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If our civilisation is to avoid ecological collapse there will need to be big changes in the scale and nature of human activities on Earth.

Unlike the previous major ecological transitions in human history – the deliberate use of fire, the introduction of farming, the formation of cities and the industrial revolution – this next transition will have to be deliberately planned.

We must look forward to and design a transition to a society which:

• is based on understanding the story of life on Earth and the human place in nature
• is in tune with, and sensitive to, the processes of life – that is, in tune with our own biology and with the living world around us
• satisfies the health needs of all sections of the human population as well as those of the ecosystems of the biosphere.

That is, it must be a biosensitive society. [2]

Biosensitivity will be the guiding principle in all spheres of human activity – individual and collective. This will mean biosensitive lifestyles, biosensitive governments, biosensitive technologies and fuel use, biosensitive cities, biosensitive design and a biosensitive economy. The biosensitive society will promote human well-being at the same time as reducing material consumption and waste production in the affluent countries and protecting biodiversity and bioproductivity on the land and in the oceans.

It will also mean moving towards a smaller human population globally.

The new biosensitive society will have the potential not only to bring about a much-improved relationship between human populations and the natural environment, but also to provide a better quality of life for all peoples.

A biosensitive society will mean healthier people and a healthier and safer planet.

Unfortunately the worldview and assumptions of the dominant cultures that determine patterns of human activity across the world today are incompatible with any transition to an ecologically sustainable, healthy and equitable society. They are simply not attuned to ecological realities.

Major changes in the cultural system are therefore a precondition for the achievement of this new biosensitive society.

Figure 1. Biosensitivity triangle

Some fundamental characteristics of a biosensitive society

The following discussion on the most essential features of a biosensitive society is based on the ‘Transition framework’ presented in the Transition Framework and depicted in Figure 2 in that paper. This framework is designed to help and encourage thinking about and planning for biosensitivity.

In a biosensitive society, the activities of human populations will be in tune with, and sensitive to, the processes of life which gave rise to us, of which we are a part and on which we are totally dependent for our wellbeing and survival. This means that the conditions must:

• satisfy the biological health needs of all sections of the human population (Box 9)
• satisfy the biological health needs of the planet’s ecosystems – by maintaining biodiversity on land and in the oceans, promoting healthy soils, and keeping the atmosphere and oceans free of noxious pollutants (Box 10).

We will discuss first what this will mean at the level of Human biophysical options (Boxes 3-6):

Human population (Box 3)

No gross social disparities in health and well-being

The human population at a level, globally and regionally, that does not exert harmful pressures on the planet’s ecosystems (1000 million globally?)

Human activities – collective (Box 4)

Energy use and gaseous emissions

• Minimal use of fossil fuels as a source of energy (including electricity generation)
• Reduced per capita use of extrasomatic energy (high energy efficiency)
• A high proportion of energy used in society coming from clean sources (i.e. not resulting in emissions of carbon or production of dangerous radioactive by products) [3]
• No release of CFCs and other compounds that destroy the ozone layer in the stratosphere
• Minimal release of pollutants such as sulphur and nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbon particles and tobacco smoke that adversely affect human and ecosystem health

Carbon sequestration

•  Widespread forestation (and possibly certain forms of geo-engineering) to reduce the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to the preindustrial level

Water use

• A supply of clean water (no pathogenic micro-organisms, pharmaceutical agents etc.)
• Prudent use of water and maximum use of recycled water

Waste disposal

• Minimise waste creation
• Maximising the recycling of all material resources
• The return of nutrients in organic waste to the soil
• Effective public sanitation

Transport

• Reduced need for travel and transport
• Greatly reduced use of cars
• Increased proportion of travel by public transport and low-energy, non-polluting vehicles
• Increased transportation of people and freight by rail

Primary production and land use

• Cessation of deforestation globally and widespread reforestation
• Farming practices that encourage the bio-enrichment of soil
• Emphasis in farming and forestry on the protection of biodiversity
• Progressive rehabilitation of areas degraded in earlier periods
• The return of nutrients in organic wastes to the soil, ensuring that natural nutrient cycles are intact
• Greatly increased local food production (and permaculture)

The natural environment

• Large areas of natural wilderness preserved to maintain biodiversity (and as an accessible source of human enjoyment and understanding)
• Biodiversity protected in agricultural systems and human settlements
• Fisheries organised in a sustainable fashion, protecting the diversity of marine life

Weaponry

• The elimination of all weapons of mass destruction

Human activities (individual) (Box 5)

Lifestyles (including conditions of work) will be in tune with human biology and will be consistent with the health of ecosystems.

In tune with human biology

The biologically determined health needs must be satisfied in all socio-economic and ethnic groups. Especially important are:

• Clean air (not contaminated with tobacco smoke, hydrocarbons, formaldehyde, sulphur oxides, lead etc.)
• A natural diet (e.g. a diverse range of foods of plant origin and some cooked lean meat, some eggs and insects; absence of noxious contaminants or additives; calorie intake neither less than nor in excess of metabolic requirements)
• Clean water (free of contamination with harmful chemicals or pathogenic microbes)
• The absence of harmful levels of electromagnetic radiation
• Minimal contact with microbial or metazoan parasites and pathogens
• Adequate protection from extremes of weather
• Noise levels within the natural range
• Patterns of physical activity that involve short periods of vigorous muscular work and longer periods of medium and varied muscular activity
• Emotional support networks that provide a framework for care-giving and care-receiving behaviour, and for the exchange of information on matters of mutual interest and concern
• The experience of conviviality
• Opportunities and incentives for creative behaviour
• Variety in daily experience
• An environment and lifestyle conducive to a sense of personal involvement, purpose, belonging, responsibility, challenge, comradeship and love
• An environment and lifestyle which do not promote a sense of alienation, anomie, deprivation, boredom, loneliness, or chronic fear or frustration.

There is ample evidence that humans can lead rich, enjoyable and healthy lives with vastly less per capita consumption of non-renewable resources and energy than is the case in our society today.

Consistent with the health of ecosystems

Lifestyles will be consistent with the health needs of ecosystems. This will mean:

• Emphasis on sources of enjoyment that are not environmentally costly (such as growing food, gardening, making music, singing, dancing, art, theatre, reading, bushwalking, sport, athletics, convivial social interaction)
• Little emphasis on activities that are environmentally costly (such as consumerism, unnecessary and energy-costly travel and motor sport) Little or no use of devices powered, directly or indirectly, by polluting fuels
• Greatly reduced acquisition of manufactured goods
• The deliberate selection of goods and services with low environmental impact
• Energy efficiency in homes and all necessary domestic energy derived from clean sources
• Active involvement in local community activities – including food production, local entertainment and sport, learning and planning circles, tree planting, protection of biodiversity and caring for neighbours.

Artefacts (Box 6)

• Buildings designed to minimise use of energy
• New urban and suburban areas designed so that buildings are oriented to make the best use of solar energy
• The built environment designed to encourage convivial social interaction
• Local activity centres that encourage community interaction and involvement in local biosensitive activities
• Built environment and parks designed to encourage walking, running and cycling
• Maximising photosynthesis within the urban system
• Maximising local food production
• Minimising the use of plastics.

Turning now to the human cultural options (Boxes 1 and 2).

Societal arrangements (Box 2)

The above biophysical changes in human activities will require big changes in societal arrangements, including:

• An economic system and other societal arrangements which:

• result in the satisfaction of human health and well-being needs at much lower rates of energy and resource use than those typical of affluent societies today
• do not result in a continuously increasing rate of use of material resources and energy or continuously increasing rate of discharge of pollutants into the environment
• are sensitive both to: (a) the health needs of the ecosystems of the biosphere (b) the health needs of the human population
• lead to progressive reduction of existing disparities in health and well-being across the human population
• are based on economic theory that embraces, at its core, an understanding of the processes of life that underpin our existence and of the biological limits to human activities on Earth and incorporates ecological and health costs into all pricing.

• The first priority in government policies will be to ensure that society is biosensitive. These policies will:

• result in massive reduction in emissions of greenhouse gases
• result in big increases in the proportion of energy from clean sources
• provide alternative employment for persons whose present occupations are seen to contribute to ecological and social unsustainability
• respond to unemployment by increasing job sharing rather than by creating new unnecessary jobs that result in greater use of energy and resources and greater impact on the environment
• reduce consumption of material resources and energy at the same time as improving human health in all sections of the population
• introduce effective measures to reduce current disparities in health and well-being in human populations
• introduce incentives to control population growth – leading eventually to a significant reduction in the total number of people on the planet
• result in the restoration and maintenance of soil quality and biodiversity
• Educational arrangements that ensure that a basic knowledge of the processes of life and the human place in nature is shared by all members of the human community.

The dominant culture (Box 1)

A biosensitive society of the future will be based on a dominant culture which embraces, at its core, a basic understanding of the story of life on Earth and the human place in nature and a profound respect for the processes of life that gave rise to us, of which we are a part and on which we are totally dependent. Biosensitivity will be what matters most.

The biosensitive dominant culture will reject the doctrine that human well-being requires ever-increasing consumption of material resources and energy.

Notes

Papers in this series
1. Prologue
2. Biological background
3. A vision for the future: biosensitivity (this paper)
4. What’s wrong today - a thumbnail sketch
5. The transition to a biosensitive society
6. Some crucial perspectives
7. A transition framework

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2. We have introduced the term ‘biosensitive’ because we appreciate the need for a single word to describe a society that satisfies the health needs both of people and of the ecosystems of the natural environment. The expression ‘ecologically sustainable’, or simply ‘sustainable’, has come to be used widely in recent years. Of course, society must be ecologically sustainable – otherwise in the long term it cannot continue to exist. But ecological sustainability is surely the bottom line. We must aim for something better than mere sustainability. We must aim for a society that is not only sustainable, but that also really promotes the health both of humans and of the ecosystems on which they depend. So, we are using the word biosensitive for this purpose (see our glossary) Back to text

3.  There are those who advocate replacing fossil fuels with nuclear power. It is indeed a sad situation if we have become so addicted to high levels of use of extrasomatic energy that we are forced to replace one polluting source of energy with another – and one that undoubtedly holds extremely high risks for humankind. Back to text

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