{"id":3090,"date":"2020-07-08T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-07T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ourplanet.org\/rod-oram-focusing-on-our-relationship-with-nature-because-nature-is-our-life-support-system\/"},"modified":"2023-05-11T19:14:28","modified_gmt":"2023-05-11T06:14:28","slug":"rod-oram-focusing-on-our-relationship-with-nature-because-nature-is-our-life-support-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ourplanet.org\/greenplanetfm\/rod-oram-focusing-on-our-relationship-with-nature-because-nature-is-our-life-support-system\/","title":{"rendered":"Rod Oram: Focusing on our relationship with nature, because nature is our life support system"},"content":{"rendered":"
When asked about all the issues facing us he replies \u201cwhat is our ecological relationship with each other and also with the planet as well?\u201d
\n \n<\/p>\n
He says he comes at that - not as to be perceived as a narrow ecological radical - but as somebody who thinks he\u2019s getting to the heart of the issue of
\n\u2018what are we doing with our life support system?\u2019<\/p>\n
He says he is very aware and cognisant of the trends - the downward trends and the degradation we cause to \u2018that\u2019 life support system. And therefore -
\n what we also need to do to turn that around and that this action will affect every aspect of our lives.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s his essential focus and he states that he can take these issues down to (he trusts) to a very practical level and a here and now level - because
\n it is \u2018quite overwhelming\u2019 … to have to think about the shear inter-dependence and the shear integration of all of these issues.<\/p>\n
Though we produce huge amounts of waste by the 7.7 billion human inhabitants - Rod says that if we \u2018listen\u2019 to nature and take our understanding from nature
\n - it naturally knows, having embedded complete circular systems - so that everything that is used - is reused - everything that is depleted gets replenished
\n - and that in essence is the living system that is the planet.<\/p>\n
So if we make sure that we are working with nature and not against it - and we are making sure that we are giving these incredibly complex ecosystems the
\n chance to recover - then, because we are taking the pressure off them - then these ecosystems become far more resilient and can deal with far more
\n variation.<\/p>\n
Rod says that these ecosystems can then become far more productive - so potentially they can support more people on the planet \u2018as long as we are making
\n sure we are doing everything in sync with nature.<\/p>\n
The \u2018circular economy\u2019 was mentioned as one of these concepts and Rod thinks it is a very helpful idea, because it\u2019s a very important bridge between how
\n we think about our linear system now, which is to extract things from our ecosystems in order in which to make and consume things. Often this causes
\n more pollution - which obviously is a very negative thing to put back into the ecosystem - or to incur loss of resources in that linear system. So
\n he says how do we make sure that everything we do loops back so we make sure that we completely understand how to unmake everything that we manufacture?
\n Stating that all the natural resources that go into what we make - can then be reused again. Or that human made resources and he says we have to be
\n very careful of these - especially that we are working with nature and not against it. Like they are not building up, for example - heavy metals as
\n a toxin in ecosystems. E.g. The heavy use of super phosphate in NZ has caused widespread contamination of farmland due to excess cadmium now being
\n in the soil.<\/p>\n
He also mentions our reusing and recycling things but also to repurposing items that we have previously used - to the nth degree so that we completely
\n are \u2018an integral part of the natural systems.\u2019<\/p>\n
Cradle to Cradle<\/strong> - came up - William Mcdonough and Dr. Michael Braungart https:\/\/www.cradletocradle.com\/ and Rod likes this because it We humans have yet to make the effort to understand it. Whereas indigenous people are totally surrendered to the cycles of life, being the seasons, moon Tim then mentions that back in 1993 on Deutsch TV he saw a program where BMW showed off a concept that they were working on where computers were used to Rod also talked about how do we learn to encourage each other to change … and it is now very important since Covid19 became such a focus and influence So Rod asks the question - how do we encourage people when obviously many people are struggling with so many things? That they may be unemployed, engaged However there is a lot going on:<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n He mentions: https:\/\/www.theaotearoacircle.nz\/<\/a>\n<\/p>\n The Aotearoa Circle<\/strong> and the late Sir Rob Fenwick - co founded with Sir Jonathan Porrit. Sadly Rob died in early March. (I was in touch with Rob some years ago for an interview and we just could not tie in a time.)<\/em> <\/p>\n The Aotearoa Circle is composed of leading NZ businesses and Government Agencies, and the senior members of the entities involved. The central theme of Also here in NZ we had Vision Week<\/strong> - which a bunch of organisations got off the ground. AnewNZ was mentioned. This link was an interview
\n encapsulates in a sense, the life cycle that brings you back to where you started. So that you can start all over again. He said that this concept
\n has been around for a while and has been applied to some extent by some \u2018real champions \u2018 but we have a way to go before all our human activity fits
\n into that model and has \u2018that\u2019 right relationship. (essentially, there is a refusal by business and government due to having to change our whole consciousness
\n to see that we are all part of a greater whole, and that all of nature has myriads of cycles embedded in it.<\/p>\n
\n cycles, tidal, ebb and flow and more subtle ones like the water cycle etc -spawning season etc and see themselves as an extension of nature's process.<\/p>\nConscious Recycling<\/h3>\n
\n follow a blueprint of a vehicle being built from the basic constituent parts by robotic machines. eg, chassis, engine, cab, windows + doors, then windscreen,
\n wheels etc to lastly internal fittings - to finally that BMW being driven off the factory floor. Then what they showed was that say 10 years later
\n or 15 years - (depending if planned obsolescence was still in vogue) the car would return to a designated factory and the computer program would be
\n reversed and the robots would start taking out the internal fittings, the wheels, windscreen, then the doors + windows etc until the cab, engine\u2019 and
\n chassis was left and then these particular components could be reused, recycled or used in some other way. This was a perfect plan to bring the waste
\n signature of a manufactured product to the smallest ecological footprint possible - but somewhere in this process hardened attitudes have prevailed
\n - and this noble idea has been shelved.<\/p>\nInitiating Change and Encouraging to Adapt, Modify and Transform the Way we Live and Work.<\/h3>\n
\n on our lives. That the extraordinary statistic of our death rate in NZ was just over 2 people per million - whereas in the UK he said it is 900 people
\n per million, which is 400 times our death rate. Latest 44,000<\/em>. And we need to remind ourselves we have done well in NZ, but in the last month
\n or so we have become rather fractious and anxious and he senses that we are shutting down to a degree, when his hope is that we can emerge out of the
\n Covid Crisis and head of into a far better direction.<\/p>\n
\n in stresses and strains in the family and they are maybe worried about their health- and he is very aware of these important issues - and being able
\n to support each other through this. But, needing to think and encouraging people to think how we might do things differently and better, is dear to him<\/em>\n<\/p>\n
\n this is about putting Natural Capital - i.e ecosystems as the centre of everything that we do. He says that rather conventional companies are starting
\n to think in these terms. And he sees some real thought going on in the Circle as to what this future looks like.<\/p>\n
\n with Dave Breuer - the initiator of AnewNZ. https:\/\/www.ourplanet.org\/greenplanetfm\/dave-breuer-founding-director-of-anew-new-zealand<\/a>\n<\/p>\n