Humans

On the Relativity of Ethics, Evolution, and Behavior

by Albert Prins

From Relativism to Environmental Responsibility

Key idea:
Sustainable action requires not only rational arguments, but also trust, emotional engagement, and collective persuasive power.

Introduction

The state of our planet is cause for concern. We are experiencing persistent and significant climate change, in which human activities play a demonstrable and significant role. Scientific knowledge has progressed further: human activities, primarily through greenhouse-gas emissions, have unequivocally contributed to the current warming of the Earth.

The question is no longer simply whether and to what extent we want to intervene, but above all how we can do so effectively and with broad public support.

Individual Versus Collective Action

Addressing climate problems at the individual level proves insufficient in practice. Although every behavioral change contributes, the scale and complexity of the ecological crisis are such that effective solutions can only be achieved at the level of governments, and preferably even on a global scale.

Individual behavior nevertheless remains relevant. Through consumption, investment, voting, and social pressure, citizens partly determine which developments are encouraged. But individual choices alone cannot solve structural problems involving energy supply, infrastructure, agriculture, and land use.

Yet change ultimately begins with people themselves. It is therefore useful to first consider our own national situation.

In the Netherlands, policy is established through a democratic process. Political parties rarely obtain an absolute majority, which means that governments are formed through coalitions. New legislation also requires approval from both the House of Representatives and the Senate. This means that political change depends on sufficient public support.

In other words: without convincing the voter, there is no structural policy.

The Power of Persuasion

The voter, and ultimately the government, must therefore be convinced of the necessity of taking action. Here we can draw on a classical insight from Aristotle, as described in his Rhetoric.

According to Aristotle, persuasive power rests on three pillars:

Facts and figures alone are often insufficient. Information about CO₂ emissions, rising temperatures, or sea-level rise may be rationally convincing, but without trust in the messenger and without emotional engagement, it will often have insufficient effect.

The message must therefore not only be correct, but also:

Only then does meaningful action become possible.

Survival as an Evolutionary Motive

When we connect this with earlier insights, it becomes clear that many human behaviors are evolutionarily related to survival and reproduction. When we want to encourage people to adopt sustainable behavior, it can therefore be effective to connect the consequences with things that people consider directly important: their own future, health, safety, and that of their children and grandchildren.

As long as climate change is experienced as something abstract or distant, the sense of urgency is likely to remain limited.

But when it becomes clear that:

then the issue directly touches fundamental human drives.

The narrative should therefore not be only about "saving the Earth," but about securing our own future.

Earth's Balance and Vulnerability

The Earth is a complex and dynamic system in which feedback mechanisms and changes are constantly occurring. Some ecosystems possess considerable resilience and can partially absorb disturbances. This does not mean, however, that the Earth system will always automatically return to an equilibrium that is favorable to humans.

Local disturbances, such as storms, droughts, or volcanic eruptions, are in many cases absorbed by the system itself.

But when disturbances become structural and large-scale, for example because of human overloading of ecosystems, that resilience may decline, or changes may occur that are difficult or only slowly reversible.

Climate science also shows that the climate system contains various feedback mechanisms and that some changes can have long-lasting consequences. The system therefore does not necessarily "recover" to the state that is most favorable to humans.

This is where the risk of the current situation lies: not in a single disturbance, but in an accumulation of influences that place pressure on the system as a whole.

The Pressure of Population Growth

An important factor in this development is the growth of the world population. More people means:

But population size is only one part of the story. Ecological impact is also strongly determined by consumption per person, technology, energy sources, land use, and the ways in which goods and food are produced. A larger population therefore does not automatically result in a proportionally greater environmental impact.

To meet this demand, we rely on intensive agricultural methods, including the use of pesticides. This affects ecosystems, including pollinators and other organisms that play roles in ecosystems and food production.

More than 75% of the major types of food crops depend to some extent on pollination, while agricultural practices and pesticides can contribute to pressure on pollinators.

Nature also contains an enormous amount of knowledge and potential:

By damaging biodiversity, we lose not only species, but also possibilities.

The Example of Aboriginal Peoples

Traditional cultures, such as those of Aboriginal peoples in Australia, show that things can also be done differently. Many Aboriginal communities developed, over thousands of years, extensive knowledge of landscapes, seasons, plants, animals, and the use of fire. This knowledge could contribute to the sustainable management of particular landscapes.

It would, however, be too simplistic to portray these societies as if they everywhere and always took only what they needed and therefore lived entirely in balance with nature. Aboriginal Australia contained considerable differences between communities, landscapes, and periods, and the use of fire also changed over time.

The interesting point for this chapter is therefore not that we should copy a traditional culture as an ideal model, but that traditional ecological knowledge can demonstrate how closely human societies can cooperate with their environment.

In some traditional practices, for example, only part of a plant was harvested, allowing further growth to take place.

In our modern consumer society, that balance has often been lost. Instead of using nature, we frequently exhaust it.

Limiting Population Growth?

The idea of limiting world population growth is sensitive, but it is not without reason that it is a subject of discussion.

As the human species has acquired an increasingly large influence over land use, energy use, and ecosystems, human activities have begun to affect the Earth system on an unprecedented scale. Human influence on the functioning of many ecosystems has therefore increased substantially.

This creates a complex ethical question.

Countries that have historically been less developed rightly want access to the same prosperity and opportunities as the countries that preceded them. Asking them to exercise restraint without offering a realistic perspective is unlikely to succeed.

A convincing narrative must therefore not only identify limitations, but also offer opportunities:

Declining fertility can also be encouraged in humane ways, for example through:

These factors can contribute to lower fertility without coercion. In many countries, fertility has already declined substantially over the past several decades. According to the United Nations World Population Prospects 2024, the world population is expected to reach a peak of approximately 10.3 billion around the middle of the 2080s, after which a gradual decline is projected. [UN source]

It is therefore not necessary to assume that population growth must actively be restricted everywhere within one or two generations. Demographic changes are already taking place, but their pace differs greatly between regions.

Possible consequences, such as aging populations or labor shortages, may potentially be addressed in part through technological innovation, higher productivity, and changes in the distribution of labor.

Conclusion

When we bring all these elements together, it becomes clear that the solution does not lie in a single measure, but in a combination of understanding, persuasion, and cooperation.

The challenge we face is great, but not insurmountable.

If we want people and governments to actually take action, we must go beyond simply presenting facts and figures. We must tell a compelling story, a story that:

Only when these elements come together does sufficient support for real change emerge.

Our future depends on our ability to understand, accept, and act upon this narrative together.