'Human exceptionalism is at the root of the ecological crisis' - Harvard Gazette

"The central thesis of her book is that anthropocentrism - or what Webb calls the "human superiority complex" - has pushed our planet to environmental crises such as mass extinctions, rising sea levels, forest fires, and more. "I've come to think of the arrogant ape not as a species, or a culture, or even an individual, but as a tragic protagonist in a Greek drama, blinded by their own hubris," said Webb."

""Human exceptionalism is at the root of the ecological crisis," Webb told a Science Center audience of more than 100 people recently as part of the Harvard Science Book Talks. "This pervasive mindset gives humans a sense of dominion over the rest of nature, set apart from and entitled to commodify the Earth and other species for their own exclusive use.""

Human self-centeredness and belief in superiority—anthropocentrism—create a mindset of dominion and entitlement that drives ecological collapse. Religious, cultural, and scientific traditions have reinforced this human superiority complex, producing pervasive anthropocentric norms that commodify Earth and other species. The mindset has led to mass extinctions, rising seas, forest fires, and other environmental crises. Framing humans as uniquely superior blinds people to other species' specialized adaptations and worth. Measuring the world by human standards makes other species appear inferior. Overcoming this arrogance requires rejecting human exceptionalism and recognizing intrinsic value across species to address planetary crises.

Read at Harvard Gazette