AGAIAN PARADIGM

CHAPTER 7 — GAIAN ECOLOGY

 Ecology, in the dominator paradigm, is not considered as an element of a culture. Ecology like nature is something in which all cultures are contained. The concept of Gaia sees the Earth and all life forms as one. Gaia evolve as a unit. Gaia challenges the separation of ecology and culture. Not only does the concept of Gaia blur the line of separation by showing that culture shapes the ecology. But also it is being recognized that cultures ecology shapes the culture. Global warming, smog polluted cities, holes in the ozone shield, exemplify that we can not think of a culture without thinking of its ecology. Just as we think of economics, education, religion, art, sports, agriculture, transportation, and governance as elements of culture.

 Gaia theory reveals that life on planet Earth is dependent on life on planet Earth, as we showed in section I of the book. But even without that theory the inter twining of human life and ecology has become of ever increasing importance. Its state now is not unlike to the state of the food system at the advent of agriculture. Before agriculture was invented, food too was a part of nature. Hunters and gatherers had not invented growing food as a part of their cultures. That social invention is one of the most profound transitions in human history, or prehistory. Since agriculture’s first innovation the food system has evolved to the global privatized one that now creates the gap between the posh elite and the starving masses. As we go further along the food for money system and as the shortage of oil drives global food universally higher we can expect a global food crisis to take precedence of human activities. The threat demands a radical transformation of the food system.

 The concept of ecology as an element of culture is only at the beginning of its evolution. It is being made evident by our increasing knowledge of global warming, acid rain, holes in the ozone shield, urban pollution, poisoned rivers, and many other phenomena. Action being taken on these ecological problems are a sign that ecology is becoming part of our culture.

 Perhaps the most startling and opening salvo for a fundamental change in our concept of ecology came with the failure of the WTO (World Trade Organization) to come to an agreement at the July 2008 World Trade Summit. The deciding stalemate was the disagreement on the agricultural sector. On one side the developing nations took the position that the low cost subsidized food shipped to their nations competed unfairly with local growers and put local farmers out of business. Yet even the low cost EuroAmerican standards was too high for poor local consumers. The result is the increasing poverty of many countries. This demonstrates that what was want just nature and become a major concern of a human culture. Ecology is just entering that realm.

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ECOLOGY, THE MARKET AND GAIA

 As we look out over any scene of nature, say a mountain range, what we see depends on our mind set. With and ecological mind set a forested mountain gives thoughts of majestic trees, of and undergrowth of ferns, flowers of scampering small animals and majestic larger ones, of flitting and singing birds, and the majesty of the mountains themselves. The scene is one for saving and protecting from the ravages of man. The scene is one awe, majesty, mystery and preservation for the soul of humanity.

 To a capitalistic entrepreneur the mountain range is God’s gift of natural resources. It is there to be used and to improve the material life of humans. The trees are to be harvested and made into houses and paper. The animals and birds are for hunting for sport and for food for people. Trails are to be cut through the undergrowth for hiking, snowmobiles, and all terrain vehicles. The mountain slopes are for carving out ski trails. Along with the use of the resources is the Its peaks can be bulldozed flat for the gold, coal, and minerals that lie underneath. Mining rubble and clear cut acres are signs of human progress as is the money that comes of the use of natural resources.

 There is a third mind set that sees the mountain range in a different light. Is is the mindset of Gaia. To Gaia the mountain view combines both ecology and resource use. Gaia is the unification of humans and nature. Of the soul and the good life. Humanity sees natural resources as part of itself. And humanity as part of natural resources. Gaia suggests that we see nature as we see ourselves, something to preserve as we use it. The Taj Mahal, the Pyramids, the Eiffel Tower, the Guggenheim museum and the towers of New York city are as much part of nature, and part of ourselves, as is our mountain scene.

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OTHER CULTURAL NORMS

 There are many factors other than ecology that are overlooked by our American culture. This was brought to my mind one evening at a Japanese traditional meal. We were gathered around a family kotatsu, a low table over a pit with a heater in it and a table covering that covered our legs keeping them in the warmth below. Each of us had a thimble sized sake cup. Porcelain containers of sake were distributed around the table. After one shot of saki I decided I should not take more. My neighbor at the table kept asking me if I wouldn’t like another portion. I demurred until my interpreter from my other side pointed out that the culture forbid anyone from filling his own glass of for asking for a refill. The custom was for each person to offer and to fill the glass of others. It was rude for me not to offer to fill my neighbor’s glass. Who was hinting.

 Cultures of cooperation was a theme my wife, Margaret, and I covered in a front page story for the Futurist for March-April 1989 entitle “Nonwestern Cultures and the Future.” We noted one example of a case in Papua New Guinea where at the urging of tribal elders some entrepreneurs had been put to death by the tribal shaman for abandoning the tribe’s cultural norm of doing all work for the public good. Instead they had become rich by selling what they produced and hoarding their material wealth.

 In other cultures we visited throughout the pacific we noted many that the people worked cooperatively giving the profits to the elders to spend on the well-being of the community. Dancing for Tourists in Tahiti gained no pay for the dancers. It all went to the community. Harvesting, drying and exporting sea cucumbers to Japan supported another village. Roads in a section of Papua New Guinea were maintained by a club of all village teens without payment. The iKung of Africa recognize the scarcity of their resources but assume that by cooperative use they can go further. The message we tried to impart in this article was that Europeans and Americans could remove their own cultural blinders by studying and adopting more cooperative life-styles — living within the concept of Gaia.

Ecology is a linked network of some life and some elements of the physical world. Gaia extends and broadens that network to become a multidimensional tightly linked system of everything in Earth’s orbit. It is self adjusting with feedback from the biological components to adjust the physical components to be life sustaining. Each human is a component of Gaia. Each creates it own life path through the Gaia maze. At any moment in time each one of us has an infinite number of paths it might follow. Our evolution has given us the unique characteristic of free will. Which path we take is our own decision. We could walk down the street; we could sit at watch television; we could decide to rob a bank; we could beat up our spouse; we could take any of the paths before us. Like, in Robert Frost’s The Path not Taken, we could ponder the options we missed. Our decisions which path we take are a matter of combined nature and nurture. Today we are all faced with multiple challenges — global warming, misuse of the environment, the coming end of the age of oil, economic collapse, and others. It behooves us to consider a Gaian creed and make every act one to maintain and improve the health of Gaia.

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  ECOLOGY