Models from ecohydrology and hydrobiology can inform our human future

Engineering of biomes to multiple-use anthromes has steadily eroded their long-term value in favour of short-term wealth creation. When they have deteriorated, we have converted more biome to compensate. This can never be sustainable and the remaining area of biome is inadequate to provide sustained regulatory services. As well as our limiting carbon emissions severely to mitigate our problems, large areas of present anthromes will need to be restored to natural biomes, the human footprint confined to much smaller areas, and our engineering talents devoted to making human societies thrive in the latter. We are a clever species and can solve these problems, but only if the selfish interests of the rich and powerful in particular, and if the self-interest of our minds, itself paradoxically determined by natural selection, can be curbed.