Issue #1: We Are Young
A rather large "smattering" of optimism for us all.
Hello, world.
There is a lot to talk about in this, the first issue. There are so many conflicting notions that I would like to address. When you reduce complex philosophies into snippets of internet content, you’re usually leaving out a lot. I apologise for subjecting you to my “parawise” opinions on this lovely Sunday. I trust you will bear with me through this extended introduction as I begin with a slightly different kind of story - one about our profound relationship with our planet.
Natural systems are vast, awe-inspiring loops, which have developed through selection over billions of years. As a species, we have only been around for a few million years – perhaps even less. But as we mature and begin to appreciate the immense beauty of Nature, it seems as though we’re about to lose all the biodiversity around us. Coming to terms with such a realisation fills us with existential dread, a fear that no matter what we do, we are doomed by climate change and the resulting changes to our perfect environment.
But we are young.
We have a long way to go before we fully grasp the intricacy of natural systems. We are afraid, because we believe that we are alone. We believe that the burden is on our shoulders. We must fight this collapse before things get worse. We have to save the burning rainforest. We have to save the last orangutan. How dare we not? Every time someone demands our action, every time we are subjected to stories of hurting animals and dying forests, we feel afraid, alone, hopeless and angry. Although we should act, we need help, for we are far too young a species to face this alone.
Now, a glimmer of hope: we are not alone. There are balancing entities that have been around longer than we have. These systems, cycles and feedback loops can moderate, perhaps even reverse the aberrant changes to our planetary home. And, luckily for us, they have a couple of billion years of experience in setting things right.
Why are we faced with such debilitating fear? Consider “climate change” from prehistoric times:
Some 14,500 years Before Present, there was a climatic event known as the Antarctic Cold Reversal (ACR), an event that lasted 2,000 years. This event coincides with the beginning of the Holocene, the epoch during which most of human history has occurred. Homo sapiens’ have no relational concept for this time scale.
The ACR followed a warm interglacial period. Meltwater pulses from continental ice sheets flowed into the oceans at the rate of 1 million litres per second, cooling down the planet significantly. Sea levels rose 20 meters over a period of 500 years.
The melting of these ice sheets began 3000 years before this event (18,000 years Before Present); the Homo sapiens were still largely nomadic folk, painting in caves and foraging for subsistence. There were still large expanses of untouched land in continents all over the world. When aboriginal communities in Australia saw the water rising, they had to pick up their homes and move further inland – rising sea levels became a part of their culture. There was enough land for everyone. Nobody tweeted about it, either.Our planet’s climate cycles are longer and more complex than we can fathom. The ACR is probably the reason why the Holocene epoch has been such a dream epoch for us to live in, cooling down a warm planet. It was a 2,000-year climate event, the effects of which lasted 11,000 years. Perhaps that is why facing “climate change” is something that fills us with existential dread. The climate is not something we can have dominion over – this would be an exercise in futility.
Instead, let’s redefine our plight:
It is about us taking our place as the healers of an immense system. It is not about dominion over any aspect of Nature.
It is about bolstering Nature, working within these systems, and helping our co-habitants engage in ecological restoration the way they were meant to. It is not about othering, warring and controlling.
It is about finding our niche in the balance of everything on this Pale Blue Dot. It is not about safeguarding the future of one species only.
In this Issue, I explore the idea of intuition, empathy and acknowledging Nature’s brilliance as a step towards ecological restoration. And what better place to start, than with baby elephants?
The Reteti Elephant Orphanage
The Reteti Elephant Sanctuary is a community-run elephant orphanage (think flappy-eared little goofballs running about) based in the Namunyak Wildlife Conservatory in Northern Kenya.
While we know quite a lot about elephants’ social structuring, we are only beginning to understand the role elephants play as the keepers of grassland ecosystems. Elephants lead mass-migration towards water in the dry season. Without them, several species may not make it through the African summer. Elephants, like humans, terraform the land they occupy – shifting the hardened, dry earth and pruning trees – encouraging fresh growth. They are massive ecosystem-building engines, fertilising strips of land across dry plains. There is so much we can learn from our largest terrestrial co-habitants.
Click on the link below to watch a most heart-warming video about the mission undertaken by the amazing folk at Reteti Elephant Sanctuary, and follow them on Instagram (@r.e.s.c.u.e.)
The Reteti Elephant Sanctuary - Who We Are
[A book]
Climate: A New Story
by Charles Eisenstein, published by North Atlantic Books in 2018
A review of the ideas discussed in this book.
This book is an 8 HOUR read.
The Climate Catalogue Reader probably owes its existence to Eisenstein’s book Climate: A New Story. The book tempers one’s anger, frustration, and helplessness into a gentle, but steadfast resolution. It turns away from the fear-mongering that has overtaken the dialogue about climate change – words like ‘emergency’, ‘crisis’ and ‘existential threat’ – and appeals to our innate love for Nature.
Eisenstein begins by talking about the way we frame our narratives – the war against terrorism, the war on drugs, and the war against disease – an inherent violence, and the idea that fighting climate change is only the next war in this ever-growing list of singular enemies.
Looking beyond political and social identity in an effort to recognise even the most conservative person’s affinity for nature, Eisenstein draws attention to the fact that we cannot play the blame-game; it is not us-versus-them, it is not fossil fuels versus renewables, it is not left versus right. Those who are embedded in the gas-guzzling, over-farming, forest-clearing system for their livelihood are at the highest risk of losing everything because of ecological collapse. For us to “other” them, we are cruelly excluding them from our imaginations of an ideal world. This, he believes, has to change. He makes the case for empathy, a drive to understand Nature, to help it reinforce existing balances and checks that are already buried deep in the DNA of every living organism.
This ‘Story’ is not about reducing emissions, promoting renewable energy, and pursuing green development. It is about acknowledging the importance of two planetary systems: the water system and the soil system, the unassuming healers stuck in the shadow of “global warming”. These are two systems upon which life depends, and the two systems that prop up the ecologies that have kept the planet in balance for millennia.
Life creates the conditions for life, according to new science. Weather and climate patterns are not simply a function of geophysical forces. It is the mass of organic particles such as pollen and spores in the air above a forest onto which clouds condense, making it rain. It is the beating of the whales’ fins that create micro-currents in the oceans, dredging up fertile waters from the depths that foster entire marine ecosystems. Eisenstein brings to light complex, beautiful chains of inter-related species, ecosystems and geologies that work as a whole to create this balance.
And yet, we are wont to reduce a forest to its “carbon sequestration potential”, a philosophy that equates complex ecosystems to a linear machine. The quantification (and thus commodification) of natural systems is a “conceptual reduction” which is followed quickly by “a physical reduction by chainsaws and bulldozers”. A calculated scientific rationale that allows us to “buy” carbon credits to offset deforestation may leave us ecologically poorer in the long run.
Of the new ‘Stories’ the author wants to tell us, the one I would consider most important for human beings is the story of “Inter-Being”, the idea that we are a part of Nature, not an external, harmful presence around it. It is by engaging with the forests that indigenous cultures brought out the richest, most bountiful ecologies to live off of. Eisenstein encourages us to love, understand, and empathise with our local forests, beaches, rivers and lakes - and build a new culture around the idea of loving Nature.
I could go on, as it seems like the author’s every word is loaded with both contemporary and age-old wisdom – but I shall stop, and leave some for you to read. This is a beautifully written and eye-opening book for anyone who is serious about bringing systemic change to the way we understand and interact with Nature. I recommend it highly.
[An article]
Animal “construction workers“ rebuild natural landscapes more efficiently than humans ever could
An article by Jazmin Murphy
This is a 6 MINUTE read.
Tap on the title to access the link.
The note that follows may contain spoilers for the article; if you would like to read the article linked above and come back, please do so before you read any further.
Keeping with the theme of a holistic idea for healing the earth through “inter-being”, this brief article talks about animals that aid in the restorative processes and ecosystem rebuilding. The article references studies done on the science of “translocating” species, which replaces extinct species in one ecosystem with similar animals from other ecosystems to help the recovery of a degraded environment.
However, adding invasive species, could that not be harmful to the local ecology?
Well, yes, and no.
Adding an extra-local species that is simply fulfilling the role of an already extinct local species seemingly does not have negative consequences. That is not to say it is a perfect system that will work every time; there are some arcs in nature we are simply not mature enough to fathom.
However, this article is a great place to begin because through it we understand that we are not the sole actors in maintaining planetary balance. In fact, creatures that have evolved over millions of years to play a particular role in the ecosystem are probably better suited to healing the earth than we are.
[A documentary film]
Our Planet | JUNGLES
A Documentary Series narrated by Sir David Attenborough on YouTube
This is a 50 MINUTE long film.
Tap on the title to access the link.
The eight-part Netflix documentary entitled “Our Planet” is available for free on Netflix’s YouTube channel. I’ve selected this particular episode because it showcases the breadth of biodiversity in our tropical jungles: from rather dramatic, dancing birds, to the secretive activities of tree shrews. It is narrated by Sir David Attenborough, who, after six decades of presenting nature to the world, still brings warmth, wonder and joy with the way he describes the complex relationships between the co-habitants of the jungles.
Jungles are among those balancing systems on our planet that have been evolving as a whole for hundreds of millions of years. They've changed and adapted gradually over millennia, growing and shrinking as the biosphere demanded. For the wizened jungle, the entire 11,700-year holocene epoch has been a cool afternoon.
These are the entities that can influence the climate cycles.
The intricate beauty of each of these ecosystems juxtaposed with breath-taking cinematic shots of many different locations makes this one of the best wildlife and nature documentaries available right now. This episode, “Jungles”, makes us appreciate the most marvelous feats of evolution.
Observational Nature Journaling
Thank you for bearing with me through what is probably the longest newsletter you’ll ever be subjected to from me.
Before you go, in the spirit of loving, empathising with, and acknowledging Nature, I invite each of you to take five minutes, whenever you find the time in your busy day, and record something from the natural system around you. Immerse yourself, visually, aurally or with your olfactory senses; and try and document an aspect of what you observe.
You may write, draw, photograph, film, or make an audio recording of anything, absolutely anything that fascinates you. It may be the behaviour of crows on your windowsill; it may be the sounds of crickets from your lawn at night; it may be a tally of the birds you observe in the sky. Anything.
Reflect on what you have observed. Try to find out more about the intelligence of your co-habitants, be they caterpillars, crows, or a mango tree.
You can share your observations with me if you’d like, or you can keep them to yourself and those near to you. Share your observations with a potted plant, perhaps (they don’t often reply immediately).
This has been the first issue (V1, I1) of the Climate Catalogue Reader. If you have not already subscribed to this Reader and are reading this through the archive or any other platform, please subscribe to the newsletter by clicking on the button below.