The World’s Largest Family Tree: Connecting Humanity to Avoid Environmental Collapse

A.J. Jacobs has authored 11 books and four best-sellers, including his latest, “The Year of Living Constitutionally.” He has long been an Editor-at-Large for Esquire Magazine. He finds humor in much of what he does. He once outsourced his life to India, including reading stories to his children and arguing with his wife. A big part of A.J.’s focus has been on proving our common ancestry and helping us understand that we are all in this life struggle together and need to cooperate and get along. A TED Talk A.J. did about the ancestry that all humans share was recently used at the center of a study by a team from Oxford University that showed that humans do have the capacity to get past their “us versus them” tribalism, and they can work together for a greater good.

Geoffery Holland: In the last century alone, the human population has quadrupled, from two billion to eight billion, and is expected to reach ten billion within a few more decades. Has the time come for us to recognize limits, get past tribalism and self-interest, and embrace a sustainable relationship with the natural world we all depend on?

A.J. Jacobs: The short answer is absolutely, it is past time. Let me back up and first say thank you for all you are doing with your organization and raising awareness about these absolutely crucial issues. As to your question: As a philosophy major in college, I learned about the tragedy of the commons, the idea that if a group of farmers all allow their cows to graze on the same piece of land with no limits, then the cows will decimate the pasture and the cows will starve. So, you need limits, you need strategies and some sort of regulation. What we have now is the tragedy of the commons on a global scale. We have these energy companies that are just doing massive damage to our world, and we don’t have nearly enough worldwide cooperation to put limits on this. And it is tragic for our descendants.

We are very short-term thinkers in this respect. I do think that sometimes if people and companies pursue their own interests, it works out fine, which is nice. That’s capitalism; sometimes it works— but not always. There are times when everyone pursues their own interest, and it is a disaster for the long term. So, we’ve got to look at not just the short-term interest but the long-term because we need to treat our descendants like we would treat ourselves. There’s the Indigenous American idea that for every action you take, you should think of how it will affect seven generations. But why just seven? Why not 70 generations? Why not 700? So, yes, to sum up, we need to get past tribalism and self-interest. We need to learn to live sustainably with the natural world.

GH: Life on Earth has reached an inflection point of a scale and consequence beyond anything ever seen. So, what are the factors that warn that we humans are at serious risk of destroying our Earth as a life support system?

AJ: Well, I think your work is highlighting exactly this evidence. You can see it everywhere. There are the weather patterns, the extreme weather. But it’s not just the environment; it’s also the dangers of bioterrorism, of nuclear war. These are worldwide challenges, and they require worldwide solutions. We need to cooperate— all of humanity, every government, every person in the world. If only half the world signs on and half doesn’t, that’s not going to do us much good. So, I think a lot of it is about how can we bring people together. How can all people recognize that we must share common goals? It’s not about a zero-sum competition game. We are all going to be losers unless we get on the same page and learn to cooperate.

GH: Since the transition from hunting and gathering to the age of agriculture, evolution has been driven by male dominance and the subjugation of women. These days, women are taking their rightful place as gender-equal citizens across the Earth. What role do you see women playing in getting humanity past the unprecedented range of existential challenges that define the current era?

AJ: I believe we need the cooperation of all genders, all people, all ethnicities, all points of view. This cannot just be limited to one section of society. So, I think that, traditionally, men are seen as more hypercompetitive. Women are seen as more cooperative. There is ample evidence that that’s true. I don’t know whether that’s biologically innate or something that’s a cultural phenomenon. Regardless, I think all people need to adopt cooperation. Cooperation should not be confined to one gender. Cooperation needs to be a human trait, not affiliated with just one part of humanity. We have to realize that we’re all on the same team. We’re all trying to get past our worst instincts and avoid environmental collapse. We’re all trying to stop a global pandemic. That’s the kind of cooperation we need, not some sort of traditionally toxic, tribalistic male competition. 

GH: Humans have traditionally exploited our Earth’s living bounty without concern. As our planet’s most consequential species, what obligation do we have to care for the natural world we all depend on?

AJ: Our obligation is to ourselves, to other humans, and to our descendants, our great, great, great, great-grandchildren. That’s who our obligation is to, and we are really neglecting it. I’m concerned that there is too much defeatism and fatalism. People are like, “Oh, the problems are so bad. We can’t fix it. Let’s just give up. The world is ending.” That’s deeply counterproductive. Let’s remind ourselves that we have solved big problems in the past as humans, and we need to have that kind of optimism that we can solve big challenges again.

Take the ozone layer. Ozone was not a Democratic or Republican issue at the time. In fact, Ronald Reagan was the one who helped push through regulations to ban the aerosol sprays that caused the ozone issue. It was a multinational treaty. That was so inspiring. I think it showed we can get stuff done. And so, it’s not all doom and gloom. Let’s work together. Let’s remind ourselves what we have in common, that we share over 99 percent of our DNA, and that all of our interests are aligned in keeping our world and our descendants safe.

We have this incredible moral obligation not only to ourselves but to all future people. I love the idea of the circles of moral concern. So, you start with yourself, and then when you become a little more morally enlightened, you think of your family, and then it grows to your neighborhood, your country, and the world. Then, it goes beyond people to other sentient beings and animals. And then it goes to the future, our future children. We’ve got to remember that they will suffer or find happiness depending on what we do.

GH: A team of anthropologists from Oxford University in the UK recently released a study to determine if diverse peoples could be brought together to address global-scale challenges. A TED Talk that you delivered was the centerpiece of that study. The outcome of that study revealed that humans do have the capacity to work across cultural lines to correct course on the existential threats to life on Earth. Can you summarize the message of your TED talk and share why it should encourage the audience to embrace their common ancestry and their obligation to cooperate to protect the only planet we have?

AJ: Absolutely, that was a highlight of my career, if not the highlight. I am super grateful to my distant cousins at Oxford, who conducted this study. The idea was that they showcased a TED talk, which I gave a few years ago. The TED talk was about a project called the Global Family Tree, which demonstrated, in the most concrete way, that we are all related. We are all cousins. It’s not just an empty cliche that humans are a family. We really do all have a common ancestor, a great, great, great, great – repeat that word for a while – grandmother and grandfather. So, I joined a group of researchers and scientists building a family tree of the entire human race.

It’s really astounding. There are over 200 million people, all connected on one family tree. The goal is to get all eight billion people on Earth all linked on a family tree. The hope is that this profound fact would inspire people to treat each other with a little more kindness because we’re not just all strangers. We are all cousins. Humans, I think, have a bias to treat what they see as their family better than strangers. So, if you can reconceptualize everybody as your family, then maybe we can start treating each other with more compassion and think about others when we make our decisions.

Think of strangers from across the world, as not just someone who is unrelated to us, but actually as a member of our big family. If someone cuts me off in traffic and I get annoyed, then I try to remind myself we probably share a 14th great-grandparent. So that inspires me to give that person the benefit of the doubt. Maybe their kid is sick, or they had a terrible day at work. So, let me try to treat them with a little more kindness and not get so angry. That’s a very small example of how we can change our behavior.

The more important part is, can we cooperate on these worldwide issues of the environment, nuclear war, bioterrorism, and pandemics? This study from my distant cousins at Oxford suggests that, yes, this idea of seeing the world as one big family and reminding people of their biological linkage made people act in more pro-social ways with strangers. I find that amazing. It’s not the only solution to our problems, but it’s an important strategy to remind people to cooperate and save the world. I think that applies to our planet’s biodiversity as well.

GH: In recent decades, all of humanity has been brought together by laptops, cell phones, the internet, and social media. Culturally, we’re going through massive “growing pains” exacerbated by every kind of resistance and misinformation. What do you see as the best path for elevating truth and optimism over the constant swell of social media lies and distortion?

AJ: Well, first of all, I love that you used the phrase “truth and optimism” because, from the long view, life in many ways has gotten better for many humans. We have to remember that progress is possible. If you look at social media, it is a fire hose of negative news, 16 hours a day, because, unfortunately, our brains are wired to find negative news more interesting. It’s more exciting to read about a hundred people getting fired than a hundred people getting hired. Conflict is more interesting than cooperation. But we have to fight against that urge.

We have to remind ourselves that there are a lot of positive things going on, and there are people working to make the world better. Diseases are being cured, and technology is being developed to stop our dependence on fossil fuels. But the good news is very hard to find in the mess, in the sewer that is the social media. I don’t have the solution of how to train us to focus on good news. It’s a tough problem. I have some things that I do personally, which include restricting my media diet so I’m not exposed to as much junk information.

Seeing media as almost like something you put in your body, and it can be poisonous. If you are following a source that never admits it is wrong, that’s very bad because that source is probably not open to change and evidence. When you ingest information, try to have access to a variety of sources so it’s not just an echo chamber. But mostly, we need to remember what you said, that “truth and optimism” are aligned and that our world is not totally made up of bad actors. There are bad actors, but there are millions— billions— of good people who are trying to do the right thing. Let’s work together and figure out how to make that happen.

GH: We have the capacity in social media to bring the world together cross-culturally like never before. Our human challenges are global in scale, and they require nothing less than global-scale solutions. You have seen the Earth System Treaty. Is that or something like it the answer to the unprecedented planetary challenges we now face?

AJ: I am a big believer in having everyone standing together and pledging to achieve the same worthy goal. It’s certainly not the only answer, but being together on the same page is really a huge help in our strategy to save the world. My most recent book, “The Year of Living Constitutionally,” is about the US Constitution. I talked to a lot of scholars. I asked, “Why do we have a constitution? Do we really need one? I mean, why not just have laws?” One advantage of a Constitution is that it provides a moral compass, a sort of mission statement, so when we stray too far on human rights, we can go back to that mission statement, which is all about, at its best, equal opportunity, equal treatment under the law.

The Constitution also says in the Preamble that we must focus on the general welfare. I think modern America seems to have neglected this idea of the general welfare and focused exclusively on individual rights. I love them both, but I think we need a balance between individual rights and the general welfare. So, the U.S. Constitution provides a mission statement, a moral North Star that unites us as citizens. We need something that does that for our entire world. Global-scale challenges demand global-scale answers. These problems are not confined to one country. These problems are worldwide and require worldwide cooperation. That’s what the Earth System Treaty can stand for.

GH: Can you stand for a global-scale idea, an Earth System Treaty or something like it, that serves as a beacon that can bring people the world over together, and is that something for which you could become a champion?

AJ: The short answer is yes. I do think, whether it’s a human cultural beacon or a moral North Star, having something written down that we all acknowledge and stand for must be our goal to alleviate suffering for ourselves and for future generations. That can be incredibly powerful and incredibly productive.

So yeah, I am a fan of the idea. Maybe it could be called a pledge, it could be called a treaty, or it could be called a worldwide constitution. Whatever it’s called, I do think we all need to get on the same page, literally get a page that outlines what we need to do. And then we can all put it on above our desks.

When doing my book on the Constitution, I adopted Ben Franklin’s habit of asking myself every morning, “What good can I do today?” Though I decided to make the wording a little more concrete, so I ask myself every morning, “how can I help to increase world happiness and lower world suffering, both now and in the future?”

Stay tuned for more of The Earth System View series!

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