Evolution = Sustainability

Focusing on “Future Human Evolution” too often narrows the frame to individual humans only, thus avoiding the context of societies and places where we live, and Planet Earth that is increasingly assaulted by climate change and pollution. If humanity is to have any future whatsoever, evolution is sustainability, taken seriously. This article describes the evolution of sustainability thinking and the many barriers that still persist. “Sustainability” first appeared in a book title in 1976. Since then, attention to sustainability has gathered momentum, with more than five thousand books and five hundred international organizations now calling for sustainable societies, cities, businesses, and economies. Ongoing research for a “Security and Sustainability Guide” to the organizational macro-system finds that, as of June 2015, more than one thousand relevant organizations have been identified, more than half concerned with promoting sustainability. But this burgeoning movement still has a long way to go, and success is problematic: (1) accelerating climate change may offset gains; (2) despite a growing number of alliances, consortia, and networks, there is still considerable fragmentation; (3) major differences among sustainability groups dilute political impact, notably “realos” versus “fundis,” generalists versus specialists, and scientists/academics versus activists/popularizers; (4) the broad and expanding realm of national and global security is not only a barrier to sustainability but also a potential driver, once it is realized that we cannot have security without sustainability—and vice versa; (5) infoglut is a major barrier, and much better information management is needed; (6) we all have much to learn about sustainability, and “third-level scholarship” is needed to integrate numerous second-level integrators. Seven proposals are offered to accelerate efficacy of the evolution = sustainability movement.