Guided by Nature

This Editorial precedes Volume 24, Issue 5 of Kosmos. Scroll down to access featured content.

Dear Kosmos Reader,

Modernity and Nature have reached a reckoning. In the over-developed world, many of us mourn the Earth’s losses, yet feel unable to break free of modernity’s grip. This dependency impacts everything, from the food we eat to the ways we work, communicate, and raise our children. The more we consume, the more troubled we feel. Deep down, we know that something must change. The Earth can no longer sustain our overreach and is suffering. And yet, the Earth and we are part of a much bigger story.

As Andean ceremonial leader Arkan Lushwala teaches, to be guided by Nature is to let go of our attachment to the idea of human supremacy. Living systems have evolved over millions of years to function in harmony, and nothing we engineer in our labs is going to improve upon them. Even our ‘green’ technologies can’t save us. Nature must guide us.

Although we are a mere mote of dust in the universe, we are also its reflection. A perfect confluence of causes and conditions was required for life to emerge on our tiny planet. For billions of years, the Earth, Sun, Moon, and Cosmos have provided blueprints for Life. The Sun taught chloroplasts to create food from light. The Moon mentored the tides. The Cosmos expresses itself through the interplay of gravity with other fundamental forces. All living systems operate in this delicate dance, with every species playing its part.

And so, in this issue we raise the question – how can we hear and abide by Nature’s guidance now? We explore examples, including how animals play a critical role restoring depleted terrain and how upwelling brings nutrient-rich waters from the deep ocean to the surface and influences climate. Our writers also remind us that the best way to mend our relationship with our Earth Mother is to spend time with her, walking in the forest or growing a flower.

The Earth will continue, and when we align our actions with Nature we support the continuation of life-supporting systems. Policies that respect and mimic natural patterns, rather than disrupt them, are the most regenerative and effective. By observing and learning from the Earth, we are guided to live in ways that sustain human well-being and all Life.

Peaceful steps,
r.fabian, for Kosmos

Kosmos Journal Volume 24 Issue 5

Earth Wisdom

The End of Human Supremacy

By Arkan Lushwala

The healing of the world will be created through the cooperation of everyone who lives on Earth...The Earth knows how to heal the Earth better than anyone. Remembering to listen to all the beings of nature that are not only asking for help but also offering their wise medicine will be the long-awaited end of human supremacy.

Beauty

A Wild Love for the World

By Betsey Crawford

From our limited point of view, the problem is that Earth’s evolutionary time frame is long, full of fits and starts, trending backward and forward. Given the arc of history, there are no assurances that we will be born into a peaceful time or place. This is very discomforting for the human race at this precarious point, especially for those starting in life, afraid their generation may see us out.

Biology

Nature’s Guide to Ending Our Diet Wars

By Elisabet Sahtouris, PhD

Can we agree to re-integrating plants and animals as they were evolved to live together? We can do this by promoting integrated organic farms, as well as by regreening desertified land. The clear energy efficiency of doing so will actually mitigate climate change much better than simply going vegan—and going vegan will still be just as available an option, side by side with other diets.

Oceans

Like Water and Wind | Resisting Massive Offshore Energy Projects in the Pacific Northwest

By Erica Shugart

The Pacific Ocean is the largest wilderness on the planet, home to millions of species. Life is most abundant near the shore: undersea reefs, kelp forests, seabirds, and whale migrations. Yet from Northern California to Alaska, the coast of the Pacific Northwest is increasingly threatened by industrial-scale offshore energy projects.

Animals

When Wolves Returned to Yellowstone – Twenty-five Years On

By Randall K. Wilson, PhD

How can it be that the return of wolves could somehow alter Yellowstone’s rivers and streams? Or that the presence of wolves would result in an increase in songbirds or amphibians? No one saw these things coming. Though still debated, the concept of the “trophic cascade” offers one explanation of what has transpired.

Reader's Essay

The Healing Joy of a Hike in the Woods

By Michael Colon

The earth reminds us of how we must treat our home, and how that reflects our care for ourselves and each other. A cluttered mind is like a disordered space, whereas a temple cared for with love and respect can stand the test of time, its beauty woven into every moment.

DESCHOOLING DIALOGUES

Episode 7 – Alnoor Ladha with Vanessa Andreotti

“…and in all these communities – the Guarani, the Quechua people, and then later, Pitaguari, the Fulni-ô people, the Huni Kui people, I think the best way to summarize things is that they affirmed this sense of the umbilical cord we have with the core of the land. And land is not just land, land is our bodies, land is the cosmos. So that umbilical cord is also where we receive information from what we call the wider metabolism that we are part of.” – Vanessa Andreotti