A leaked document tells us about
illegal gas operations in Manú Park, Perú. The news tells us about a percentage of the
world birds, butterflies and mammals who live there, and different
Peoples too. UNESCO says that Manú is a protected area that has
biodiversity that "exceeds that of any other place on Earth"
: around 10% of the world's bird species (that means 1000 species),
5% of all mammals (around 250), and 15% of all butterflies (that's
around 2625).
But what does that mean...
...to you?
Tell me of something near to you that's
threatened.
To me, I get an overwhelming sense from
having lived in different parts of the world that everywhere has
something special that is threatened. I have seen and heard of
ecosystems, watersheds, rivers, mountains, cultures, languages,
community buildings, species, individuals, and it goes on and on.
What seems to me as common is that the cause is so often, but so
easily, summed up as “humanity: the evil, the virus”.
I tell you about an experience that
seems so familiar to me, does it also feel familiar to you?: You
read/see/hear/experience something awful, feel outrage, and then go
to some degree that is between full-on action (“save the world” …
“stop X,Y,Z” ... “fix the problems!”... “Do less bad”) or
apathy (“well, we're screwed anyway”... “it's impossible”...
“please tell me something good, instead”). It's that perspective
which either tries to stave off destruction for one more hour, day or
year, or at least try not to feel/notice anything while it happens.
But this only one way to react.
Paradigm is the word used for how a
community sees themselves in the world. A change in paradigm is
ultimately that which affects what is thought, and done. It's a
pattern held collectively, and then, from it acted individually.
What is it that Humans do, as
individuals and as a species? Biologists call this activity a
“niche”, economists call it a “product” or “service”.
Perhaps a Westerner perspective would call it “career”. For
others it might be called “living life”. I want to call it
ecological role.
Some say another paradigm is possible,
and I am trying to find the words to express it here because I live
with some big questions in my heart, and I live them everyday. When I
see or read something that makes me feel so sad or angry, especially articles like this, in my heart I need to
feel that there is a fundamentally different way for humans to
live/be/and operate here on earth. So I look for it.
Are humans born predisposed to cause
pain or destruction, or at least remain ignorant and seemingly
powerless? Who knows, but this is the story we often tell ourselves
and it's part of a current paradigm, and the perception of ourselves.
But there is a different paradigm, too. At the moment it's seems a
sometimes quiet one... but you'll hear it here and there. This is the
paradigm of rule changing, system shifting, of doing not only “less
bad”, but as living as a steward. It's a paradigm of moving just
beyond sustainability, and toward resilience and restoration.
Could this be humanity's ecological
role here on earth? And if we were to live that way, how would it
look? How would it be in your life?
(picture from frans lanting: http://franslanting.photoshelter.com/image/I0000L2wqc4XKO6Q)
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