Today, as we face the triple threat of climate change, peak oil and economic breakdown, the role of consciousness is an important factor. Those of us who are tracking these issues, thinking about them, speaking and writing as well as making changes based on consciousness of these issues are helping move the collective consciousness toward the Transition.
Today I want to focus on a way of thinking-a change in consciousness, if you will-that I believe facilitates movement toward sustainability: thinking like an ecosystem.
Several threads are adding to this cloth for me. First, an article I mentioned last month by Francis Moore Lappe' in the Spring issue of Yes! Magazine (p. 12).
She characterizes an eco-mind as one who thinks "less about quantities and more about qualities; less about fixed things and more about the ever changing relationships that form them; less about limits and more about alignment; less about what and more about why; and, less about loss and more about possibility."
She goes on to, what for me, was a startling contention about human nature: "The view that our species is basically brutal defies the evidence." Right away my mind thought of all the wars, torture, etc. in our history and was immediately curious about how she would substantiate this claim. It turns out, according to an archaeologist that she quotes, that "There is a very tiny handful of incidences of conflict and possible warfare before 10,000 years ago and those are very much the exception." This means, she says, that "our species has a vastly longer experience evolving in close-knit communities, knowing our lives depended on one another." In other words, we have, at a deep level, what might be called an 'eco-mind.'
She goes on to identify six inherent traits of eco-mind and unpacks each one: cooperation; empathy; fairness; efficacy; meaning; and imagination, creativity and attraction to change.
With this map of eco-mind, she suggests, we can foster social rules and norms to bring out the best in us. In making this suggestion, she also suggests the three social situations that seem to bring out the worst in our species: "1. Extreme power inequalities, from historical oppression to today's unprecedented economic disparity. 2. Secrecy, which allows us to evade accountability-as occurred when the financial industry, operating without transparency and public oversight, brought the global economy to its knees. [and] 3. Scapegoating, where we create 'the other' to blame."
Another thread adding to my weave of thinking like an ecosystem came in an ongoing series of posts starting in March in The Archdruid Report, which I read every week. Author John Michael Greer (The Long Descent, The Eco-Technic Future and The Wealth of Nature) continually uses phrases referring to the human ecology of the times or of a region of the country when revisiting the history of our country in light of the growth (and decline) of the American empire. For example, "The struggle between Northern and Southern models of human ecology in nineteenth-century America . . . .," (March 21). He characterizes three different approaches to the westward expansion of the United States based on the cultural take (human ecology) of each region: New England, The South and the mid Atlantic states which he calls 'pioneer.' New England is busy industrializing with factories emulating the model from 'Old' England and wants our expansion to provide more markets for their textiles. The 'pioneer' approach sees land for small towns surrounded by homesteaded family farms while the South wants increased plantation land to be worked by slaves. To think of these cultural sets as aspects of human ecology makes refreshing reading with, I think, brilliant insights.
Another thread came, among several sources, from my involvement with the Spirit in Nature paths on Goshen Road in Ripton. This project-a series of paths in the woods labeled for the various faith groups-is considered to be an example of 'ecospirituality,' or 'spiritual ecology.'
Another thread came when a friend gave me a book to read by 'ecotheologian' (or 'geologian,' as he preferred), Thomas Berry. Berry is often credited with developing ecospirituality.
Finally, I just got John Michael Greer's newest book, Mystery Teachings from the Living Earth. Its subtitle is: An introduction to spiritual ecology!
On an unrelated note, I recently read the book Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit by local (Ferrisburg) author, Barry Estabrook. It focuses on the insanity of the Florida winter slicing tomato industry. Horrible stories of industrial chemicals, birth defects of babies of farm workers, the horrible conditions-actual slavery in some cases-of the labor force. Some good stories of plant tomato breeders who do breed for flavor (not a consideration for the Florida tomato industry) and organic growers who are succeeding against the odds. Thin book and an entertaining read. I see him listed locally as a speaker occasionally but haven't yet been able to hear him. After reading Tomatoland, I'd love to.
