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DOI: 10.1177/0270467602022004001 Globalization and Sustainability: Conflict or Convergence?University of British Columbia Unsustainability is an old problem human societieshave collapsed with disturbing regularity throughouthistory. I argue that a genetic predisposition forunsustainability is encoded in certain human physiological,social and behavioral traits that once conferredsurvival value but are now maladaptive. Auniquely human capacity indeed, necessity for elaboratecultural myth-making reinforces these negativebiological tendencies. Our contemporary, increasinglyglobalmyth, promotes a vision of world developmentcentered on unlimited economic expansion fuelledby more liberalized trade. This myth is not onlyfailing on its own terms but places humanity on a collisioncourse with biophysical reality our ecologicalfootprint already exceeds the human carrying capacityof Earth. Sustainability requires that we acknowledgethe primitive origins of human ecological dysfunctionand seize conscious control of our collectivedestiny. The final triumph of enlightened reason andmutual compassion over scripted determinism wouldherald a whole new phase in human evolution.
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