Natural selection to blame

On an average, human civilization consumes some 14 terawatts of power, mostly provided by burning coal, oil and natural gas. And yet, roughly two billion people lack reliable access to modern energy—whether fossil fuels or electricity—and largely rely on burning charcoal, dung or wood for light, heat and cooking.

Lighting and battery charging take a big helping of power at home, followed by television. But when talking of ghg emissions, it is the gadgets and vehicles that take the cake.In the U.S., for example, household emissions tripled between 1950 and 2009, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, thanks to the use of electricity in the home for devices like TVs.

But looking for alternate energy also means more mining and energy use for rare-earth elements for electric motors; more pollution from purifying process for wafers, etc. Biggest challenge is that of dwindling resources. Minerals, food, water...

So, do we blame it all on population? Taking a different line recently was Nobel Laureate Christian de Duve at a lecture. He pointed the finger at natural selection, saying that this principle which drives us to reproduce and advance our genes operates "on the here and now level" and pays no heed to imminent food, energy and resource crises.

Our ancestors in the Central African forests and savannahs evolved to embrace intra-group selfishness and inter-group hostility as a matter of survival, he said.

Humans are the only species that have the ability to act against natural selection, he said. "If we don't act soon to overcome our genetic tendency to intra-group selfishness and inter-group hostility, the future of humanity and of much of life on Earth will be gravely endangered, possibly leading to total extinction under conditions that can only be visualized as apocalyptic."