Genius Ideas for Planetary Healing

Tom Chi, Lucille Whitaker

Description

A clear explanation of the challenges of global climate destabilization and an exploration of potential solutions.
Genius Ideas for Planetary healing is about envisioning a healthier planet for all. It’s a survey of the innovations and transformations that can support a world where humanity and nature both prosper. Building off of foundational concepts, we explore the challenges we face and the inspired responses that we are starting to take.

Sujets

• Habitats
• Ecosystems
• Sciences et techniques
• Nature

Informations

• Publié par: Balboa Press
• Date de parution: 20 novembre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9798765225189
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

GENIUS IDEAS FOR PLANETARY HEALING
 

 
TOM CHI AND LUCILLE WHITAKER
 
 
 
Copyright © 2022 Lucille Whitaker and Tom Chi.
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
 
 
 
Balboa Press
A Division of Hay House
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.balboapress.com
844-682-1282
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
ISBN: 979-8-7652-2519-6 (sc)
979-8-7652-2518-9 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022903182
 
 
 
Balboa Press rev. date: 11/17/2022
 
 
 
 

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
1. Understanding Earth Systems
A. Seeing Our Earth From Space
B. Natural Systems
C. Our Earth’s Climate
D. Humanity’s Influence
2. Agriculture
A. The Future of Farming
B. Soil Health
C. Land Use
3. Energy & Fuels
A. New Energy
B. Transportation & Fuels
C. Heat Energy
4. Materials
A. Closing the Loop
B. Viewing Our Cities
C. Learning from Nature and Setting the Bounds
5. Environmental Restoration
A. Forests
B. Grasslands
C. Wetlands
D. Oceans
E. Biodiversity
6. Reflection & Closing
A. Seeking a Net Positive Future
B. All Together
C. Meditations for Planetary Healing
7. Further Reading:

INTRODUCTION
Since we wrote and illustrated the book Our Prosperous Planet over a decade ago we’ve been fortunate to witness and work with many teams applying genius ideas to planetary healing. Their work spans across growing food, soil health, ocean conservation, water systems, energy innovations, nature-based carbon capture, education, ethical fashion, packaging, cellular agriculture, plant-based foods, green building materials, smart buildings, community agriculture, self-driving electric cars and so much more. This book aims to present an overview of areas needing reinvention to create a world in harmony with natural processes as well as discuss current developments and inspired innovations that are leading the way. We invite you to explore ideas with us that reinvent, reimagine, and regenerate with the revival of the natural world in mind. One of our main goals in sharing inspiring developments toward a regenerative economy is the hope that we inspire brilliant new ideas to improve and enrich our lives and our overall planetary health.
 
We are all members of a handful of generations with the rare opportunity and responsibility to set a new course. This new course can include saving endangered species and enhancing the quality of life for all while simultaneously protecting and regenerating our beautiful, shared planet. If we don’t rise to the challenge, we may be facing a degraded planet for thousands of years. So, let’s take a deep look at some of the recent events in history that pushed us to dedicate our time and studies in the direction of sustainability.
 
In the early 20 th century, we were a world at war that was rapidly industrializing based on fossil fuel consumption. This trajectory has now diverged too substantially from what the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere can support. Now, in the 21 st century, the internet has democratized communication to the level where for the first time we can become one global civilization. This is happening at exactly the moment we must come together to make wise and effective choices for the shared prosperity of all of life on Earth. Ours is an amazing time in history, where we must grow our consciousness and understanding of our Earth much more quickly than we further propagate our damaging practices. Through generations of invention, scientific inquiry, cultural progression, and commerce we have become a species with the ability to create (or destroy) at a scale that affects all of life on the planet. This book seeks to build our shared understanding so we can be conscious in our collective creation and move toward the long-term health of life on this planet.
 
This will be a journey with many steps, and the truth is that we are still learning how to play this role. There is no one with all the answers to tell us exactly how we will make this happen, a reality that is both exciting and challenging. This is why we are excited to share – because we need *your* creativity and the efforts of so many people, communities, cities, and beyond to realize this future together.
1. UNDERSTANDING EARTH SYSTEMS
If we can better understand what healthy natural systems look like, we can create a foundation for realigning our economic and civic systems toward a world where humanity is a net positive to nature. Just as nature provides so many things that are useful for us to thrive on so many levels, we must also give back useful things, if you will, for nature to thrive so it can continue to support us and all life on Earth. When we stop to notice, we see that every few seconds, we breathe in and we breathe out, in an ongoing cycle that supports the essential processes that keep us alive. Plants also breathe in and breathe out, in an ongoing cycle that mirrors ours, and these two intertwined respiratory cycles support all of plant and animal life on the planet. Life on this planet is an intricate interlocking cascade of such timeless cycles, governing the interplay of air, water, nutrients, and energy. When we nourish these cycles to nourish ourselves, both the planet and people benefit. When we work against these cycles – by halting or truncating them to siphon off resources for our needs alone, quite quickly less is available for all. It’s important to take time away from our screens and the bustle of daily routine to simply pause sometimes, spend time in nature, and connect with gratitude to the miracle of life. From that foundation we can better explore how we intend to be good stewards of these gifts. Such reflections are how this book came to be and the combination of the lessons that nature holds with the genius ideas that we pursue as a society can create the path to planetary healing.
 
So let us start by listening and better understanding the cycles that drive the health and function of our world. Then we can imagine ways to participate in their bounty while strengthening their health and function. The simple shift from looking at everything around us as “resources” toward a viewpoint where we are all contributors to the interconnected cycle of life, helps to make clear how investing in the health of natural cycles might create more “resources” (or create them with better resilience and longevity) than a short-term extractive mindset. Let us move forward in generosity and foresight with each generation leaving more for the one after it - more wisdom, more topsoil, more ecosystem health and resilience, and more capability to care for each other and all of life.
A. SEEING OUR EARTH FROM SPACE
From space, it is clear that the Earth is physically finite. There are only so many tons of each element, only so many water molecules to fill our rivers, skies, and oceans, only so much surface area for life to stretch across. Yet over the course of billions of years, the planet has been progressively enriched. Not by the introduction of more stuff, but by the brilliance of life and its ability to metabolize, organize, and express that finite stuff into countless new patterns that support even more life. Our same planet, which just 1 billion years ago only held single-celled life, 1 has supported the emergence of nearly unimaginable diversity and possibility, ranging from plants which harvest and store energy that foundationally drive our ecosystems, to fungi which create vast communication networks between species and help to recycle nutrients, to animals that swim, run, and fly across the myriad terrains of our planet. And, of course, this includes our own species, which has developed the ability to reflect, record, reason, and build upon our knowledge, abilities, and relationships with each generation. Our hope is that the topics shared in this book inspire creative ideas that help us envision a better world for all. We are truly hopeful that humanity as a whole will turn toward the light and see all life as the miracle that it is. By consciously thinking about how our breath oxygenates us will not only help our breathing, overall health and well-being, it will inspire us to go for walks, open a window, bring nature indoors for healthier living spaces, and most importantly appreciate it, regenerate, and reenvision what it means to live in harmony with the natural world.
 
It’s time for us to make the decision to continue with the greater arc of life on this planet. To have our presence be a force that enables even more expression, diversity, and thriving. We are kin with organisms that are working with the same basic goal: to savor of every photon toward the maximization of diverse nutrient flows. Or as Janine Beynus would say: “life creates the conditions for life.” We savor photons because they are the source of energy that drives