Environmental Consciousness and the Nature of Humankind

My wise and compassionate friend Cameron Atwood writes:

Woodrow Wilson (was concerned about extractive wealth) across our economy and the world economy as well (when he wrote) “…shrewd wits playing on the credulity of others, taking advantage of the weakness of others, trading in the necessities of others.”

Here’s a counter-argument, offered in good spirit.

Insofar as humans are part of the animal kingdom, which itself is competitive, you’re asking for something that is not only impossible, but undesirable as well, even if it were possible.  Now, before you try to tell me that competition doesn’t need to be based on the strong taking advantage of the weak, recognize that the very notion of competition means that the strong beat up on the weak.  The frogs eat the bugs, the snakes eat the frogs, and the hawks eat the snakes.  Fast runners win medals, smart kids are awarded scholarships, and insightful entrepreneurs build better businesses.

For some reason, we seem to overlook this.  The PBS special on the evolution of the wolf into the domesticated dog includes this line: “the dog has one foot in the animal world, and another foot in ours.” News flash: we ourselves are part of the animal world.

Of course, fortunately for us all, there is another dimension of humankind, i.e., our species’ capacity for kindness.  You and I happen to be big fans of kindness.  But to think–or even to hope–that kindness will win out over our animal nature is a waste of time.  It’s the same as thinking that the same Darwinism that got us through the first four billion years of life on Earth can (or should) be suspended in the 21st Century.

There are two powerful mitigating forces that serve to check humankind’s natural greed and selfishness:

• The emotional and practical need for acceptance and avoidance of public scorn, which are two sides of the same coin.  Of course, this varies according to society.  A golfer who cheats is regarded as the moral equivalent of a child molester; his fellow country club members would rather have a martini with a projectile vomiter.  On the other hand, business people who are native to most counties in Southeast Asia who don’t cheat Westerners are regarded as complete idiots.

• Law, which varies a bit by society, though far less.  In a great many aspects of our dealings with one another, public censure is not enough to rein in bad behavior. We impose civil penalties for fraud and negligence, and criminal penalties for assaults against our property and bodies.

To tie this into the main point of the blog here at 2GreenEnergy, as I always do (eventually), both of these are going to have to expand in a huge way if this civilization is going to have the remotest chance to survive the next 50-100 years.

Environmental law on an international scale will have to grow some real fangs, and it doesn’t have its baby teeth at this point.

At the same time, public consciousness of right and wrong eco-behavior is going to have to spread well beyond the sophisticated part of Europe and the very most enlightened parts of the rest of the world.  It’s great that single-use plastic bags and Cadillac Escalades don’t exist in Santa Monica or Berkeley, but notice that these are exceptions in the entire rest of North America–in terms of affluence, educational level, and normative behavior.

The kid who wanted to bag the three small items that I bought in my local grocery store this afternoon (which I carried out easily in one hand) asked me: “Paper or plastic?”

We have a long battle ahead of us.