Cultural survival.

• Author: Strong, Craig
• Position: FROM READERS - Essay

There is one perspective I continue to find remarkably unrepresented in virtually all forums that address sustainability issues: the selective forces acting on human behaviors. This is the field of sociobiology.

The basic principle of evolutionary theory is that whatever genetic characteristics leave more surviving offspring will spread in those offspring. For intelligent, social species, genetic expression also includes behavioral tendencies. In higher mammals, reproductive success is not simply quantity of offspring but quality in physical condition and social status. Wild dog, primate, dolphin, and even bird societies offer abundant examples of the selective benefits of high social as well as physical status. For social, communal species such as ourselves, with the ability to store social status and wealth, there is a selected-for drive to have ever more of these things.

We function largely with all the behavioral tendencies to have lots of resources and high social standing that have been genetically selected-for over hundreds of thousands of years in a world which was relatively unlimited with respect to resources. And we still reproduce. This explains why we continue to over-exploit, pollute unnecessarily, and degrade natural ecosystems even when aware of the...