A Sustainable Future? A Response to J

Please see J's prescient post on our potential for a sustainable future. Because this response is too long, it won't fit on his comment section.

Ahh, the big question. Can humans live sustainably? My answer is simple: the environment carries a big stick and isn't afraid to use it to beat the crap out of us.

A plethora of B-movie scenarios are proposed for the time of scarce resources. The formula goes like this...resource inequities turn the world into a dyad of "haves" and "have nots". Governments of wealthy nations allow their populace to live beyond their means and the rest of the world be damned. When other nations come with their hands out, wealthy nations undergo a rapid culture shift, moving toward overt nationalism, intense isolationism, and a return to conservative values. This is a not so subtle way of saying, "If those people had worked harder and saved for a rainy day, they might have what we still have. Aren't we great?", and is one of the most ugly and obvious examples of First World privilege imaginable. (But I digress.) Ultimately, resources become so scarce that the government can no longer contain the situation and falls. Then it's every man for himself. Individuals and families hoard the remaining resources, hole up in our houses, and shoot all who attempt to enter. This also fails. (Think every zombie movie ever made.) After the family unit fails, the survivors (almost always very young people with one or two progressive old folks who can pass on accumulated knowledge) congregate in happy communes and human culture is reset to a more sustainable level. Lather. Rinse. Repeat every ten millennia or so.

Our alternative scenario is that we skip all the government control of the situation and go straight to the hippy-dippy commune approach. Not. Gunna. Happen.

There is a third option, and that is the one I think you are proposing. Technology and self awareness can give people the tools they need to maintain a first world standard of living, curb population growth, and feed every mouth in need. All we need is a paradigm shift in culture to get it there.

I maintain it won't work. Oh, I think it is physically possible (people CAN be taught to live within hard limits and exhibit self-restraint) but the cultural jumping off point precludes it. Somehow, American culture has embraced the idea that we get to decide our own reality. And as goes American culture so goes the world. Let me give you an example. I spent this morning reading an internet board that I can only describe as the "To vaccinate or not to vaccinate: that is the question facing the inept" fiasco. There are people who are convinced that there is a conspiracy between the government and Big Pharma to kill them, that scientists are doctoring clinical trials purposely to bring bad product to market, and that any money made off of of meds renders the entire profession corrupt. Remarkably, these same people who think capitalism in the medical profession is bad also think that government programs that make medical services available to the masses are also bad. So capitalism AND socialism be damned. For fuck's sake, J, nothing can save these morons. In the absence of a real disease outbreak here in the United States (I don't think Americans believe it can happen here even if it happens in Europe) that wipes out a significant portion of the population, nothing will convince these idiots of the error of their thinking. I say, let them skip the vaccinations. Just kick their children out of public school, let them contract small pox, and corral their idiot behinds in quarantine camps.

But the point here is, when did it become okay for people to decide whether to accept facts, whether or not to "believe" scientific findings, and whether or not to act in a way that places not only themselves, but others in grave danger?

Humans have all the intelligence, knowledge and physical power necessary to actually bring ourselves back from the edge. But we won't. It is one reason that I think Obama might actually fail. The birthers, the anti-vaccination crowd, the climate-change deniers all seem to be living in an alternate universe that the educated, thinking man can't penetrate. They are so gripped in their own ignornace and conspiracy theories that they can't see what idiots they really are. While they may not be the majority, they are the lowest common denominator. And we "leave no idiot behind". The vast majority of people would rather wallow in ignorance right up to the moment that they trip into their mass grave. Humans are smart, but we aren't rational. We clasp to prior knowledge even when doing so harms us. If we were rational, religion would have disappeared generations ago. We can justify the most outrageous behavior.

Furthermore, a culture shift demands that the majority follow the rules. What biological population is able to control all its members?

I taught an entire course on environmental issues in which we discussed the problems of oil extraction and refining, the probem of carbon release and climate change, the problems of grwing population size and world hunger. I STILL had a kid tell me toward the end of the semester he wasn't going to give up his gas-guzzling car because "chicks dig it".

Humans are animals and please, tell me one biological population that is not (ultimately) controlled top-down (by predation, parasitism, viral attack, etc.), laterally (by competition), or bottom-up (by environmental controls). Tell me one.

Consider for example, our cultural expectation of monogamy. There are always extra-couple copulations. Why? Because even when there is the expectation of monogamy, individuals maximize their offspring's survival chances by investing in a variable set of genes. Sure, one of those offspring may be the most fit today, but what about when conditions change rapidly? Variation is good. Variation is the stuff of evolution. We will lie when culture works against our best interests. Sometimes we don't know why we act like we do, even when we act in defiance of cultural norms. I maintain there is always an element of biological determinism at work.

And unlike those in the "can humans exhibit enough self-restraint to prevent disaster", I propose that humans are controlled hardest by the limits set by the environment. If we improve technology we will merely increase the carrying capacity of the Earth. We will continue to fill all available space until the environment pushes back. We will bicker and fight and joust among one another like chickens in coop.

I think there are an enlightened few capable of sacrificing their own self-interests for the greater good. Perhaps they can change the mass culture, but I doubt it. Maybe these few are the founders of the hippy-dippy communes, but the masses are far too distrusting and stupid to make it work. I think martial law is just about the only way to achieve peaceful (?!!) sustainability. The other alterantive is to let the Earth take care of itself.

I realize I have rambled here and not stuck to the true intent of your original post, but I think maybe I was working through this as I wrote my response. It would be great if we somehow could educate our way into this sustainable future. I don't think I'm likely to see it in my lifetime, but I could be wrong.

Living Sustainably

I think that as biologists, my peers and I struggle with the knowledge of human impacts on the Earth and a desire to live sustainably in the realities of a modern civilization. As biologists, we are probably more likely to seek out environmentally friendly purchasing options, but like everyone else we let a lot of our consumption slide beneath the radar.

Packaging. Imports. Durability. Quality. Disposal. Pollution. Human rights. It seems to me that these are some of the issues of which we need to be cognizant in our purchases. And in my case, there are also the issues of poverty and obsessive-compulsiveness to balance.

I've been giving this some thought lately and there are a few changes that I need to implement in my lifestyle to meet my objectives of reducing my impact.

1. Drive less. I live a constant distance from work. That can't be altered. I'm in the boonies, so carpooling isn't feasible. On the upside, the high gasoline prices earlier this year "broke" me of the habit of hopping in a car whenever the spirit moved me. I used to visit my family twice a year. Now I go once a year or less. However, lower gas prices might encourage me to drive more. I must remain vigilant.

2. Buy less. This is helped a great deal by poverty and Jake-ownership. I have learned the hard way about replacing things Jake is prone to tear up. Can anyone say window blinds? However, I do have the issue of O-C behavior that sometimes causes me to become fixated on a product, which I purchase beyond my needs(food, shampoo, socks, and t-shirts). However, I can discipline myself. I know this is going to be a difficult one to stick to, but my objective is this: If I can't afford it right now AND I can't start using it right now, I can't buy it right now. Even if it's a great deal. Even if it's on clearance.

3. Buy smart or don't buy at all. I have a lot of things that are not very valuable. My furniture includes a 12 -year old futon, a 20-year-old coffee table, a hand-me down sofa-bed, a 15-year-old recliner, a hand-me-down upholstered chair that was liberated from Bek's old apartment. I think that chair was on her front porch when she moved in. I have two antique dressers, a 10-yo king-size bed, and a new breakfast table. I have a series of three shelves that I have hacked to make a tv stand for a tv I seldom watch. None of it matches. This used to bother me. It doesn't anymore. They are functional. But in the future, when I buy durable goods, I will do so with an eye toward quality and durability. No more crappy furniture or appliances. No more temporary shelving to hold crap I don't use. Which brings us to.....

4. Downscale my belongings. I just sold my dining room suite that seated 12 and replaced it with a breakfast bar that seats 4. It was the best thing I have done in years. It opened up space to move in my house. I should be doing this elsewhere in my house. Every time I move, I have boxes I never unpack. My brain tells me that if I haven't opened a box in 5 years, I should just not open it and take it directly to Goodwill. My fear is that they are full of "heirlooms". In reality, they are probably full of crap. I need to get organized and sell or give away the things I don't or won't use again. No longer will I devote space, time and energy to maintaining and storing things I don't use.

5. Clothes. Clothes demand their own category. I have winter clothes that are only appropriate for Chicago. These are quality clothes and I'm not getting rid of them in case I move back or move to northern climates. Ok, maybe I'm living in denial, but these are good clothes bought when I had money to invest in quality clothing. But I have a lot of other junk that is crap. I have clothes that don't fit. Two sizes too big or two sizes too small. Clothes that I might wear when and if I, oh let's say I ever get asked to go to the opera. I can only wear so many clothes in a week. If I don't wear it, I'm gonna sell it or give it away. I did this a few years ago and cleaned out quite a bit of stuff. Still, I couldn't manage to get rid of some of it and it remains there, back in the back of the closet, waiting for it's turn in the sun. This process, however, did have a bonus: I started wearing clothes that I normally wouldn't, and Bek noticed that I was beginning to dress "nicer". I think that was a compliment. :\ In any event, I am going to get a handle on the clothing situation so that it is manageable within my living space.

6. Buy quality only when durability, comfort, or safety are considerations (home repairs, furniture, automobiles, work boots, shoes, dress and winter clothes), otherwise go as cheap as possible. Realistically, I think clothing should be expected to last 5 years with daily wearing and weekly washing--socks and underwear excluded. Dress shoes should last 15. Tennis shoes should last 1 year. Over the years, I've begun doing most of my clothes shopping at discount stores like K-Mart and Wal-Mart. I'm going to start doing most of my clothes shopping at Goodwill, especially for field clothes. I've gotten great compliments on some of the stuff I've managed to pick up in there.

7. Buy local when feasible. Buy used as often as possible.

8. Buy with an eye to wasteful packaging and disposal.

9. Stop buying on credit. This was harder when gas prices were high--I did have to get to work and back. Even then, I attempted to alter my work schedule so that I could work from home 2-3 days a week.

10. Buy things that can be reused and recycled. No more plastic water bottles. No more one-time-use batteries. Although I am torn. Should I buy in glass bottles and reuse them for storage or buy in plastic and recycle? Any thoughts?

11. Set up some sort of scheme to exchange items among friends and peers. I think I'll start with our listserv.

12. Start finding free things to do with my friends. Hikes. Camping. DVD night complete with popcorn and juju beans. My social life does not have to revolve around the cinema, the bar, and restaurants. Nor does every get together have to be a "party". Sometimes, we can just hang out. How about a host-revolving "game night"? It can be poker. It can be Cranium. Want to spend time with a boyfriend who wants to spend time with his friends? Why not bring your friends and his friends together? Besides, who doesn't need more friends? Who's in?