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Nature and Society Editorial What a weird mob we humans are: such a mixture of intelligence and stupidity, goodwill and hostility, kindness and cruelty. Much of the time we do not even notice the contradictions in the way we behave. At this Christmas season we express the wish for Peace on Earth and Goodwill to Men (let’s up date that to goodwill to all humans) and then act in ways that ensure these noble sentiments cannot come to fruition. Good resolutions are made and quickly broken. Welcome to the season of conspicuous over consumption and excess. This season is therefore a good time to talk about morals. Just as Daniel Quinn argued that we will have to have a new way of thinking if our species is to survive for more than a few generations (see the editorial in the October journal) so we will need to adapt our moral code to avoid overwhelming all the natural systems on which our survival depends. For years NSF member Neil Burry has been trying to alert us, and the rest of society, to the perils of over consumption of food by individuals, and of all resources by our society. He says ‘An understanding of personal obesity gives an understanding of economic obesity. It is all a matter of energy imbalance which stands high in the list of concerns of the Nature and Society Forum. Indeed Stephen Boyden has made it the supreme concern. Tim Flannery makes it the supreme concern in his book We are the Weathermakers. Indeed we are the weathermakers who are over our healthy economic and body weights as the result of over consumption.’ As we approach this new year an interesting phenomenon is occurring. Quite suddenly, it seems, there is much public discussion on many issues NSF and other organisations have been working for years to get into the public arena: climate change, peak oil, energy consumption and supply, the rapid decline of fisheries, the plight of the oceans, shortages of water, human health and nutrition, and many more, all are getting a really public airing for the first time. It is fascinating to watch the growing public and political perception of the problems about which we have been talking and writing for decades. It almost seems miraculous, but of course it is not. The systems have reached a tipping point at which acceleration of the problem has occurred and it can no longer be ignored. And it is no coincidence that this is all happening at the same time; we have argued for ages that all these things are connected. They are the consequence of too many people consuming too much and stressing all the life support systems of the planet. Neil coined the term Darwinian original sin to alert us to the moral dimensions of the problem. All species, humans included, tend to eat well in good times to tide themselves though bad times. This served us well when there were lean times. Anyone who saw the Australian film Ten Canoes this year would have been impressed by the lean active aboriginal tribal people who formed the cast. It gave us a great contrast to the body shapes of our current lifestyles, with plentiful cheap fattening foods available every day of the year, without any great expenditure of human muscle power in acquiring them. It is in our genes to overeat and to take things easy when there is no need for energetic activity, that is why Neil called it Darwinian original sin. We know what we should do about it, but it is so easy just to do what nature programmed us to do – eat what we want when it is available (and to stockpile possessions, too). Scarcity would solve the problem, as it does in Africa, but scarcity is unknown to us at present. So for now will power is the answer, and that is why many people are now thinking of the problem as a moral one. While much is being said on the problem of over consumption of food, the issue of over consumption of all other resources has not made it into public or political consciousness. Indeed politicians, economists and business people are still busy urging us to over consume. They still insist that supplies of energy should continue to grow, without any understanding that all the problems that are now surfacing have been caused by that growing consumption, and that the only way to address the problems is to start reducing consumption right now. Christmas is a good time to talk about morals. It is at least a time when we tend to remember the golden rule that is basic to most religions, do unto others as you would they should do unto you, (even if we only think of the others as being those in our in group). So, in the lead up to Christmas, we can remember that it should not just be a time for consumption. Judging from the replies to our requests for suggestions for Christmas presents, most NSF members already realise this. Daniel Quinn’s idea of a new Renaissance, a change in thinking that makes every one understand that humans are part of nature, not separate or more important, will also inevitably mean a change in our system of moral thought. It will make care of the biosphere our most important duty realising that the well-being of people is totally dependent on the health of the biosphere. Human morality will have to recognise and respect the limits imposed by the finite nature of the Earth itself. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, remembering that over consumption leads to neither health nor happiness. Jenny Wanless December 2006 - January 2007 edition accessible here ________________________________________________________________
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