When we are facing issues such as alarming rates of biodiversity loss, rising temperatures, changing climates, shortages in water and food why isn't the human race responding with the highest level of urgency?
Honestly, we could answer this question from many sides, but as a part of a series of entries I am going to list some of the most provocative reasons for our slow and highly absentminded responses to the changes we are experiencing in our environments and most importantly in our human circles, the mental and physical health of our families.
One of the central reasons that we are not responding with urgency and forward thinking has something to do with the makeup of the human brain and how we all think, experience our surroundings, and interact with the world. As human beings, we have two distinct selfs: the experiencing and the remembering. Every day is incredibly different from the other and because of this, our minds have become malleable to the intensity of changes that occur in our surroundings moment to moment. As a result, the fluidity of how we think about ourselves and the state of the environment has created a huge barrier for the precision and efficiency with which we respond to environmental risks such as food scarcity, water quality, and social issues.
As an experiencing being, we go about our days taking advantage of our surroundings being that our food, spending time with our families, or recreating in the nearby lake down the road. As humans, we wish to maximize the quality our experiences. However, with this value comes the destructive addiction of consuming in excess. This is how imbalances start both in the quality and quantity of resources humans use. With this imbalance arises issues with the physical and mental state of humans.
As remembering beings, we take into account the risks of our actions more frequently as we remember the negative outcomes of past mistakes we have made be that with other people or in how we interacted with natural resources.
For example, fishing, one of the longest held human relationship with nature has created a rich history of the transformation in human thinking about its relationship with the natural environment. As fishermen and scientists have learned more about the ocean, its value, and how previous fishing methods impacted population sizes of big fisheries such as Cod, Tuna, and Mackerel, humans have taken measures to limit and control fishing practices so that humans can continue to receive the nutritional, recreational, and economical benefits of fisheries.
Being humans, we always to continue to drag old mistakes from the past into the present because we were unable to learn from past mistakes or because we did not understand the issue completely and consequently developed a quick short-sighted solution that didn't solve the root of the problem. The problem with this is that although we may think that we have fixed the problem we actually have exacerbated the declines or worse yet, we have caused new issues.
For me what is the most alarming is the extent to which this evolutional weakness impacts the health and future survival of human beings. If we cannot learn to control our minds and interactions with other human beings and the environment we are going to lose important aspects of our lives that make living not only possible but satisfying on this planet. When we have consumed all of the omega 3 protein of fish that is so vital in our diet we will have to search elsewhere. However, what if we could find a way to coexist and let these natural resources thrive while we continue to reap benefits from the plants, animals, and other organisms we rely on and use in our daily lives?
