 |
A sign outside a Johnson, Vermont church urged people to
help one another after devastating July floods, likely
related to climate change. Johnson residents did help
each other, but large-scale global efforts to combat
climate change are possibly impossible due to
a study by evolutionary biologists. |
Researches at the University of Maine have come along to depress us regarding climate change. But to me, unfortunately, they have a point.
Their conclusion: Humans are incapable of solving climate change, according to evolutionary biologists at the university.
As the Portland Press Herald reports:
"A new study led by an evolutionary biologist at the University of Maine has cone to a grim conclusion: The very traits that have allowed humans to dominate the globe might prevent us from solving global environmental threats like climate change."
The University of Maine researchers offer us more details:
"Tackling the climate crisis effectively will probably require new worldwide regulatory, economic and social systems - ones that generate greater cooperation and authority than existing systems like the Paris Agreement. To establish those systems, humans need a functional social system for the planet, which we don't have."
That's because we at humans really suck at this type of cooperation.
The Portland Press Herald goes on:
"Since the origin of our species, humans have developed a keen ability to adapt to our environment, creating better and better technology - from primitive fishing weirs to the modern oil well - to exploit our natural environment, the study says.
When a resource starts to run low or a method threaten our healthy or home, humans have a track record of moving to the next resource-rich are or fighting on the battlefield or boardroom over the scraps that remain rather than coming together to solve the problem."
It's not that humans can't overcome environmental threats. Communities, nations and even small groups of nations have come together to fix things like overfishing and acid rain.
In those cases, the problem was smaller than the group of nations or states or what have you coming together to fix the problem, they were under pressure to deal with the issue, and something convinced them that doing nothing would make matters worse.
All those conditions exist with climate change to some extent. But not enough.
Climate change really is a bigger issue than the groups trying to address it. At least so far. Organizations like the United Nations can try to encourage solutions, but it doesn't really have the authority to force nations to take action.
And the Powers That Be have decided that the money being made off fossil fuels isn't worth the cost of fighting climate change.
Waring says that in a world filled with regional groups, these groups tend to solve the wrong problems, benefitting the interests of nations and corporations and either delaying or blocking action on shared priorities.
As the Portland Press Herald explains:
"Harder still, humans will have to overcome the cultural evolution that has encouraged sub-groups of the population to pursue their own best interests while delaying action on shared priorities and avoiding the all out race for resources that can sometimes lead to war, (UMaine Associate Professor Tim Waring) said."
All this resource competition between groups could lead to wars and "even global dieback," according to the study.
We're already starting to see that, in my opinion. If God forbid the human race is wiped out in the coming decades or centuries, it won't be climate change itself that will do us in. It will be the resulting wars, instability and economic chaos.
Waring admits the study he's led is depressing. Portland Press Herald again:
"Waring, who teaches at UMaine's Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions, knows his conclusions are sobering. A peer reviewer suggest he add more hope to the study, but Waring said he believes in telling it like it is. Plus, he said, history suggests humans respond more to fear than hope."
That's a double-edged sword, of course. Maybe scientists and others should make us more fearful of climate change. The problem is the many bad actors who exploit fear for their own gain.
Autocrats are on the march worldwide, and are gaining. We're looking at you Erdogan, Orban, Putin, Trump and all the rest. They lead through fear, or try to. These autocrats understand that fear is a motivator among humans. Autocrats also make us fear the wrong things - like each other - to achieve their goals.
That's why we're "supposed" to hate Jews, Arabs, gays, liberals, or whatever, at least according to the autocratic playbook.
Meanwhile, the autocrats dismiss the very thing we should be afraid of - climate change. That's because they know that climate change will instill even more fear, making the populations they seek to dominate more pliable.
All along the way, they pocket the giant profits they make from doing this.
The bottom line: If you want to combat climate change, part of the fight needs to be against the autocrats of the world.
