|
Mother Pelican
A Journal of Solidarity and Sustainability
Vol. 22, No. 8, August 2026
Luis T. Gutiérrez, Editor
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Magnifica Humanitas ~ Anthropocentrism, Ecocentrism,
and the Legacy of Religious Patriarchy
Luis T. Gutiérrez
August 2026
Click on the image to enlarge.
|
GLOBAL CONTEXT
It is estimated that about 80% of people in the world today adhere to a religious tradition. Is there a religious response to the social/ecological crisis induced by modern techno-industrial civilization?
In 2015, Pope Francis published the encyclical Laudato Si' (LS) about climate change and "care for our common home." In May of this year, Pope Leo published the encyclical Magnifica Humanitas (MH) about "safeguarding the human person in the time of artificial intelligence." Both are sensible, well intended, and raise significant issues. But both are anthropocentric, not ecocentric. Both offer timely critiques of the secular world, but neither one addresses patriarchy -- let alone religious patriarchy -- as a contributing factor to overpopulation, overconsumption, and all other consequences of ecological overshoot -- toxic pollution, resource depletion, biodiversity decimation, social entropy, and the psychological numbness of most humans to issues of social/ecological justice in a finite world. This article focuses on LS and MH, as these two documents would seem to encapsulate the most comprehensive religious response, thus far, to the current social/ecological predicament of industrial civilization.
SEEING ~ Climate Change, Artificial Intelligence, and Ecological Overshoot
The underlying social/ecological issues addressed in LS and MH have been known for long time. This is a sampling of well known evidence-based publications in chronological order:
Silent Spring, Rachel Carson, 1962.
Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis, Lynn White, 1967.
Limits to Growth, Donella Meadows et al, 1972, updated 1993, 2004.
Overshoot: The Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Change, William Catton, 1982.
Overshoot: The Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Change, Maria Mies, 1986.
Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future, Brundtland Report, 1987.
Our Ecological Footprint—Reducing Human Impact on the Earth, by Mathis Wackernagel & William Rees, 1996.
Beyond Growth: The Economics of Sustainable Development, Herman Daly, 1997.
2000-2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), United Nations, 2000.
The Energy Perspective: Oil and the Magical 4%, Willard Fey, 2005.
State of the World 2010: Transforming Cultures from Consumerism to Sustainability, Erik Assadourian, 2010.
Energy and the Wealth of Nations
~ Understanding the Biophysical Economy, Charles Hall & Kent Klitgaard, 2012.
Crises Facing Humanity on Earth Today, Willard Fey, 2012.
The Systems View of Life, Fritjof Capra & Pier Luigi Luisi, 2014.
The Paris Agreement, United Nations, 2015.
2015-2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). United Nations, 2015.
Energy Return on Investment ~ A Unifying Principle for Biology, Economics, and Sustainability, Charles Hall, 2017.
Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist, Kate Raworth, 2017.
Ecological
Civilization ~ From Emergency to Emergence , David Korten, 2021.
Ecological
Civilization ~ From Emergency to Emergence, Richard Heinberg, 2021.
Ecological Footprint Accounting: Thirty Years and Still Gathering Steam, William Rees & Mathis Wackernagel, 2023.
Homo Ecophagus ~ A Deep Diagnosis to Save the Earth, Warren Hern, 2023.
The Human Eco-predicament: Overshoot and the Population Conundrum, William Rees, 2023.
Ecocivilization: Making a World that Works for All, Jeremy Lent, 2026.
So, it is not that the issues cannot be seen. They have been extensively observed and documented. But the vast majority of people populating the planet today cannot see, or do not want to see, what the evidence shows. Modern techno-industrial civilization has domesticated the collective unconscious. Profit and wealth accumulation is what matters most. Initiatives pursuant to quality of life and "care of our common home" are dismissed as utopian, and even ridiculed and ferociously opposed as enemies of the common good in the short-term. Politicians avoid the subject. Financialization with fiat money induces developing techno-fixes fast enough (and now getting faster and faster) to foster the illusion that there is no limit to the industrial 'Babel Tower' that is destroying the planetary ecosystem in which the economy is embedded.
Can we dig deeper than the obvious symptoms such as climate disruptions, AI data centers consuming huge amounts of energy and water, and ecological overshoot rooted in exponential population growth during the last century? Can the religious consciousness of people ignite a cultural revolution (LS 114) and a renewal of humanity (LS 118) to really 'care for our common home" and act for the common good?
JUDGING ~ Matter, Energy, Information, and Human Nature
The future is unknown. Only God has a window to human minds, human hearts, human souls. To some extent, spiritual masters can discern the "signs of the times" and the real motivations of human behavior. Scientifically, we are limited to what can be empirically tested and experientially corroborated in time and space. We can judge quantitative data about matter, energy, and information. We can judge the qualitative data of experience about human nature. What else can we do? Tons of ink has been spent trying to elucidate 'solutions' to the techno-industrial human predicament, including a multitude of techno-fixes and 'scientific breakthroughs' that may be profitable in the short-term but eventually fail to scale up when biophysical realities come into play. Absurdities like 'clean energy' and 'net zero' come to mind.
When it comes to 8+ billion people consuming and polluting at current levels, empirical data on food production, extraction of raw materials, required energy throughput, and information systems including AI lead to the conclusion that fossil fuels are indispensable to meet ever growing energy demand. The 80%-20% fossil-'green' energy ratio has not changed for decades, so 'green' alternatives are adding supply but are not replacing fossil fuels. Why? The following provide some clues:
Maximum Power Principle (MPP), Alfred Lotka, 1922; Howard Odum & Richard Pinkerton, 1955. In brief: Humans, like other animals, tend to maximize the use of affordable energy pursuant to short-term convenience, regardless of long-term consequences. The MPP has nothing to do with free will and malicious human agency. It has everything to do with biology, ecology, thermodynamics, and human nature.
The Maximum Entropy Production Principle (MEPP), Hans Ziegler, 1963. In brief: Biophysical systems increase entropy at the maximum rate that is possible. Human systems are not exempt. The MPP and the MEPP are equivalent, two complementary views of the same biophysical process. Like the MPP, the MEPP has nothing to do with free will and malicious human agency. It has everything to do with biology, ecology, thermodynamics, and human nature.
Human Maladaptation Syndrome (HMS), William Rees, 2026. In brief: Humans have thus far evolved to satisfy immediate needs and desires in time and space, and have not had time to evolve the biopsychological capacity to select sustainable lifestyles in complex, energy-intensive industrial societies. Human relations gradually become more transactional, leaving less room for empathy. The ensuing social pathology is conducive to authoritarian demagogues and psychopaths ascending to top positions in business and governance. The maladaptation syndrome is a social dynamic that emerges from techno-industrial complexity regardless of individual personalities.
Psychopathic Selection Hypothesis (PSH), Greg Ellliott, 2026. In brief: Humans are creating artificial, multidimensional symbolic ecosystems that make human adaptation to resource/energy limits practically impossible because they pursue symbolic incentives (e.g., financial rewards, market share, cognitive entertainment, political slogans, etc.) rather than having to choose within natural constraints with immediate consequences and accountability. This increases even more the chances of 'selecting' authoritarian demagogues and psychopaths for top roles in business and governance. It is not just a matter of individual pathologies, let alone a centralized conspiracy. The cultural environment gradually becomes more propitious to those who can navigate the added layer of symbolic incentives.
Social Evolutionary Mismatch and Competition Hypothesis (SEMCH), Jose Yong et al., 2026. Specifically: "The SEMCH yields several predictions based on the claim that social evolutionary mismatch preferentially elicits competition. First, evolutionarily novel social inputs (e.g., high population density, high inequality, social media) should more strongly predict competition appraisals, whereas non-social inputs (e.g., absence of nature, built environments) should more strongly predict general stress, cognitive fatigue, and other physiological problems. While existing evidence is broadly consistent with this pattern, these domains have rarely been examined jointly. Urban environments offer a useful testing context because they contain evolutionarily novel non-social and social inputs simultaneously. Second, the SEMCH discriminately predicts that exposure to evolutionarily novel social inputs should more reliably activate competition-related cognitions, motivations, and behaviors (e.g., competitiveness, selfishness, status vigilance, social comparison, zero-sum thinking, strategic self-presentation) than non-competitive ones (e.g., cooperation, trust, altruism, prosociality)." Evolutionary Mismatch, Stress, and Competition: Making Sense of Psychosocial Problems in the Polycrisis Era, section 5.1.
The MPP and the MEPP are enough to dismantle any false hopes about the vast majority of humans renouncing convenience to 'care for our common home' and act for the common good and the survivability of future generations. Add the HMS, PSH, and SEMCH anticipated repercussions on human behavior, and the expected probability of Homo sapiens opting for solidarity and sustainability becomes practically zero. This could be the reason that Pope Francis, in 2020, published the encyclical Fratelli Tuttti (FT), "on fraternity and social friendship," as a sequel to LS. Indeed, there are religious symbols, such as the Golden Rule, the Sermon on the Mount, and the Parable of the Good Samaritan, that could inspire humans to share rather than hoard, and cooperate rather than compete, peacefully rather than violently. Can it happen, not just with a few hundreds or thousands, but with a critical mass of people -- millions, billions?
ACTING ~ Necessary and Sufficient Conditions for a Civilized Transition
Is it possible to define necessary and sufficient conditions for a 'civilized' transition? Given the current ecological overshoot that ensues from persistent growth trends of population, consumption, and pollution, and the complexity of the global techno-industrial system, nothing is sufficient to ensure a manageable transition to a sustainable order of things. However, some necessary conditions can be mentioned:
Dismantling all forms of patriarchal dominance, both secular and religious. Secular patriarchy is already passing away in many countries, but religious patriarchy is lingering in most countries. The clarification of LS 66 notwithstanding, religious patriarchy reinforces the mindset of male headship and dominion in family and society, thereby making responsible parenthood (for indispensable population contraction) and consumption moderation (for indispensable economic contraction) practically impossible.
Dismantling all forms of financial debt slavery. Financialization with fiat money generated via credit is intrinsic to unbridled capitalism. It hides the ecological costs of extravagant consumption. In the economic dimension, nothing is more necessary than moderating the human propensity to 'buy now, pay later.' Better management and regulation of debt will happen eventually, as biophysical limits ensure that money cannot buy what has been already exhausted or degraded beyond repair. In the meantime, much needed are disincentives like the Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) and the Land Value Tax (LVT).
Replacing GDP growth incentives with degrowth incentives at all levels. Trickling down economics has been shown to be good only for the top 10%. Metrics for human wellbeing and the common good have been proposed to replace, or at least complement, GDP as the sole indicator of economic prosperity. Better common good metrics are needed, and incentives to make them appealing. See, for example, the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI), the Universal Basic Income (UBI), and the
Citizen's Dividend or Social Dividend.
Reforming governance at all levels for solidarity, subsidiarity, sustainability. FT may be utopian, but governments and all citizens need to uphold the principle of solidarity. Massive migrations may be unavoidable due to climate change. Scapegoating immigrants is an exercise in futility in addition to being unethical. There is a need for effective global governance and adherence to the principle of subsidiarity, i.e., letting decisions be made at the lowest possible level. Practicing the principle of sustainability means ensuring access to resources by all citizens, now and in the future.
Practicing responsible parenthood for population stabilization. There is an overpopulation crisis. There is no falling birthrate crisis. Pronatalism is patriarchal legacy. The concept a responsible parenthood is key. Don't have more children than you can responsibly care for. There can be no integral human development, and no integral ecology, as long as humans reproduce irresponsibly.
Reducing throughput of energy and raw materials. It is time to disabuse the public about self-serving pretensions that energy and other natural resources are unlimited. They are limited. One way or another, burning fossil fuels generates emissions and all forms of power usage generate entropy (material flow disorders, information flow distortions). Energy Return on Investment (EROI) is the best metric to prevent the energy cliff.
Resource Value Taxes (RVT) are most effective when levied at the point of extraction. Significant reductions of energy throughput and mining of minerals is absolutely necessary, and cannot happen without a proportional reduction of population and consumption.
Reducing all forms of toxic pollution. Anthropogenic climate change is no longer reversible. Toxic waste is threatening the air we breath, the water we drink, and the food we eat. The Kaya Identity (KAYA) and other metrics can be used to inform users about the health risks of micro-plastics and other contaminants. Governments cannot be expected to manage all the side effects of industrial activity. A Global Citizens Movement (GCM) is needed to keep polluters in check. The nonviolent boycotting of socially and/or ecological harmful products has proven to be effective.
Reducing all forms of hate speech and flows of misinformation and disinformation. Hate speech is corrosive for cooperative human relations. Both misinformation and disinformation induce confusion and lack of trust, which in turn preclude all other necessary conditions to be met. AI, useful as it is for getting summaries of existing knowledge, can also make things worse when used for seeding discord. As Pope Leo writes in MH 85: "Technological innovations, including artificial intelligence, are not neutral, for they can either foster participation and justice or exacerbate inequality, control, and exclusion."
From globalization to localization.
The future is unknown, but large cities will become unsustainable when affordable fossil fuels gradually cease to flow, so it is reasonable to anticipate that more and more people will have to migrate away from cities to small towns surrounded by crops, thus minimizing dependency on long supply chains. And this vulnerability is not the only problem with globalization: "In reality, rather than automatically generating unity and peace, globalization has provoked fundamentalist, identity-based and nationalistic reactions. The result is a far cry from genuine multilateralism; instead, what has appeared is a disorderly and conflict-ridden multipolarism with a prevailing sense of mistrust." (MH 201). Everything is connected in the web of life, and more localized connections are needed for personal and community resilience.
From anthropocentrism and ecocentrism. The most urgent need is rapid cultural evolution to restrain delusions of grandeur. The idea of seeking minerals in other planets is preposterous. Even more so is the idea that economies can function independently from the planetary ecosystem in which they are embedded. All such delusions of grandiosity derive from the primordial myth of human supremacy over nature, which is most clearly manifested in patriarchal societies and patriarchal religions (cf. Genesis 1:28, also known as the 'creation mandate). Restraining such "unrestrained delusions of grandeur" (cf. LS 66, 114) is an absolute necessity if a civilized transition to a sustainable human civilization is to be attained. Anthropocentrism is outdated. Ecocentrism is the only way to go.
Other than transcending patriarchy, all the above resonate with guidance offered in LS and MH. None of the above would cancel the MPP, HMS, and PSH, but would be helpful to reduce human suffering, and further degradation of the human habitat, during the transition from growth to degrowth and postgrowth.
Secular governments can enable these necessary conditions by environmental regulations, pollution taxes, basic income/basic capital programs, and other measures. It is anticipated that politicians will act when they have no other choice.
Religious institutions can help by rescinding patriarchal masculinity requirements for really official ministries, without condescending maneuvers reminiscent of 'greenwashing' in the secular sphere. In the liturgical Christian churches, some of which still cling to an exclusively male clergy, the ordination of women is key. As with secular authorities, religious authorities will dismantle patriarchal scaffoldings when they have no other choice.
GLOBAL OUTLOOK
In spite of clear evidence that our techno-industrial civilization is on life support, practically nothing that is effective has been done to prepare 8+ billion people for the inevitable transition that will follow 'peak growth.' The MDGs failed. The SDGs are floundering. Even though climate change is no longer deniable, the Paris agreement never had a chance of compliance. 'Clean' energy alternatives are fossil-intensive and cannot possibly be scaled up to meet ever growing global demand. And now we are regressing to delusions of energy domination, use of military brute force to control remaining resources (Venezuela), and expansionist wars disguised as "just wars' and/or 'defensive maneuvers' (Ukraine, Iran). Any suggestion of a cultural revolution pursuant to collective human behavior modification fostered by new kinds of common good incentives is dismissed as utopian and often vilified as 'communist. What is happening?
The MPP and the MEPP explain the insatiable apetite for energy and the inevitable consequences. The HMS explains the lack of human response to human footprint overshoot as being rooted in the pace of industrial development outpacing biology and human evolution. The PSH deepens the HMS by showing that human agency is increasingly focused on choosing between symbolic entities manufactured by human hands that are oblivious to biophysical realities. But human bodies cannot be fed by symbols alone, so resource extraction and biosphere degradation continues, and further degradation and partial/total collapse of our current human civilization is a matter of time. And time is greater than space, but is not unlimited. Soon, we are going to need miracles. Can we pray for miracles? Yes we can, but the symbolic repertoire of patriarchal religions is not conducive to transforming our culture of power to a culture of limits, solidarity, subsidiarity, sustainability. If religious institutions fail to transform the patriarchal symbols, the outlook is grim. Some of the religious symbols that must be sanitized of patriarchal preconceptions are listed here.
Patriarchy is the primordial and most pervasive culture of power. It is not natural law but is reinforced by human biology (Maximum Power Principle) and further 'normalized' by religions that presuppose an almighty male deity, male supremacy in social relations, and human supremacy in ecological relations. As long as the patriarchal mindset prevails, social-ecological justice is prioritized by a minimal number of people, and the Golden Rule is practically utopian. For this reason, transcending patriarchy in both secular and religious institutions is critical if further decay and dysfunctionality of the human civilization is to be prevented; for infinite material growth in a finite livable planet is impossible, and we know that "God always forgives, and we forgive sometimes, but nature never forgives."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Luis T. Gutiérrez is the owner and editor of Mother Pelican. BS (1967) and MS (1968), Industrial Engineering, University of Florida. PhD (1974), Industrial Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology.
After 40 years working in industry and professional consulting, his retirement project is to do some independent research and work on this website and journal. His current research focus is the confluence of human development, industrial ecology, emerging technologies,
cultural evolution, religious traditions, and social/ecological justice issues.
|
|
|
|
|
"It's no longer the era of global warming.
It's the era of global boiling."
— António Guterres, UN Secretary-General
|
|
Page 3
|
|
|
