Do we need to fix nature or care for it to fight climate change?

The global climate is changing, and we have all witnessed this. From an increasing number of forest fires and hurricanes to wetter winters and warmer summers in Europe, we have witnessed unexpected and extreme weather events in the past decade. Scientists and entrepreneurs are betting we can fix this. But in the book Brave New World, author Richard King, asks if the world needs fixing.

Anthropocene and technofixes

It is no longer a revelation that the changing climate is due to human activities. Our planet has gone through multiple time periods, and the current one is referred to as the Anthropocene, in which human activity is changing the conditions of life and leaving traces in geological records.

With such a definition, humans are also placing ourselves at the center of the Earth story, where the planetary destruction is being caused by humans, and it is us who need to fix it too. Approaches such as geo-engineering, where sunlight is blocked from the Earth, or deextinction, where long-extinct animals like the woolly mammoth or the dodo are brought back to life.

King refers to these as ‘technofixes’ and warns that we do not completely understand the dangers of these interventions. For instance, self-replicating nanomachines developed to clear oil spills could spin out of control and affect the planet as a whole.

Caring for nature

King’s fears are not about nanobots or artificial intelligence escaping human control, but how we subjugate the planet for our needs. The author highlights how we view nature as something ‘infinitely malleable’ which is shaped by human hands for human needs.

In an upcoming idea called ecohumanism, King argues that humans must recognize that nature defines us and that we define nature. The idea is not to set ourselves apart from other animals on the planet, but to recognize that we cannot use the planet solely for our own gain.

The book also asks modern science to move away from technofixes towards a caring attitude towards nature. For this, we need to stop looking at nature as something distant, but rather as something we experience. He also suggests that decision-making about nature needs to be more decentralized, with authority given to individuals who are much closer to nature than centralized policymakers and politicians.

Kind also calls for humility on our part. Even with all our technological advances, we do not understand how life begins and why it ends. We must accept that nature is a force much bigger than us and view it on its own terms. It is only then that we will stop trying to fix our planet and look at it as one with many possibilities.