Survival Crisis and Ecological Crisis

All kind of human society has to solve two issues: survival problem and ecological problem. The solution of survival problem has two aspects: 1. How to acquire necessary materials (from nature), top free of hungry and poverty; 2. How to distribute the material, to purchase equality and justice. The former refers to social productivity; the latter refers to social institution.

In the long history when human only has weak ability to acquire materials from nature, the solution of survival problem focused on searching a better social institution, to reform, or to resolute. Making use of science and scientific technology, human have the power to acquire more and more materials from nature, after human came into industrial civilization. Human found a new way to treat survival problem, even if the distribution institution was not fair, every parts might have more material than before. Survival problem seems to be solved, but ecological problem came unexpectedly. The ecological problem is the problem of relationship between human and nature, manifesting as environmental pollution and ecological collapse.

The industrial civilization shows an illusion that the advancement of science and technology has no limitation, and the materials human can take from nature have no limitation. Therefore, a view of one-direction social development was accepted as mainstream ideology. Under the social structure of industrial civilization,

1.      In fact, the equality and justice issues was not solved, but neglected, or pushed to future;

2.       In modern societies, theoretically, human has equal human right, including the equal right to exploit nature;

3.       While, such equality is only an ideal, the modernization is a food chain ---- the upstream parts exploit the downstream parts, and both of them exploit natural; but generally, the upstream exploit natural indirectly by exploiting the downstream, which happens between the different levels of one country, and happens more often among different countries in the time of globalization; therefore, the ecological problems are transferred to the downstream; 

4.      The worsen of ecological crisis, so the survival problem in the downstream countries are more serve, and all human being face the survival crisis because of the collapse of global ecology in the coming future. 

Under the social structure of industrial civilization, science and its technology cannot solve any one of the two crises. In the society of industrial civilization,

1.      The capital proliferation is the most important thin above all, even the validity of government are built on the continuous increasing of economy;

2.      Science and its technology have to serve for the capital proliferation: those which can help capital proliferation are easier developed out, and easier to be used; 

3.      Such technologies generally originated from the mathematical and physical science which are based on the view of mechanism, and its application must destroy the integrity of the natural and result environmental problem; 

4.      The role of science community were changed --- science community is at the first a community with common economical interests, then a knowledge community, but never a moral community; 

5.      As an interest community, it tries to maximize its interests; naturally, it may try to strengthen its constitutional position in social structure that it may acquire more social resource, and try to cooperate with economical power and political power.

Seeing from such a perspective, most new technologies, such as so-called clean energy, are used first as means of capital gambling, or tools of new capital conquering old capital. Their applications might be good for the environment of some specified place within a certain period, but they will make the global ecological crisis more severe.

Modern societies generally have the ideology of worshipping energy so that the solution of energy problem is regarded as the key of all other problems. While, considering the limitation of the earth, and the garbage problem, the solution of energy problem won’t be the blessing of human being, but the curse.

Human has to find a new way of civilization: ecological civilization. The ecological civilization won’t come to reality by the repairing and re-patching of industrial civilization. It needs;

1. To criticize the industrial civilization completely;

2. To learn from tradition.

This civilization needs a totally reconstruction.

(Reference: This article is written by Tian Song)

Posted in: ecological civilization,ecological crisis,industrial civilization,science community,survival crisis