More humility, less arrogance.
Time and time again, we see certain parts of the world believing that they can teach other parts how to be…civilised, sustainable, honest. Withholding support or placing conditions on it…
Whilst watching the news today, I have been reflecting on the concepts of arrogance and humility, and what we really need now is the latter.
In the world of sustainability, these past 5 years I have seen the words regenerative, intersectional and circular being boomed out. We are imagining how we can design a new world founded on these 3 principles…yet, isn’t it arrogant to assume we could ever build anything without them?
Nature has always been these things.
Biodegradable packaging is simply an orange peel or shell to nature, and design systems using nutrient recycling are the equivalent of a tree trunk rootlet pulling nutrients from dead leaves which fall at the trunk. Social networking behaviors in hermit crabs help them find new homes through vacancy chains. Meerkats manage conflict by taking turns leading…yet sustainable fashion has been following the same leaders for too long. Nature should have always been our inspiration for new ways of living better.
As Janine Benyus stated, “living systems have had 3.8 billion years of R&D.” As humans, we are latecomers but anthropocene-makers.
It’s time to mimic nature and respect it. Otherwise, nature might quickly decide it no longer has space for us.