Sustainable development from an evolutionary perspective

Authors

  • Bas Schrauwen Independent scholar

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29015/cerem.883

Keywords:

sustainable development, evolution, environmental economics, politics

Abstract

Aim: awareness of the inherent unsustainability of past economic development, the magnitude and multidimensionality of the resulting environmental problems and the urgency of a paradigm shift in politics and economics.

 

Design / Research methods: reflection on Matthias Glaubrecht´s book “Das Ende der Evolution” (The End of Evolution). Additionally Yuval Harari´s book “Sapiens” and some online sources were used.

 

Conclusions / findings: An evolutionary developed cognitive superiority has made Homo sapiens not only to the most successful but also the most destructive species ever, which makes a drastic shift towards sustainable development is overdue in the 21st century.

 

Originality / value of the article: highlighting the slow and merciless mechanisms of evolution and its big cycles, raising more awareness of the vulnerability of mankind and the necessity for a paradigm shift.

 

Implications of the research (if applicable): urgency of sustainable development in politics, economics and research.

Keywords: sustainable development,  evolution, environmental economics, politics

JEL: B52, Q01, Q59

References

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Glaubrecht, M. (2019), Das Ende des Evolution – Der Mensch und die Vernichtung der Arten (The end of evolution – Man and the annihilation of species), Bertelsmann Verlag, München.

Halliday T.J.D., Upchurch, P., Goswami A. (2016), Eutherians experienced elevated evolutionary rates in the immediate aftermath of the Cretaceous–Palaeogene mass extinction, Dryad, Dataset, https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.0nr5s.

Harari Y. (2014), Sapiens, A brief history of humankind, HarperCollins, London.

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Lowery Ch., Fraass A (2019), Morphospace expansion paces taxonomic diversification after end Cretaceous mass extinction, “Nature Ecology & Evolution”, vol. 3 no. 6, pp. 900-904, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-019-0835-0.

New International Version. Bible Gateway, www.biblegateway.com [04.09.2020].

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Published

2020-09-22

Issue

Vol. 4 No. 3 (2020): Environmental economics, law and policy in the context of economic and sustainable development

Section

Articles

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