Protected: Postscript
Since publication of The Dominant Animal, the global economy went into a tailspin, a new US administration took office, a new flu pandemic appeared, much activity around climate change occurred, and new scientific findings have shed light on how human beings became dominant.
One new suggestion, from Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, is that the long period of helplessness required by the lengthy growth and development of human babies’ brains has led to their ability to charm adults and to the willingness of human mothers to share the care of children with other adults—to be cooperative breeders. Becoming more generally cooperative and empathetic (using our theory of mind) may have been evolutionarily advantageous and probably was key to gaining dominance.
The recession raises the question of whether “recovery” will entail an attempt to restore the overconsumptive behavior in industrialized countries that has seriously undermined our life-support systems. Or will the recession provide an opportunity to change course with regard to material consumption and provide more aid to the poorest groups? The swine flu pandemic could prove as dangerous as the pandemic of 1918—19, illustrating our civilization’s vulnerability to pandemics, but it is too early to tell at this writing.
More has been learned about climate disruption too: precipitation patterns will likely be continually changing for centuries, and consequently water-handling infrastructure will need to be redesigned and rebuilt not only for cities but also, especially, for agriculture. Redeveloping the world’s energy supply system is even more challenging. Effects of climate change have already begun to appear: summer melting of Arctic ice is faster than expected, reinforcing the positive feedback of further heating; methane releases from Arctic tundra seem to be rising; and polar ice sheet melting seems to be accelerating, potentially leading to faster sea level rises and spurring migration of climate refugees from coasts and islands.
An important source of global heating, a recent finding indicates, is “black carbon” (soot). By speeding glacial melting, soot, along with other sources of global heating, threatens major rivers in Asia that supply water for agriculture for billions of people. But the soot problem could be relatively easily controlled, mainly by supplying efficient, smokeless stoves to villagers in poor countries, thereby also improving the health of women and children and reducing pressure on fuelwood sources. Meanwhile, the potential reductions of water supplies in major agricultural regions underline the need to increase support for international agricultural research centers.
The Barack Obama administration has taken a number of actions that indicate a serious interest in the state of the world environment. An early decision was to reverse the Bush policies on family planning aid and to increase U.S. support for it. In addition, both the administration and Congress are taking climate change seriously and working on legislation to reduce CO2 emissions in the United States. Faced with the deteriorating economy, the administration and Congress enacted a “stimulus” measure that included investments in the country’s infrastructure, focusing on revising the nation’s energy and transportation systems to establish a “new foundation” for the economy. At the same time, the U.S. government has rejoined the intensifying international climate negotiations for the next steps after the Kyoto Protocol. And China, which conservatives in the United States have used as justification for refusing to take action, is quietly and rapidly deploying renewable energy installations.
Scientists are finding that viewing the sociopolitical system and the biosphere as complex adaptive systems is a helpful way to approach the human predicament. In the past century or so, the human system has greatly increased its scale and interactions with the biosphere, which may lead to big surprises and increase the potential for collapse. Hence the paradox of dominance: how did so clever an animal become able to modify the entire planet but fail to do so in a way that would keep the planet habitable for the long term? Will the MAHB and better understanding and concerted action around the world enable us to develop a sustainable world soon?
Key Terms
- Biochar
- Black carbon
- Complex adaptive system (CAS)
- Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR)
- Cooperative breeders
- Himalayan Water Tower
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