As we all know, the world is currently afflicted by a certain plague of man. Pollutants of all shapes and sizes enter the atmosphere, ocean, rivers and biosphere in general, in most cases never having been seen before in natural setting in such huge amounts, causing havoc. I think its helpful to picture it from the perspective of animals. What would you do? Well, you are forced to adapt, and shortcuts are taken, and information is lost. When your forest is cut down, when your waters become filthy, when you are hunted to the brink of extinction, you adapt or die. This is a simple way of looking at it, and isn’t quite the best way of going about things, as vast swaths of raw information are being lost. Those forest that are being cut down represent millenia of evolution. Adaptation that has occurred at it’s own pace, and has had the opportunity to form veritable miracles of creation in the form of plants, insects, mammals and birds. We are only relatively recently coming to terms with the ability to learn from and model our own species by mimicking nature. We see this notably in the bullet train of Japan, modelled after the Kingfisher bird's beak, for it's aerodynamic qualities.
There is an entire field of research that is the backbone of so many crucial human industries such as cosmetics, architecture, engineering, and most notably medicine, that would never have existed if humans hadn’t been inspire by one species or another. The plant kingdom alone consists of over 360,000 species (Source). Biomimicry is innovation inspired by nature it is the untapped gold mine that is represented by all of those species roaming around the world with super powers. Lobsters have a gene that makes them not grow old, there's probably a jelly fish out there that can cure cancer with it's saliva. There is profound genius in the geometry of nature, like the Fibonacci sequence of a conch shell, or in the mathematics contained in a pine cone or a flower petal. I propose that we double down on our investments in biomimicry, as the the solution to all our problems. And that if we manage to learn what we can, model our lives after natural systems, we can protect and preserve the vast wealth of wisdom and knowledge contained in the natural world. This would create a positive loop: learning from nature, to creating value through biomimicry, to that value creating demand, to demand creating the need to protect nature, so that we can learn more.
“About 2,000 new plant species are discovered or described every year, many of which are already on the verge of extinction.”
Source
How do we change?
But back to my point on the disadvantages of forced adaptation. Apart from the obvious loss of potential from wiping out species that we don’t even understand yet, what can be done on a practical level by individuals to help participate towards a more protective relationship with nature? That’s the golden question, but we all know the answer already. The only way to avert climate collapse in its tracks and save the countless species in the ocean that are contaminated by plastics and nuclear waste, in the Amazon rainforest that are exterminated by loss of habitat is just one simple word. Stop. If you really think about it stopping something is the easiest thing in the world because it involves the absence of action. We are already expending so much energy in the destructive actions leading to these undesirable outcomes, so when the awareness of the cause-effect relationship becomes clear, why can’t we just drop our shovels, realize what we have done, and stop. Because human beings are addicted to progress, and they have associated progress with unconditional growth at the expense of finite resources. This is a lie, and it is not true. Progress is when we act responsibly and with integrity to our values, which in an ideal world, would be along the lines of the Sustainable Development Goals (https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/?menu=1300). These goals exist, which is already a good step forward. However, the nature of values is that they are subjective. Different people with different intentions have different ideas on what should be done and what shouldn’t be done. You would think that with the invention of such a coagulating system like the law that we would all be agreed upon what is right and what is wrong, but this again, is subjective to each countries legal jurisdiction and varies widely. This is a topic for another post about Geopolitics, but my point is, we haven’t stopped because we haven’t agreed on, at the higher echelons of society, if stopping is the right thing to do.
“Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.”
― Alan Watts
Well, for those of us that know that it 100% is the right thing to do, there is a powerful tool at our disposal to make a tangible difference in the unfolding series of events that will ensue. I am speaking, ofcourse, about the ability to make choices. This brings me back to my point about awareness, which is crucial. Some people may have noticed the trends in meditation or mindfulness (whatever you want to call it. Eckhart Tolle wrote wonderfully on the topic in his book ‘A New Earth’, but what i am alluding to is the actions that inspired awareness implies. In a state of presence, once we have detached from the myriad biased and deceiving advertisements that pepper our digital lives, and hone into the platforms that provide real value, like Youtube, Hive, Reddit, where we can proactively learn and digest information, at rates that would have just a mere 100 years ago been thought of as impossible. When we educate ourselves, as much as is possible, to the reality of things as they are, we can look at everything in our lives through a different lens. So keep learning and stay humble, nature has so much yet to teach us, and her classroom is all around us, so let's take nature as a model and keep asking ourselves: what can nature teach me today?
Let’s say for example, for 10 years you have been using plastic bags to go shopping. You watch a documentary on plastic and become consciously aware that this is something within your power to stop. You buy a reusable linen tote bag for 50 cents and proceed to use this bag. Your unconscious habit has just been destroyed and replaced by a conscious decision, which breeds more and more of the same action. Taken further it can exponentially increase, gathering momentum much like the exponential momentum of a snowball rolling down a hill that can cause an avalanche. This is made possible because we are so interconnected, not only via the internet but also on a deeper level. I can watch a 1 hour documentary, have an existential crisis, write about everyone I know on social media, and change my shopping habits all in the same day. Everyone can do this simultaneously, there is no disconnect because we all exist now. I am no more separate from anyone reading this than my index finger is separate from my thumb. The reason awareness is so powerful, whether it is reached via gratitude or emotions like anger or hate, is that it sparks movement in a given direction which if it gathers enough traction can generate real change. I think we have been seeing this happen in the climate protests earlier in the year. Greta Thunberg ignited a fire in the hearts of millions around the world, to wake up to the reality that education is meaningless in a world where our leaders do not take responsibility for their actions even when our very existence is at risk. Those protestors actions will carry weight in the halls of governments across the world, their consumption choices will change and the effects in the markets will in turn affect the whole economic system through supply and demand. They will be educating themselves on esoteric disciplines like Yoga and Kundalini and Ayurveda, that despite being ancient disciplines, align with the notion of getting back in contact with mother nature (coincidence? I think not!). They will be talking to their friends about the importance of going plant-based (something we should all consider not only because it will save the planet but also foster better health). Some of them will succeed in converting their families and friends, who in turn will convert even more people. This is the power of positive energy and conscious action; it is exponential. It is charged and it is our best tool to quickly and effectively make a change on a global level.
“We are living in a culture entirely hypnotized by the illusion of time, in which the so-called present moment is felt as nothing but an infinitesimal hairline between an all-powerfully causative past and an absorbingly important future. We have no present. Our consciousness is almost completely preoccupied with memory and expectation. We do not realize that there never was, is, nor will be any other experience than present experience. We are therefore out of touch with reality. We confuse the world as talked about, described, and measured with the world which actually is. We are sick with a fascination for the useful tools of names and numbers, of symbols, signs, conceptions and ideas.”
― Alan Wilson Watts
There is of course the inverse of positive energy, which is negative energy. In this case, we should first introduced the notion of stopping, and what it implies; the absence of doing. If we combine doing the right things(+) and non-doing the bad things(-) on a large enough scale, then we are well on our way to solving the problem. Especially in those developed countries that have the most influence, we have a good shot at turning things around. Yin and Yang is one thing, and is an easy concept to grasp. But It is very tricky to understand the way positive and negative forces interact in the real world, to feel their push & pull, but with awareness one can recognise the patterns of reciprocity that take place everyday all around us. Things are simply the way they are, and there is wisdom to be had by people who act upon the patterns they deem to be flawed, looking inwards for inspiration to change instead of resisting it. And by carefully observing what goes on in the world around us, following our intuition and acting responsibly on those ideas we hold to be true, not in a self-seeking way but rather ‘for the greater good’ so to speak, then we have done all there is to be done and should cease to worry, for everything else is out of our control. We can change what is in our power to change, I have found that for people my age and millennials it can get pretty cumbersome to shoulder the weight of all the problems in the world which are unfortunately becoming more and more numerous.
This is why we need to simplify things as much as we can, focus on what is in our direct circle of influence, and ignore the rest. One can always go the extra mile and navigate their career path in the direction of sustainable development, or take up a course (for free on Coursera or Edx ) in the various relevant trends that exist today like the Circular Economy framework, or consider researching biomimicry ( https://biomimicry.org/). The vast stores of information contained in the Amazon is as of yet untapped and we have only seen the tip of the iceberg, if we consider the oceans as well, up to 87% of species on the planet may still be unknown (Source). I cannot even express the potential for meaningful growth that represents, what could we learn from these species? What stores of knowledge do they behold? I for one would love to find out. But I am trying to put the point across that the potential for change exists now. If we have gotten this far, we can easily adapt. It isn’t even that unthinkable, with the technology and resources that exist today, if the powers that be align to stop a certain destructive trajectory in its tracks. By pooling resources, pooling knowledge, pooling expertise. I see examples of this every day, in fact i am writing a blog post in a community that represents just that, tall the best most sustainable practices that our world has to offer. That is the power of consciousness, it is coordination. If pointed in the right direction, it can change the world. If we choose to use the awesome tools at our disposal today, to empower ourselves, we will inevitably empower each other and consequently make the world a better place. So keep learning, keep fighting and never give up. If enough of us act on what we want, and we all want the same thing, coordination through awareness will ease the process toward sustainability and a symbiotic relationship with nature. If theres anything I hope you take away from this blog post, its that everything we need exists already in nature. And that everyone has the tools to help fight climate change by educating themselves on the best available practices that either already exist, or to create them for themselves by modelling nature. If you got this far, thanks for reading!
“The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.”
― Alan Watts
Peace, dizzybee