Can Reversing the Ecological Crisis Be That Simple?
Yes, it can.
We can’t save the planet; it will save itself. It is innately regenerative. We are invited to honor the world that is right in front of us. The living world is your best friend. – Paul Hawken
The planet is asking us to make decisions that allow the planet to reverse the Ecological Crisis and save all its living beings, including us.
What decisions is the planet asking us to make?
Human decision-making for meeting human physical needs (in turquoise) is creating the exponentially growing things-we-extract flows[1] and pollution flows[2] (in orange) that are damaging the planet’s life-sustaining biosphere (in deep green) …
… and creating the planet’s ecological crisis (the “Ecological Crisis”) – mapped by the Stockholm Resilience Centre as the sum of nine planet-scale ecological crises created by humanity’s “overshoot” of “planetary boundaries” …
Reversing the Ecological Crisis and allowing the planet to save all its living beings (including us) requires people everywhere making decisions for meeting their human physical needs (in turquoise) – through their adoption of “regenerative options” – that scale back the things-we-extract flows and pollution flows (in orange) …
… and, at the same time, keep intact the things-we-extract flows (in orange) and things-we-use flows[3] (in white) for meeting every human being’s physical needs and saving us …
Scaling back the things-we-extract flows & pollution flows as a whole allows the planet’s biosphere (in deep green) to regenerate itself as a whole …
The planet’s regenerated biosphere reverses the Ecological Crisis as a whole …
… and allows the planet to save all its living beings, including us, as a whole …
Can reversing the Ecological Crisis (and allowing the planet to save all its living beings) be that simple?
Yes, it can.[4]
You heard it here first.
[1] Things-we-extract flows include flows of things like forests, fresh water, wildlife, soils and minerals.
[2] Pollution flows include flows of things like greenhouse gas emissions, aerosol pollutants, synthetic pollutants like herbicides, pesticides & plastics, ozone-depleting gases, and phosphorus & nitrogen pollutants.
[3] Things-we-use flows include flows of things like energy, water, materials & chemicals, food & fiber and manufactures & structures.
[4] Which is a simpler and more implementable process for reversing the climate crisis – this 5-page article, or the 186-page Synthesis Report 2023 from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change?
My aim – in writing Solving the Eco-crises – is to shift you out of the old paradigm of struggle and into a new paradigm of trusting and co-creating with the biosphere for solving and reversing the Ecological Crisis.
Thank you for reading and aloha!
P.S. I cross-posted this article on Medium for greater reach.
All true except that organisms, including humans, are programmed to ‘make more’ and will do this until constrained by conditions, resource shortages and/or other organisms.
It means ‘decisions’ for moderation are truly up against it.