Nature.
The Earth’s resilience is being tested as never before. The impact of the Anthropocene is intensifying with unprecedented environmental damage, rising global temperatures, population growth and sustainable development goals which ought to be mandatory. Episodes like the Covid pandemic stress-test human systems, reveal vulnerabilities and provide opportunities for fundamental change. Meanwhile, from the susurration of trees to the intricate interdependency of ecosystems, our planet has a remarkable regenerative capacity and a life of its own with or without human occupancy.
The resilience of nature.
Naturalist David Attenborough reminds us that, ‘Nature is our biggest ally and greatest inspiration… the living world will endure’. No matter what we throw at it, despite the huge toll on life and the immeasurable impact on humanity, the Earth has a remarkable resilience and ability to bounce back. In fact, as we will go on to see in the context of geological time, it has a history of recovering its bio-diversity given the opportunity to rewild.
COVID-19 pandemic.
During the uncertainties of the coronavirus pandemic people have asked how long will this story continue and where is it going? It raises awareness of our vulnerability, mortality, fears and also the resolve of the human spirit to rally for others and to overcome harrowing circumstances. It sits alongside other global challenges beginning to form a 'perfect storm' which will require lifestyles to change, around the emerging circumstances.
Nature: our biggest ally
‘Nature takes over as soon as people get out of the way’, so part of the challenge is whether humanity can re-envisage and discover a future as part of Nature, rather than apart from it? Naturalist David Attenborough reminds us that, ‘Nature is our biggest ally and greatest inspiration… the living world will endure’. How do we act on the back of this?
Climate change.
'Till now man has been up against Nature: from now on he will be up against his own nature' (Dennis Gabor, 1963:29). In eary 2024, we have now registered one full year on the planetary dashboard of global temperatures exceeding 1.5 degrees above average. This ushers in a new urgency for our conversations on climate change. Where will they take us?