HOW DID WE GET HERE?
Once upon a time, the earth was abundant with all of the fauna and flora of nature in dynamic equilibrium. The oceans were full of fish and other living things. Plants arose from healthy soils, teaming with life, and birds and animals inhabited appropriate ecological habitats. The earth found a natural balance, with clean air, abundant water, and vibrant, beautiful landscapes. Perfection prevailed, or so the story goes...
And, then came people. Humans in small numbers had no choice but to adapt to the realities of the natural world of which they were a part. As the populations grew and our ancestors spread out upon the land and crossed the oceans, they formed various cultures and civilizations. Languages developed and with them, the ability to communicate thought and reason. Disciplines of study and exploration were instituted to increase understanding of the physical, chemical and biological aspects of our world. Much of this study, particularly in the Western World was comprised of analysis. ANALYTICAL thinking manifests in breaking everything apart to see of what it consists. It becomes a very focused, myopic pursuit. Most of our scientific work is based in this approach. Herein is the dilemma. We have learned much and gained mastery of our circumstances, making modern life comfortable and easy. What we have not considered is the impact that our reductionist actions have had on the greater environment. We see the CONTENT of our lives without the appropriate CONTEXT.
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All life exists as complex adaptive systems. In order to acquire adequate understanding of the CONTEXT of our lives, we need to learn another style of thinking: SYSTEMS thinking! We can take a big picture approach to our understanding of the world, and focus more on the connections and relationships of the various parts. We can then think about how it is that the pieces fit together and function in order to maintain our living planet and all of her creatures. It is a something like a puzzle...
Nature is like a finished puzzle
All of the parts are there and in a fitting relationship with each other, and while puzzles are stationary, nature is in motion and dynamic. Hopefully, the metaphor will be sufficient to understand the issues that we are addressing.
Credit: Zazzle
With ANALYTICAL thinking we will be taking the puzzle apart and rubbing off the picture so as to see as much as we can about what makes up each piece. We can measure the parts and probe them in multiple ways. We'll be doing everything that we can to bring them to their irreducible minimums. We might wonder about some of the many functions that we see, and may even assign some theories to them.
We may test some of our theories and see if the pieces still work together. We may also want to label the pieces so that we can remember what they do. By the time we have finished the study we will know something about the CONTENT of the pieces, and we may want to share the findings, and publish a research paper.
Now, the paper may help our community to understand some important aspects of the puzzle, though it may be seriously lacking in the esthetic values of the original.
The real danger comes in thinking that the parts of the puzzle have value when they are separated from the whole. We enter this danger zone when we commoditize resources.
​Let's say that we concentrate on the housing market because, of course, people need places to live. Then. all of a sudden, we have expanded the residential piece and it no longer fits in the puzzle.
Because we have built all of these new houses, we have noticed that the supplies of food and water are now being consumed at a higher rate and their pieces have now shrunk accordingly. They no longer fit either. The WHOLE of the system no longer functions interdependently.
So how do we think more in terms of CONTEXT? It is the goal of Rainbird Rising to facilitate funding and incubation of WHOLE SYSTEMS, REGENERATIVE community developments. Systems can be expanded and adapted by improving the carrying capacity of the land. Soils can be healed, aquifers can recharge, air and water can be cleaned that healthy food, community spirit, and enriching livelihoods may prosper. We have enough knowledge and experience now to begin a transition to a more regenerative world. We truly need to make the decision: WILL WE BE STEWARDS OR PARASITES? WE JUST NEED THE WILL...
