No Organism is Truly Autonomous

Discussion in 'News from around the damp planet' started by 9anda1f, Apr 1, 2016.

  1. 9anda1f

    9anda1f Administrator Staff Member

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    Some elements of Permaculture in this article/interview:

    "The sheer variety of projects and initiatives out there is, for me, the main story. No single project is the magic acorn that will grow into a mighty oak tree. We need to think more like a forest than a single tree! If you look at healthy forests, they are extremely diverse—and we’re seeing a healthy level of diversity in social innovation all over the world."

    "The story of soil has been an epiphany for me. Soil is the largest living system on the planet; without it, we wouldn’t exist. But I only learned this a few years ago. At first I read a whole pile of articles and books, but it all came to life when I then went on a soil creation course in the Cevennes, the mountainous area in France where I live. Our teacher was a French agro-ecologist Robert Morez who has worked as an agricultural advisor in Africa for forty years. He showed us how to make a growing mound with a bunch of ingredients: bone meal, dried blood, crushed oyster shells, wood fire ash, onto a growing mound of wood, twigs, leaves, straw. Each layer is seasoned, as if with salt and pepper, by this powdery mix of minerals and biological activators. Robert told us we were learning “how to construct a bio-intensive planting mound”—but in my mind, I was making soil, rather than depleting it, for first time in my life."

    "It’s not that our brains lack processing capacity—more, that they’re preoccupied by the wrong inputs. A combination of paved surfaces and pervasive media has shielded us from direct experience. Material progress itself has distracted us from the health of the natural living systems upon which we still depend—and, indeed, are a part. If you put it to someone—as I have done—that, without soil, humanity will quickly starve, they usually agree, nod sagely—and wait for me to change the subject. Few of the city-dwelling people I know ever touch, feel, taste or smell the stuff—healthy or otherwise. Our children are not taught about it at school. It’s the same with climate change, the loss of biodiversity, deforestation; or dying seas: Out of sight, out of mind. Why would we care?"

    Read the entire interview at: https://www.resilience.org/stories/2016-03-31/no-organism-is-truly-autonomous-including-us
     
    mischief and songbird like this.
  2. songbird

    songbird Senior Member

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    yes, any apex oraganism is only one expression of the possibilities from below. of course, we may
    debate if we are "apex" or not. :)
     
  3. Bryant RedHawk

    Bryant RedHawk Junior Member

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    The human mind is a curious thing, only by separating a pie into pieces can it fully grasp, learn and assimilate information. Unfortunately the world is a single organism each part dependent upon all the others for proper functioning. Until humans grasp and understand this, they will not be able to be truly sustainable as a species.
    It's very much like how humans look at other humans, they separate one species into sub groups then even into sub, sub groups and on and on. This is not how it should be, we are all one people; we all bleed red when cut, we all must eat to survive, get rid of the dividing nit picking and then perhaps the human race can evolve to the next level. People are people and we are only one cog in the organism that is earth.
     

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