Blog CemeteryPrinciple II - Make Friends
September 18th 2006 03:45
The second principle of sustainability is what loosely can be called “cooperation.” Why should this be so difficult?
Economics is sometimes referred to as “the dismal science”, and it’s only because what they are dealing with that is so dismal are problems of scarcity: how to best allocate resources in a scarce world. In the Western world, which can include Aus/NZ, we live lives of abundance. We have plumbing, air conditioning, safe drinking water, hot water, reliable refrigeration, and ample food supply.
But, not everyone in the world can live the way we do. In fact, if the teeming masses of China, India, Africa, Arab peninsula, etc, all lived to the standards of the “American dream” (house in suburbia, picket fence, two-car garage, two college-bound kids and dog) we would simply burn down the planet ecologically. Or more accurately, we would smoke it. This is what “new media” of the 90s has really been able to show us, exactly the magnitude of suffering of the have-nots, and now we are aware also of the lack of combustible fuel to go around.
So how important is cooperation in light of these discoveries?
Currently, there are a few pieces of legislation proposed by American representatives to attempt to alleviate the problems posed by dependency on fossil fuels. California senator Dianne Feinstein, for example, has recently introduced the “10-in-10 Act” that would raise fuel economy for vehicles from their current average of 25mpg to 35 mpg by the year 2017. If successful, this would save 2.5 million barrels of oil per day, which is about what’s imported from the Persian Gulf every day.
The human being in general has occasional trouble cooperating because of our evolutionary history. Humans and chimpanzees share over 98% of their genetic information. Technically, typical human and chimp homologs of proteins differ in only an average of two amino acids. )(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Chimpanzee)
The study of evolutionary history has shown us that for thousands of years, human ancestors and chimpanzees shared spaces and habitats (or, it’s better to say that they lived among each other) and they also needed to share space and food supply with gorillas. All of the primate species that had to share space with gorillas have developed certain aggressive tendencies that include: aggressive male coalitions, occasional rapes, beatings, and hierarchical political structures based on force.
Bonobos are a primate species that shows much more cooperative behavior – they evolved apart from the gorillas, chimps, and larger species. They now occupy the left bank of the Congo River, according to Dr. William Calvin of the University of Washington. (http://williamcalvin.com/teaching/bonobo.htm)
In the bonobo society, the females occupy an equal standing with males. Typically, groups of females make what can be called political decisions.
The important question is: can humans learn to cooperate long enough, so that investigations of sustainable environmental practices can succeed in getting the attention of decision-makers, who can then act? There are reasons to be optimistic. Forums such as the World Cup and the Olympic games allow for the mediation of nationalistic passions. There are also international political bodies like the UN or ECO, which while seemingly stumbling and ungainly, are occasionally effective at resolving disputes. And there are the acts of private citizens such as Bill Gates and George Soros, who donate millions of dollars to philanthropic and educational causes.
Economics is sometimes referred to as “the dismal science”, and it’s only because what they are dealing with that is so dismal are problems of scarcity: how to best allocate resources in a scarce world. In the Western world, which can include Aus/NZ, we live lives of abundance. We have plumbing, air conditioning, safe drinking water, hot water, reliable refrigeration, and ample food supply.
But, not everyone in the world can live the way we do. In fact, if the teeming masses of China, India, Africa, Arab peninsula, etc, all lived to the standards of the “American dream” (house in suburbia, picket fence, two-car garage, two college-bound kids and dog) we would simply burn down the planet ecologically. Or more accurately, we would smoke it. This is what “new media” of the 90s has really been able to show us, exactly the magnitude of suffering of the have-nots, and now we are aware also of the lack of combustible fuel to go around.
So how important is cooperation in light of these discoveries?
Currently, there are a few pieces of legislation proposed by American representatives to attempt to alleviate the problems posed by dependency on fossil fuels. California senator Dianne Feinstein, for example, has recently introduced the “10-in-10 Act” that would raise fuel economy for vehicles from their current average of 25mpg to 35 mpg by the year 2017. If successful, this would save 2.5 million barrels of oil per day, which is about what’s imported from the Persian Gulf every day.
The human being in general has occasional trouble cooperating because of our evolutionary history. Humans and chimpanzees share over 98% of their genetic information. Technically, typical human and chimp homologs of proteins differ in only an average of two amino acids. )(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Chimpanzee)
The study of evolutionary history has shown us that for thousands of years, human ancestors and chimpanzees shared spaces and habitats (or, it’s better to say that they lived among each other) and they also needed to share space and food supply with gorillas. All of the primate species that had to share space with gorillas have developed certain aggressive tendencies that include: aggressive male coalitions, occasional rapes, beatings, and hierarchical political structures based on force.
Bonobos are a primate species that shows much more cooperative behavior – they evolved apart from the gorillas, chimps, and larger species. They now occupy the left bank of the Congo River, according to Dr. William Calvin of the University of Washington. (http://williamcalvin.com/teaching/bonobo.htm)
In the bonobo society, the females occupy an equal standing with males. Typically, groups of females make what can be called political decisions.
The important question is: can humans learn to cooperate long enough, so that investigations of sustainable environmental practices can succeed in getting the attention of decision-makers, who can then act? There are reasons to be optimistic. Forums such as the World Cup and the Olympic games allow for the mediation of nationalistic passions. There are also international political bodies like the UN or ECO, which while seemingly stumbling and ungainly, are occasionally effective at resolving disputes. And there are the acts of private citizens such as Bill Gates and George Soros, who donate millions of dollars to philanthropic and educational causes.
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