Existential Crisis

 Our next class discussion is focused on the 2020 Netflix Documentary David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet. Since we recently finished the last chapter of Medical Ethics, the last two weeks or so of the semester will be more on environmental ethics, and this documentary is an excellent introduction into that. Many of the issues with environmental ethics and environmental conservation efforts exist because humans are the worst.

Arguably the biggest error in human history is that of the loss of Earth's wild places and its biodiversity. The way that humans currently live is sending biodiversity into a decline due to bad planning and actions. This will eventually lead us to a place where we can't live anymore. Earth's evolutionary history speaks of slow, steady change, with mass extinctions marking each period of life. The most recent period, the Holocene, is the most stable of these periods, and its biodiversity contributed to that stability. Due to its stability and predictability, humans have been able to flourish, which contributed to the discovery/invention of farming, and civilizations followed. For humans, our major evolutionary advantage is our intelligence. Instead of needing to develop a major physical change, we have thought our way around many problems. We've seen though that the available resources on our planet are not limitless, and without major changes, we'll soon see the complete destruction of natural habitats and the extinction of countless more species than have already been lost.

The way we've been living is unsustainable. Overfishing, cutting down rainforests, polluting the air and the oceans; all of these are contributing to the dying state of the natural, "wild" world. Coral bleaching, destruction of the polar ice caps, deforestation, overuse of fertile land, and so many other examples, are evidence of the abuse humans have caused on the planet we call home. We've claimed this planet as our own, and instead of being run by all of the species and enjoying stability due to its biodiversity, human beings have overrun and destroyed much of it. We've made it our planet, run by humankind for humankind.

So, what? Clearly we can't continue on this way, it's unsustainable. And anything that is unsustainable can't be sustained forever, that's the definition of the word. The wild will continue on, so finding a way forward isn't about saving our planet but more about saving ourselves. The natural world will rebuild itself, the same way it has reclaimed Chernobyl after the radioactive accident in the 1980s. The living world will endure, but humans can't presume that we will have the same fate if we don't change something. We need more than just our intelligence, we need wisdom.

We need to find a way to restore the Earth's biodiversity to reestablish its stability and sustainability. The first of these steps is a controversial one, but it's one that is inevitable. As more of the world is turning into developed nations, we will eventually see the slowing/stop of population growth. To reach a human population peak, we'll need to take steps to raise people out of poverty, improve access to healthcare, and enable people (especially girls) to stay in school as long as possible. This will contribute to an earlier, lower peak in population and give people greater opportunity; ideally raising the standard of living throughout the world without raising our impact on the world. 

Another necessary move toward sustainability is living in a naturally-powered world, phasing out fossil fuels and running the world on energy derived from geothermal, solar, wind, and water energies. Investing in these energies and divesting from fossil fuels will lead to quieter, cleaner cities. Renewable energy doesn't run out, by definition of the word, and overall this would drastically reduce the impact of humans on the natural world. 

In addition to this, the living world can't operate without a living and healthy ocean, and increased diversity will help to solve that problem as well. One proposed solution is that of restricting fishing areas and following a model set up by the island of Palau and setting specified "no fish" zones. If the UN's plan to set up a large "no fish" zone in international waters is successful, they will effectively set up the world's biggest wildlife reserve and will move us toward repopulating the ocean and provide more fish than we would ever need to survive. 

That's the situation with the ocean, but a similar one is needed on the land as well. Humans need to radically reduce the area we're using to farm in order to return wilderness, and the best way to do that is to change our diets. Large carnivores are rare in the wild because it takes a massive amount of prey to support them, so humans need to reduce our overall intake of meat. Largely plant-based diets would move us closer to using half the land we currently use and by following more sustainable farming models we could also increase productivity of the land we're using. The technology is available, and producing food in new locations (indoors, in cities, in oceans, etc.) would increase food production and reduce the space used, thereby reversing the "land grab" that humans have been participating in/pursuing since we started farming. 

10,000 years ago humans were hunter/gatherers out of necessity and sustainability, and now it's our only option again to be sustainable. We can solve the problems we've created by taking care of nature and allowing it to then take care of us. We need to establish a life that is in balance with nature, becoming part of nature again, instead of living apart from nature and benefitting from the land without ensuring its future. A sustainable, long-lasting future is possible, but to get there we have to start by listening to scientists and conservationists and doing what we can to guarantee a future where humans are a sustainable part of life on Earth. Otherwise, it will move on without us.

Film citation:

Fothergill, A., Hughes, J., & Scholey, K. (Directors). (2020). David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet [Motion picture]. Denmark: Altitude Film Entertainment; Netflix; Silverback Films.