I hate the idea of human nature; I do not think it is a meaningful concept. It is usually deployed in a negative way, presenting us as being inevitably cruel or selfish. Human nature is perhaps most famously used as the basis for the “tragedy of the commons,” which is simply wrong and used to justify enclosure and private ownership.
The idea that destructive behaviors are immutable is perpetuated in order to uphold the status quo as permanent and not the result of human-created systems and structures. Our behaviors are so varied, malleable, and dependent on conditions. Somehow selfishness and competition is seen as natural but selflessness and cooperation is not, yet we can find the latter all over the place even in a society that actively fosters alienation and erodes solidarity. Imagine what might be possible if we intentionally cultivated collective well-being.
For the first time, an animal has been observed using crushed-up insects to treat wounds. In the article you can see the video of a chimpanzee putting a crushed insect on his own wound and another chimpanzee applying one to her son’s wound. Amazing!
A new study suggests that future heat waves from a warming climate will increase air conditioning use in the US to the extent that will overload power grids and cause prolonged blackouts (which will cause people to lose air conditioning). Mitigating this requires stopping greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible, upgrading and connecting energy grids, and utilizing an ecological approach to urban planning that emphasizes low-tech and collective cooling. An amazing example is the hospital in rural Bangladesh that won the Royal British Architects’ Building of the Year award, using brilliant design to work with nature rather than fight against it.
In a perverse intersection of various modern crises, the National Butterfly Center in South Texas has been forced to close indefinitely due to ongoing threats from QAnon activists. The butterfly sanctuary has been fighting against Trump’s border wall (which for some reason is still being constructed instead of dismantled) due to its devastating ecological consequences, which is why it has been targeted by right-wingers who created a conspiracy theory that the Center is a site of child trafficking.
Public control of energy utilities is necessary but insufficient for reaching a just and sustainable renewable energy future, as evidenced by municipal utility Philadelphia Gas Works undermining the city’s carbon neutrality commitment. Philly DSA is spearheading a coalition fighting for energy democracy to change that.