Human evolution was called the problem of maintaining the Earth’s climateScience and technology03:00 | 04 January 2024

Over thousands of years, humans honed their resource-mining skills, spread into new environments, and left increasingly heavy traces in their wake. The rapid accumulation of knowledge and technology and cultural adaptation made this expansion possible.

Today, we have colonized all habitable land and exhausted many resources. Our industrial practices, especially our dependence on fossil fuels, have led to a global environmental crisis that threatens our future. Historically sustainable systems emerged only after resource pressures forced society to adapt. This means we tend to react rather than prevent.

Environmental solutions, such as regional water management, require collaboration on the same scale as the problem. Creating such global systems requires a functional planetary society, which we do not currently have.

Evolution’s dilemma: In a world of competing sub-global groups, cultural evolution prioritizes national or corporate interests over global solutions by promoting competition for resources and short-term gain. Scientists write that this exacerbates conflicts over resources and can even lead to the extinction of humanity.

Well what does it mean?

Fighting climate change, unlike environmental problems of the past, requires strong global cooperation and coordinated action before it collapses. Our current systems, such as the Paris Agreement, do not have the necessary power and scale.

We need to promote innovative policies that encourage ethical self-restraint and connect humanity, such as market regulations and binding contracts. More research is needed to understand how human evolution affects global cooperation and environmental problems, paving the way for effective solutions.