Authors: Mickey Huff
It has long been thought that our primate cousins, the chimpanzees, have
genetic predispositions toward violence, suggesting that violence is a natural part of human nature. However, new evidence suggests that this is not necessarily true. In the Gombe National Park in Tanzania, Jane Goodall studied the primates for decades and reported little aggressive interactions during the first fourteen years. But patterns of aggression changed among the troop in later years. Some suggest this was due to human interactions. Human feeding of the chimpanzees, with its restrictions and control, deeply affected the behavior and culture of the animals.
Source:
Darcia Narvaez, “Male Chimps and Humans Genetically Violent—NOT!”
Psychology Today
, March 29, 2011,
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/moral-landscapes/201103/male-chimps-and-humans-are-genetically-violent-not
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Humans are not born to be competitive, self-serving, and violent (as many believe) but rather collaborative. The human genus spent 99 percent of its existence in small-band, hunter-gatherer societies. These societies were fiercely egalitarian and didn’t have an organized hierarchy or leader. It wasn’t until societies began cultivating crops and became sedentary that political hierarchy and, therefore, violence appeared. But when we believe hierarchy to be a part of human nature, we are more likely to tolerate inequality.
Source:
Darcia Narvaez, “What You Think About Evolution and Human Nature May Be Wrong,”
Psychology Today
, April 17, 2011,
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/moral-landscapes/201104/what-you-think-about-evolution-and-human-nature-may-be-wrong
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Scientists recently discovered mirror neurons in all primates. Mirror neurons enable us to experience another’s plight as if we were experiencing it ourselves. Several studies suggest we are not soft-wired for aggression, violence, and self-interest but for collaboration and companionship. As humans, our main drive is to belong. Our secondary drives of narcissism, materialism, and violence emerge when our homo-empathicus nature is repressed by today’s parenting, educational
systems, business practices, and governments. Consciousness has changed throughout history. As we evolve, we extend our empathetic ties. Our hunter-gatherer ancestors only had empathy for those in their bloodline, the people they interacted with on a daily basis. Any other humans they encountered were considered a threat. Today’s technology allows people around the globe to interact, furthering our potential for empathetic connection.
Source:
“RSA Animate: The Empathic Civilisation,” video, YouTube, 10:40, posted by theRSAorg, May 6, 2010,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7AWnfFRc7g&feature=relmfu
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Practice mindfulness to reduce stress during pregnancy, childbirth, and early parenting. Staying centered and present with children will foster a strong bond between parent and child and help kids feel safe, secure, and loved. Furthermore, children who are well attended to grow up to be mindful and compassionate themselves, creating a more peaceful future for all.
Source:
Cassandra Vieten, “Riding the Rollercoaster of Pregnancy and Early Parenthood,”
Psychology Today
, May 3, 2010,
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/mindful-mother-hood/201005/riding-the-roller-coaster-pregnancy-and-early-parenthood
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A study on collaboration found that young children naturally share rewards when they are successful at completing a task together.
Source:
Jason Marsh, “Does Sharing Come Naturally to Kids?” Greater Good Science Center, February 24, 2011,
http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/does_sharing_come_naturally_to_kids
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Journalist Joe Klein said, “Diversity has been written into the DNA of American life; any institution that lacks a rainbow array has come to seem diminished, if not diseased.” Indeed, research has demonstrated that some surprising victims of racism are racists themselves. When
racists encounter someone different from them they experience an immediate surge in stress hormones. Over time this response can lead to numerous chronic problems such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. Interracial interactions are not inherently stressful. Studies show that people who have a positive attitude when exposed to different ethnicities are more successful academically, occupationally, and socially. A diverse array of perspectives creates better communicators and problem solvers. Expecting kids to act colorblind is illogical. However, research has shown that talking about race and racism helps counteract prejudice.
Source:
Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton, “Should We Talk to Young Children about Race?” Greater Good Science Center, May 5, 2011,
http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/should_we_talk_to_young_children_about_race
; Elizabeth Page-Gould, “Warning: Racism Is Bad for Your Health,” Greater Good Science Center, August 3, 2010,
http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/why_racism_is_bad_for_your_health
; Darcia Narvaez and Patrick L. Hill, “The Relation of Multicultural Experiences to Moral Judgment and Mindsets,”
Journal of Diversity in Higher Education
, March 2010,
http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/dhe/3/1/43/
.
The world’s leading expert on gratitude finds that people who regularly cultivate gratitude report a host of physical, psychological, and social benefits. Gratitude celebrates the present, blocks negative emotions, and affirms goodness by recognizing external, greater-than-self factors. People who are grateful have a higher sense of self worth because they are continually aware that others are looking out for them.
Source:
Robert A. Emmons, “Why Gratitude is Good,” Greater Good Science Center, November 16, 2010,
http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/why_gratitude_is_good/
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Research indicates that altruistic behavior is good for you mentally, emotionally, and physically. In a survey of 4,500 American adults, 73 percent agreed that “volunteering lowered my stress levels,” 89 percent reported that “volunteering has improved my sense of well-being,” and 92 percent agreed that volunteering enriched their
sense of purpose in life. The benefits of altruism may be especially helpful when one is in the midst of a crisis.
Source:
Stephen G. Post, “Six Ways to Boost Your ‘Habits of Helping,’ ” Greater Good Science Center, March 15, 2011,
http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/six_ways_to_become_more_altruistic
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Our fates and that of nature are one and the same. Here are news stories of efforts to align human culture with nature, including strategies to reduce environmental degradation caused by human activity, restore ecosystems, and create the health, beauty, and abundance we all seek.
We face many environmental challenges. But imagination and creativity provide the means to transform those challenges into opportunities for meeting human needs while healing and regenerating the world around us—the global commons that is our shared heritage. Through creative design and the use of technology, we can better integrate human and natural systems. With time, as we learn ways to enhance the environments that sustain and enrich us, our collective ecological “footprint” may become one that nourishes rather than diminishes the planet.
With a growing list of innovations to combat climate change, the capacity of green power could soon exceed that of fossil fuel stations worldwide. If we account for the full economic, environmental, and health costs of coal and nuclear energy, non-fossil fuels such as wind and solar power are economically competitive with their environmentally unfriendly counterparts. Other ideas to limit or adjust our consumption of energy and resources include a machine that will turn plastic back into oil; recycling plastics from complex waste products—requiring less than 10 percent of the energy needed to produce virgin plastics; the “artificial leaf,” a small solar cell that mimics photosynthesis, can split water into its two components and uses those gases to produce electricity; a battery that “uses the contrast in salinity
between fresh and seawater to produce an electric current”—a technology with the potential to meet 13 percent of the world’s current consumption of electricity; turning windows into solar panels; and utilizing the decomposing characteristic of fungi to restore ecosystems, control pests, filter farm waste, and treat disease. While some of these ideas seem out of reach for individuals, innovations such as a water faucet that cuts water flow by more than 90 percent are available for use in households worldwide.
Sources:
Brooke Jarvis,
Yes! Magazine
, “A Tipping Point for Renewable Energy,” July 28, 2010,
http://www.yesmagazine.org/blogs/brooke-jarvis/2010-a-tipping-point-for-renewable-energy
; Paul R. Epstein et al., “Full Cost Accounting for the Life Cycle of Coal,”
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
, February 2011,
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1749-6632.2010.05890.x/pdf
; “True Cost Accounting for Nuclear Power,” Living on Earth, March 25, 2011,
http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.html?programID=11-P13-00012&segmentID=2
; Robert Costanza et al., “Can Nuclear Power Be Part of the Solution?”
Solutions
, April 5, 2011,
http://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/node/918
; Carol Smith, “Plastic To Oil Fantastic,” Our World 2.0, August 27, 2010,
http://ourworld.unu.edu/en/plastic-to-oil-fantastic/
; Mark van Baal, “Every Little Dripp Counts,” Ode, Spring 2011,
http://www.odemagazine.com/doc/74/dripp-faucet/
; Mira Stauffacher, “Biology Professor Leads Student in ‘Fuel from Aquatic Biomass’ Project,”
Sonoma State Star
, September 15, 2010,
http://www.sonomastatestar.com/news/biology-professor-leads-students-in-fuel-from-aquatic-biomass-project-1.15988
67; Nicole Casal Moore, “ ‘We’ve All Been Taught That This Doesn’t Happen,’ ”
Michigan Today
, April 13, 2011,
http://michigantoday.umich.edu/2011/04/story.php?id=7980&tr=y&auid=8154157
; “Solar ‘Artificial Leaf’ Is Unveiled by MIT Researchers,”
e360 Digest
, March 28, 2011,
http://e360.yale.edu/digest/first_practical_solar_leaf_converts_water_and_sunlight_into_electricity/2870/
; “New Battery Uses Seawater and Freshwater to Produce Electricity,”
e360 Digest
, March 30, 2011,
http://e360.yale.edu/digest/new_battery_uses_seawater_and_freshwater_to_produce_electricity/2875/
; “The
Economist
Announces the First of the 2010 Innovation Award Winners,” press release,
The Economist
, September 19, 2010,
http://www.economistconferences.co.uk/press-release/economist-announces-first-2010-innovation-award-winners
; James Trimarco, “Can Mushrooms Rescue the Gulf?”
Yes! Magazine
, October 1, 2010,
http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/a-resilient-community/can-mushrooms-rescue-the-gulf
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Our most powerful way forward lies in people working with the environment, not against it, to build a healthy and secure foundation upon which all members of the human family and all life on Earth can thrive. With nature as model, mentor, and co-creator with humans, we can establish a permanent culture that’s about regeneration, connectivity, synergy, and abundance. In the process, we will need to collaborate with one another and redefine our relationships with the
environment, rethinking everything from the way we design settlements to how we use resources and get energy. People around the world have been joining together to support the environment and the resources it provides. Those who have been impacted the most by our changing world have led the defense; for example, the poorer communities in Bolivia, have called for “rights for nature”; the Dutch have incorporated bicycling into everyday transportation by educating children about riding and providing bike-only boulevards for safer, efficient, and emission-free travel; and organizations like the Goldman Environmental Prize have encouraged those working against terrible odds to be leaders in their communities to protect the environment.
Fortunately, creativity is an unlimited resource. The following are inspired examples of ways in which communities and visionaries are building resilience, adaptability, and ingenuity into their plans for a sustainable future.
“Transition” is an approach to embracing and preparing for a postcarbon future. Closely aligned with the principles of permaculture, the Transition movement fosters resilience and local self-reliance through network-building, reduced energy consumption, and eco-farming.
The Sahara Forest Project will use Seawater Greenhouses and concentrated solar power to generate fresh water and abundant energy while producing zero-carbon food and reversing desertification. Radical, closed-loop efficiencies mimic those of natural ecosystems.
“Earthships” are permanent structures that provide their own energy, water, and food and are made from locally sourced recycled materials. Hundreds dot the globe, some now in Haiti.
Sources:
Mason Inman, “Skill Up, Party Down,”
Yes! Magazine
, September 17, 2010,
http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/a-resilient-community/party-down
; “Using Nature’s Genius in Architecture,” video, TED, November 2010,
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/michael_pawlyn_using_nature_s_genius_in_architecture.html
; “Haiti Earthship Project: Overview,” video, YouTube, 14:47, posted by earthship, March 21, 2011,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7jAkwhTq4c
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