Hear the cry of a trillion sentient beings wasted by our industrial machine

This article is another opportunity to understand that Nature is not just an industrial feed stock but intelligent sentient life just like us.

Internalizing this objective fact makes us develop an emotional connection with life no different than what we have for our fellow human beings and our pets. Empathy, affection and a sense of care are the emotions that build up such connection.

It is this emotional awakening that will eventually help us recover our lost link to the natural world. Until such emotional re-connection can take place we will not be able to achieve the shift in our perception of reality and our overall attitude toward ourselves and nature required to make our existence sustainable on Earth.

Art can greatly enhance and expedite this indispensable psychological and cultural process. That is the core objective of my current work in art, psychology and sustainability.

Amazon rainforest deforestation. Photo: worldwildlife.org

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Nature, please invade us

I could not help going back to the time when this surreal landscape was inhabited

Of the many ideas I have had to create sustainability, there is one that keeps me particularly fascinated. It occurred to me while hiking in the stunning rocks shown in the photo. I was rock hoping in Red Rock Canyon when I found this beautiful cave which could have well been somebody’s living room ten centuries ago. It made reconsider how sterile and separated from nature our working spaces are. I could not resist the idea of someday bringing my office to a place like this. As bold and enticing the thought was the environmentalist in me could not even contemplate the idea of allowing me to invade such a pristine and protected environment.

So if I could not bring my working space to this natural surrounding maybe I could take the reverse action and get a similar result. That led me to an even wilder idea. I seriously contemplated bringing this landscape to our work space, our living space, and our overall human infrastructure. I know it is mind boggling but please stay with me.

This is a wild ride. It’s a sci-fi film where humans would stop conquering Nature and for the first time, the conquered would be become the conqueror. Of course Nature will conquer our environment if we stop containing it. We can see that when stop maintaining a lawn. It’s a matter of time before a prairie settles in. Unfortunately Nature takes much longer than us to take a territory. And that is why I am toying with the idea of accelerating this reclaiming of territory by Nature with our assistance. The very power we have used to take land, water and other natural resources from the wild could be used to help her recover it.

I cannot think of a deeper way to reconcile our broken relationship with Nature; to redeem ourselves from the damage and the pain we have caused to the wild; to restore our lost connection to the land than to allowing Nature to invade our socio-technical environment. Imagine waking up to the song of tropical birds, rock climbing to the water fountain, watching tree tops in your commute to work and falling asleep to the sound of a cascade. Hold on! This is not a vacation in Costa Rica. This is a work day in your city of residence in a not too distant future.

If you are bold enough to believe this wild dream can be designed into reality, I encourage you to read future posts. I am looking for examples of this bold concept already developed.

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