This book is a twin biography of our species and our planet. At its heart lies an investigation of sustainability-not how we achieve it, but what it is. I have written it at a time when hope that humanity might act to save itself from a climatic catastrophe seems to be draining away. Yet I am not without hope, for I believe that as we come to know ourselves and our planet we will be moved to act. Indeed, provoking that action is the purpose of this book.
What is the nature of Earth? Is it akin to a cell, an organism or an ecosystem? How much energy does it require to operate? What is that energy used for, and how is it deployed? How flexible are Earth's systems? Can they withstand severe challenges, and can their resilience and productivity be enhanced?
And what of us? Are we constituted by natural selection to be so selfish and greedy that we're doomed to catastrophe? Or are there reasons to believe that we can overcome the problems confronting us, allowing our civilisation to continue? What of civilisation itself? What, precisely, is it?
These are some of the questions I attempt to answer in this book. Guiding me are the two great strands of evolutionary theory-reductionist science as epitomised by Charles Darwin and Richard Dawkins, and the great holistic analyses of the likes of Alfred Russel Wallace and James Lovelock. Each pursues a truth that at first seems to be in opposition to the other, but in the enormous complexity that is our living planet they operate as necessary and complementary opposites. When viewed together, these Darwinian and Wallacean world views, as I call them, provide a convincing explanation of life as a whole-and of what sustainability entails.
Fifty thousand years after our ancestors left Africa, our species is entering a new phase. We have formed a global civilisation of unprecedented might, a civilisation that is transforming our Earth. We have become masters of technology, spinning energy from matter at will and withal realising the dreams of the alchemists-transforming one element into another. We have trod the face of the Moon, touched the nethermost pit of the sea, and can link minds instantaneously across vast distances. But for all that, it's not so much our technology, but what we believe, that will determine our fate.
Today, many think that our civilisation is doomed to collapse. As I will show, such fatalism is misplaced. It derives in large part from a misreading of Darwin, and a misunderstanding of our evolved selves. Either such ideas will survive, or we will.
There are others who believe that endless growth is possible. In their imaginations only the fittest survive, and human intelligence will triumph over all. This optimism also derives from a misreading of Darwin, but it owes much as well to ignorance of the fundamentally important insights of Wallace and Lovelock. Despite their patently flawed nature, such foolishly optimistic ideas have now reigned largely unchallenged in western society for 150 years and have already led us far down the road to a dismal fate. Unless corrected, they may become a fatal flaw indeed.
Narrow horizons and short time frames are always misleading. That's why it's impossible to determine whether, even in the dramatic changes we see over a lifetime, we're witnesses to a descent into chaos, or a profound revolution that will lead to a better future. A wider view, one that encompasses humanity over the millennia and the world over the aeons, is required if we are to discern the true path of our evolutionary trajectory. In writing this book I've taken that long view, and, despite the challenges we now face, I feel optimistic-for ourselves, our children and our planet.
If we are to prosper, we must have hope, goodwill and understanding.
