Sustainability, Exceptionalism, and Exemptionalism

Sustainable use of the planet is based on the assumption that social evolution and changed human behavior can produce a sustainable society. This paradigm is vastly different from the notion that humans possess a common set of rigid, genetically specified behavioral predilections that are unlikely to be altered by circumstances. This manuscript examines two beliefs that are arguably root causes of the present human predicament. Exceptionalists believe that some humans are vastly exceptional to most humans and, as a consequence, are entitled to a markedly disproportionate share of the planet's resources. In addition, humans are regarded as entitled to a vastly disproportionate share of the planet's resources compared with other species, for the same reason. Exemptionalists believe that human ingenuity, technology, and creativity free them from the iron laws of nature that limit and control other species. Both views constitute major obstacles to achieving sustainable use of the planet and require rigorous reexamination if sustainability is to be achieved. “Brains exist because the distribution of resources necessary for survival and the hazards that threaten survival vary in space and time. There would be little need for a nervous system in an immobile organism or an organism that lived in regular and predictable surroundings … brains are buffers against environmental variability”.