Slow, Stop, and Reverse

This entry originally appeared on August 16th, 2024 using the mirror.xyz platform and has been permanently stored onchain and signed via ArWeave.

This morning, I skimmed through the first ‘it’s working’ article on climate change.

Here we go.

No, it’s not.

Listen, we’ve really only been abusing the planet for the last 150 years. I’m talking about punishing abuse…..changing earth science kind of stuff.

PFAS, Neonincontinoides, Monoculture, Mass Extraction.

These human practices and robotic processes are advancing beyond the pace of human thought.

Read Watchman’s Rattle

Wonder why you can’t ever get caught up? Wonder why you feel like everything is happening so fast? Feel like you are the center of your universe and the dependencies are dripping off you?

They are.

We’re disoriented and we can’t keep up with our thoughts.

I wrote about it here and here and also about Post Traumatic Growth and why here. If you’re a long-time reader, this isn’t new thought.

But we’re not improving. We’re not slowing down.

We live within the environment. We live within the climate. We live within our community.

We are part of the whole - not the whole itself.

So slowing is only the beginning.

After we slow, we have to stop.

Then we have to reverse.

We’re adding the equivalent of the built environment of Manhattan (in sqft) to the planet every MONTH. No greenwashing - no carbon conclusion - no discussion on green building.

Think about that. Manhattan monthly. Designed, delivered, and installed the way we’ve always done it to local code standards.

The scale of 8 billion people is hard to comprehend.

How about food production?

8 billion mouths.

1% of the population works in the food production industry.

.03% of the food production industry fully utilizes regenerative processes.

So only 24,000 people (who could almost fit inside Madison Square Garden) are direct practitioners of a circular food system? Source: D. Firth Griffith

Look - this isn’t about doom - this is about hope.

The planet has been here for 4.5B years Our industrialized practices have only been here for 150. I’m not suggesting we can (or should) slow human progress….I’m saying we should build the human in the loop where they provide the most THOUGHT value.

We need to engineer natural systems thinking into the margin. We need to be able to step back and think.

Slowing isn’t good enough. We need to slow, stop, and reverse.

Hope you get outside today. 🌳

Today’s song pairing is Nature by The Samples. Getting in touch with my 90’s self.

A shout-out to Jen Theodore on Unsplash for the photo.