Global Journal of Science Frontier Research, H: Environment & Earth Science, Volume 22 Issue 5

World Wildlife Fund says, we are not on a sustainable path for our planet’s future. 23 Another way to look at this is to say that it would take 1.6 Earths to produce all the renewable resources we use today. And worse, the growing human population is expected to use the equivalent of two Earths of renewable resources per year by 2050. NASA’s data supports the conclusion that humanity would need five Earths to produce the resources needed if everyone lived as Americans. V. H umans, P roblem S olving, E ducation Problems derive from our thinking, social organization, and individual and collective actions – from personal existential matters to large scale policy processes. The evolution and psychology of humans, as well as our social and political organization, prefigure how we go about problem solving and educating the young, especially in colleges and universities, to recognize and attend to challenges. Briefly, I review these three dimensions, each showing the latent power of convention that encourages or forces people into a certain, often limited mode of thinking and behaving. a) Humans - Us The biggest problem we face stems from (mis) understandings about our basic nature, biology, cultural history, and our relationship to nature and all non- human life. This is a neurological, philosophic, social, and political matter. 27 We are no longer a secret to ourselves. In the last 50 years, a huge volume of hard evidence from paleontology, anthropology, psychology, and sociology has given us data into our basic nature and how that plays out in our respective societies, cultures, and individual and group behavior. 28 This data describes and explains why people behave the way they do. The ape that became human over the last 100 thousand years has retained its biology today while it invented and continues to evolve symbolic culture – systems of collective meaning. 29 We did so, one word at a time, over tens of thousands of years, but especially in the last 10 thousand years. 30 Our present science of humans is our knowledge about ourselves. 31 As I see it, the lack of widespread shared, basic knowledge about our own evolutionary, psychological, and cultural standpoint creates a highly fragmented and conflictual social situation – locally, nationally, internationally. There are huge differences in perspective/identities, political systems, and actions everywhere. Diverse views abound over what is “humankind?” And, what are our goals, ideal living arrangements, and responsibility relationships? Also, these differing views vary about our responsibility to nature and all nonhuman life. History shows dramatically different, often hardened perspectives on all these issues, divergent systems of meaning, and social organization that cause conflict (e.g., WW1 and WW2, Cold War, and proxies). This situation will likely persist. We are a species with an individual termination date (death) struggling to come to grips with our highly complex symbolic, technological cultural, and its proper relation to nature. Reconciling all this is the basic problem we face. 32 Today, the dominant conventional view of ourselves is anthropocentric and egocentric. This fosters instrumentalizing nature, other life forms, and other humans. These conditioning factors combine to make it easy for people to conventionally seek short term self- interest, ego enhancement, and support existing social order. This reconciling matter is proving difficult due to the hold of convention across societies, cultures, and time. The single best alternative is that we need to educate ourselves about these matters, especially about our evolution, existential psychodynamics, and actually use our best knowledge and skills for “human dignity” for all. b) Problem Solving Problems are really a reflection of how we make meaning and how we think and talk about our concerns. They reflect how we think and talk about our concerns, often implicitly and conventionally. Defining problems as discrepancies between goals and actual or anticipated states of affairs attests to the fact that problems are © 2022 Global Journals 1 Global Journal of Science Frontier Research Volume XXII Issue V Year 2022 4 ( H ) Version I An Inquiry into “Convention”as a Problem and what we Might do About it? The next problem is that there is no clear agreement on what the problems are that we face or useful methods of problem solving – rational problem orientation. 33 Today the dominant, conventional view of knowledge and problem solving is positivistic. It’s benefits and limitations are widely known. There are counter epistemologies in competition with positivism (e.g., pre- and post-positivistic, traditional and local knowledge, critical theory). Positivism reinforces anthropocentrism, materialism, and instrumentalization of nature and other humans. Yet, it has obvious material and other advantages. We are demanding nature's services – using resources and creating CO2 emissions – at a rate 44 percent faster than what nature can regenerate and reabsorb," a NASA document said. One article asks as, World’s Population Booms, Will Its Resources Be Enough for Us ? New projections of escalating human population growth increases the tension between humanity’s expanding needs and what the planet can provide. The Scientists-warning@lists.oregonstate.edu effort tracks these and many other vital trends and conditions. Clearly, we need to up-grade our problem- solving knowledge and skill, urgently, and follow-on actions. 24 And then there is war, which all people hope can be avoided. 25 In sum, history shows devastating disagreement among nations and cultures. 26 Conflicts stem from lack of agreement on the overriding goal of humankind, over the needed social, political, and economic organization, and our relationship to each other, nature, and all non-human life.