Ian McCallum: The Psychology of Conservation

When we speak about a philosophical vision, it’s not difficult to recognize that no individual can be utterly objective about the world, and about themselves. Self-preservation is the key driving instinct in all living forms. That drive almost by necessity precludes the consideration of other species, let alone other groups outside of one’s own social field. When the chips are down the blind spot is in full view because you focus on your own survival.

One of the most important scientific breakthroughs in the last dozen years has been the unraveling of the human genome — and with that, the sobering realization that we are bound by biological language to all living things. So here we have something that the poets knew all along. We so loosely refer to team spirit in team sport. It’s a reminder of how we stand together through thick and through thin. Why should that not be exactly the same when you look out at the landscape or the water, or at birds?

The nuclei in the [human] brain that potentiate wakefulness, vigilance and awareness [are] in the brain stem. We look at the brain stem of the crocodile and, lo and behold, it’s nearly identical. Crocodile is a loner. It is hugely opportunistic. It is a serious survivor when we look at the life forms that have come and gone in the past 200 million years. It wouldn’t serve the crocodile any purpose whatsoever to be democratic. We’ve evolved into a social species. One of the most important capacities of the human brain is the capacity to say no. Not just to outside events which you disagree with, but to say no to the very powerful biological forces housed in your own brain stem, in your own personal social history.

There is no such thing as human nature. There is only nature and the very human expression of it. We will express our nature the way an impala or a lion or a buffalo will express its nature. A hyena is a hyena, with no thoughts of wanting to become an eagle. It just is what it is. I think it’s one of the reasons we are drawn to them. They are so unutterably themselves and we are not.

Homesickness is probably one of the most undiagnosed conditions in psychiatry. We have forgotten that human identity is impossible outside of relationships with the landscape, with mountains, with oceans. “I know that I no longer recognize myself in this place anymore” — that’s said with a sense of grieving. It’s the reason that people in [South Africa] are protesting so strongly against fracking in the Karoo. Wildness is part of history and part of our psyche and will not go away.

The answer is no. But there is a rider with that. We’re in uncharted territory. We don’t know how it’s going to play out.