNN (May 13, 2011), http://business.blogs.cnn.com/2011/05/13/30-of-all-worlds-food-goes-to-waste/

[41] “Ethics And The Global Financial Crisis,” interview with Michel Camdessus, uploaded to YouTube by romereports (April 1, 2009), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3q8XFLDWIg

[42] Steve Connor, “Warning: Oil supplies are running out fast,” The Independent (August 3, 2009), http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/warning-oil-supplies-are-running-out-fast-1766585.html