Can a Newly Discovered Fungus really solve our Plastic Waste Problem?

 Image Collage by Genesis: Go Ahead... Make My Lunch.

A team of students from Yale University have discovered a fungus which apparently enjoys snacking on polyurethane, one of the most commonly used plastics. Led by Scott Strobel, a molecular biochemist at Yale, the students found the fungus in the Amazon in Ecuador on their annual Rainforest Expedition and Laboratory. 

Experiments by a team of researchers found that the fungus, Pestalotiopsis microspore, can thrive on eating plastic in an anaerobic environment—like that which you find at the bottom of landfills.

Image Collage by Genesis: P. microspora under microscope.

Source: http://scitechdaily.com/ecuador-rainforest-fungus-survives-on-polyurethane-without-oxygen/

This is a significant development, because the implications for a number of reasons, beginning with the global problem which plastic has become.

‘Houston, we have some plastic.’

We all know that plastic is a bit of an Achilles heel of modern civilization…and that may be a bit of an understatement. Sure, plastic is light, flexible, inexpensive, convenient, easy to work with and oh-so-disposable. Aye, there’s the rub.

We all like to believe that most plastic is recycled. Apart from the horrendous amounts of energy which is spent collecting, processing and then re-purposing that plastic, it’s a pretty good idea, too.  Except it’s nowhere near reality.

According to a study published in Science, plastic pollution is growing, particularly in underdeveloped coastal countries. 

Chart: Plastic Pollution is Growing, Credit: Jambeck et al, Science, 2015

Source: http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2015/02/ocean-plastic-waste-china

This, of course, contributes to the notorious plastic flotilla in the middle of the Pacific Ocean (also known as the Great Pacific garbage patch), not to mention the plastic debris littering the shorelines of all major bodies of water around the world. 

Image: Great Pacific garbage patch 

Source: http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2007/12/are-there-reall.html

Here’s some more interesting tid-bits about plastic which you may not be aware of…

Inforgaphic: The Truth about Plastic 

Source: http://greenlivingideas.com/2011/08/01/plastic-world-infographic/

Biology to the Rescue?

So clearly something has to be done about plastic, right? The Yale scientists certainly seem to think so. In fact, they’re not the first to suggest a biological approach to solving the plastic waste problem, particularly in the Pacific.

Be it mushrooms from the Amazon rainforest or genetically engineered E. coli bacteria, scientists are scouring the natural world (and their very unnatural laboratories) searching for ‘silver-bullet’ organisms to clean up our mess.

Does anyone else see any inherent danger in this approach? Have these scientists forgotten the lessons learned from cane toads in Australia, killer bees in North America, and every other attempt to introduce a foreign species into a new environment?

Of course not, because materialist scientists don’t seem to learn from experience.  Their arrogance and hubris makes them believe more in their theories than in proven reality, believing in the technocratic dogma of the incessant march of progress which promises them (and the world): ‘this time will be different.’

Materialist Science: Playing with forces it cannot comprehend…nor control.

In July of last year, PeapodLife took on the question of GMO Foods in its blog by pointing out the dangers of introducing new species into the environment. Read the article and watch a related video on the introduction of foreign species here.

Despite what the scientists will tell you, they are in no way, shape or form ‘in control’ of the ‘technology’ they are purporting to wield, here. Anyone who’s seen Jurassic Park can tell you that!

Image Collage by PeapodLife: Jurassic Park Genetic Power, Nature & Science montage

So, are we saying giant mushrooms are going to devour New York City or Tokyo?

Image collage by Genesis Eco Fund: Rampaging Gumba, NYC.

No, of course not. We just couldn’t resist the image.

What we are saying is that nature is governed by chaos, and there is positive chaos, the chaos observable in evolutionary fractals—defined to a large part by the Fibonacci sequence—for example, the pattern of petals in a blooming flower or branches of a growing tree. But then there’s also the negative chaos of a devolving fractal: water as it’s being flushed down the toilet.

Rainforest Keeps on Giving; Humans Keep on Taking

Having said all that, that’s not even the greatest problem with this story about the plastic-eating mushroom. As always, it’s a story of exploitation. Here’s thing in nature, let’s see how we, the human race, can exploit it to the maximum of our abilities.

You would think that when we find such organisms that there would be a sudden and universal outcry: “Hey! Maybe there are other as-yet-undiscovered organisms that can solve other major problems we face!” But sadly no, rainforest devastation and resource extraction continues globally at an unprecedented pace.

Image collage by Genesis Eco Fund: Rainforest devastation: cutting; burning.

And the discovery of new species with ‘practical applications’ like our friend Pestalotiopsis microspora, doesn’t help precisely because it, too, is just another example of humanity’s culture of exploitation. Not harmony, not mutual symbiosis, but the same old ‘we’re at the top of the food chain so the world is ours to command, control, use and abuse as we see fit’ mentality which is responsible for how we’ve completely mismanaged and ruined the biosphere.

Be a REAL human being. Get an ecosystem and develop a harmonious and mutually symbiotic relationship with it. Allow the knowledge which comes from that experience to inform all your actions, inquiries, decisions, and goals.

Take Responsibility. Reduce your plastic consumption.

10 Tips to Reducing your Plastic Use

1.    Use reusable bags, not plastic or paper.
2.    Drop the bottled water.
3.    Don’t use single-use plastic packaging (buy in bulk when you can).
4.    Leave the sandwich bags on the shelf and use reusable sandwich boxes instead.
5.    Go the classy route and use silverware, not plastic-ware.
6.    Let the ’90s go — go digital… no more CDs, plastic CD cases, and so on.
7.    Use a refillable dispenser for your soap and cleaning supplies.
8.    Use a nice “to-go” mug instead of cups made of plastic or styrofoam (don’t even want to go into that issue).
9.    Try to buy products that don’t contain hard-to-recycle plastics (when you need to buy something, that is).
10.    Better yet, find products not made of plastic at all (again, when you absolutely have to buy something).
Source: http://greenlivingideas.com/2011/08/01/plastic-world-infographic/

EARTH DAY REFLECTION: You know that relaxed, refreshed, recharged feeling you get from nature? Why is that, do you think?

Image by Genesis Eco Fund: Earth Day Reflection: Mechanical Approach v.s. Sustainable Approach

“A mechanical, systems-based approach can only produce more exploitation because its foundation is separation. True sustainability emerges when we consciously embrace an ecosystems-based approach.” 
~ Wolfgang Amelung, Inventor & Co-Founder of Genesis EcoFund

Every Earth Day it’s the same thing: the world expounds on the virtues and necessities of saving the planet, and they point to the perils and evils of one kind of technology, while gushing over the benefits and glories of a different brand of technology, all the while missing the point entirely.

Have you ever been in nature? You know that feeling that you get? That relaxed, refreshed, recharged, clear-headed, balanced feeling? Why is that, do you think?

Maybe it's because our TRUE NATURE is NOT the mechanical mind we have and are trapped in most of the time: all our systems, linear thinking, engineered solutions--and their antithesis, our "escapism," desire for randomness and abstract thought, wanton destruction (even if its in movies, video games, or on the nightly news).

Maybe our true nature is reflected in the highest expressions of Mother Nature...not what we superficially see and describe in primitive linear relationships (competition, survival of the fittest, etc), but precisely what we don't see and what the mechanical mind cannot comprehend fully. But let's give it a shot anyway...

To truly comprehend the meaning of “Earth Day,” we must begin to comprehend that “the earth” has always had a second meaning as it applies to humanity. While this meaning is not exactly “hidden” in the strictest sense, it has been lost on most people.

“Earth” is another word for “soil;” the hume in the word hummus (a very “earthy” substance indeed); that is the stuff; earthstuff, if you will…the flesh of the earth. This sense of the word applies to the hume in human. In truth, the word human is a compound word meaning earth and mind (hume and manas).

Image: Earth, Hands  
Source: breisebreiseleighgoleire1969.wordpress.com: Breise! Breise! Extra! Extra!: News Headlines from around the world Septmber 11th 2011

THAT is why we feel so good in nature...because on some level we feel as though we've come home...held in the comforting bosom of our Mother's healing embrace.  In a very real sense, when we think about Earth Day, we should not avoid thinking of ourselves.

But we do. We see ourselves as somehow separate from the earth when in truth, we are the earth; it is us. This is both a physical and metaphysical phenomenon: it is a reality in every sense and at every level.  It is not the whole truth, but it is far closer to the complete picture than modern science (or even contemporary religion, for that matter) comprehends.

And therein lies the problem. We separate ourselves into a distinct category (human world v.s. the natural world). We believe ourselves to be lords over nature: that it somehow is ours to do with as we please; subject to any and every monstrosity our mechanical minds can conceive of.

What we call progress and civilization, built on so-called human ingenuity and technology, has been at the expense of the earth; of nature; and our own fundamental nature as earth! Our relationship with the planet is directly 1:1 analogous to our relationships with ourselves and each other.

Production, consumption, construction, destruction, addiction, affliction, subjugation, medication…anxiety, stress, SUFFERING.

And what’s our response? To continue the insanity, as Albert Einstein described it; that is, doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

Humanity believes so-called advanced technology—the same old linear, binary, mechanical systems-based approach made more complicated and sophisticated—will save it.  Economists actually believe they can achieve perpetual growth by returning indefinitely to the wellspring of efficiency. But efficiency is at best only 1/6th of sustainability.

Image Collage by PeapodLife: It takes more than “efficiency” to be “GREEN”

Sources: http://imgarcade.com/1/environmental-sustainability/;https://environmentaleducationuk.wordpress.com/2010/07/24/environmental-sustainability-is-out-the-window-if-commission-is-cut/; http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1857113,00.html

All it takes is a conscious, honest, objective look within oneself and any and all of nature on this planet and in the vast expanse of the universe to know the utter tragicomedy of modern humanity’s thinking…nothing in the physical universe lasts forever: not even planets, stars or galaxies.

So what’s the Answer?

It’s quite simple, really. We advance with a conscious appreciation of authentic nature. We throw away the crude linearity of a binary existence—the legacy of our mechanical systems-based approach—and embrace the infinite complexity of an ecosystems approach.

Instead of imposing a mechanical bias on nature (which is a crude and superficial understanding at best) and subjecting it to the unspeakable horrors such cold, heartless calculations create in the real world, we expand our consciousness and with objectivity embrace the reality of nature…harmony and mutual symbiosis...as modelled by ecosystems.

Only nature can create authentic sustainability. And even then, we must acknowledge and accept that the cycles of birth, death and sacrifice are fundamental to the nature of all things—ourselves, our civilization, and our planet is no exception.

The beauty is, once you start embracing an ecosystems approach—once you immerse yourself in the electromagnetic field of an indoor ecosystem and open your consciousness to your participation in it and relationship with it—you settle into the unavoidable laws of the universe…inspiration, innovation and comprehension follows.

By comprehension we mean a deep, conscious appreciation and direct experience of the nature of yourself and all things; this is not an intellectual pursuit, and cannot be achieved by reading books or any other intellectual means. However, it can and must be experienced for real personal growth; and is the REAL SECRET behind every major paradigm-shifting advancement in any and all fields of pursuit:

• Sir Isaac Newton discovered Gravity meditating under an apple tree
• Einstein discovered relativity while taking a bubble bath
• Beethoven's 5th symphony was inspired by birdsong
• and countless other examples

ONLY nature has this power...to help us achieve our highest potential, because that is the very purpose and meaning of EVOLUTION itself!

And, as it turns out, conscious comprehension and direct experience of the nature of ourselves and all things is the birthright of humanity, the dream of every living being, and represents the real “progress” and true sustainability for our individual 'earth,' and the planet as a whole.

In other words, "No man is an island." What would the planet be without the Sun's rays and the moon's rhythms? So too, we as individual 'earths' need our immediate environment to support us and vibrate in ways which optimize our lives--mind, body and soul--so that inspiration, innovation and solutions to so many of the problems the planet faces will automatically be aligned to the underlying paradigm of life itself: harmony and mutual symbiosis.

This is the mission of Genesis Eco Fund, and our hope for you and the whole planet from this Earth Day forward.

To look at all this in a slightly different way, contemplate the following quotation which has been attributed to Chief Seattle, although according to Barefoot Windwalker it is neither “historically accurate, nor even something that Chief Seattle said” regardless…

“This we know: the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.”
~ Chief Seattle
Source: barefootsworld.net: CHIEF SEATTLE'S LETTER

Image: Quote by Chief Seattle, “This we know: the earth does not belong to man…” 

Source: www.plentifulplanet.com

Related Links:
Earth Day Canada
Earth Day Network
PeapodLife

Mindfulness and Ecology: How do they Relate?

Image: Mind Full or Mindful? 

Source: naturallyeverafterblog.com: Naturally Ever After: Mind Full, or Mindful?

What is Mindfulness?

“Mindfulness is simply being aware of what is happening right now without wishing it were different; enjoying the pleasant without holding on when it changes (which it will); being with the unpleasant without fearing it will always be this way (which it won’t).”

~ James Baraz 

Source: goodreads.com: Quotes About Mindfulness

Without any doubt, most of us live very mind-full lives. That is—as startlingly yet simply illustrated in the below photo, our minds are a cluster-fest of thoughts, emotions, concerns, fears, anxieties, plans, hopes, fantasies, wants, don’t-wants, and the list goes on.

Image: Mind Full 

Source: blogg.halsopsykologi.se: Utmattningssyndrom - den nya folkhälsosjukdomen?

Without question or exception, we all suffer from this “crazy mind” syndrome. And while some suffer more than others (especially those with Autism-spectrum disorders like ADD, ADHD, Schizophrenia, epilepsy, etc.) very few people can claim to live in complete mental peace and equanimity at all times.

And yet, mental tranquility is very much a component of true relaxation. The mind-body/body-brain connection is well documented. And while there are many practices and techniques to achieve it—most relating to meditation—a quiet mind is not necessarily the same as being mindful; nor is it a prerequisite to be mindful.

In meditation, for instance, we may seek to achieve a quiet, receptive state of consciousness…a quiet mind. However, one cannot force the mind to be quiet and remain truly relaxed and peaceful. Nor can one sit in frustration as the seemingly endless series of thoughts emerge one after the next, and expect to achieve a quiet mind. The frustration itself feeds the crazy mind. One can, however, simply be mindful of the mind that is full.

In other words, being mindful is simply observing, being fully present and aware of what is going on around us and within us—in our hearts, our mind and our body—at all times, including during meditation. Being mindful doesn’t mean we have an empty mind, it means we are not allowing ourselves to be caught up in the stories our mind is telling us. We observe the stories arise, and then we observe them pass. We do not dwell on them.

Try it now:

Video: Guided Meditation with Eckhart Tolle

Source: YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sQ0DTF2tAM

In meditation, this technique for simple mindfulness—coined psychological kung-fu by Samael Aun Weor, but also known as ‘no meditation’—eventually leads to a completely quiet, peaceful mind. Like watching the waves slowly die down after a storm has passed, the ripples in our psyche settle down and eventually—if we do not get caught up in the waves and/or produce new mental storms to whip them up once more—the mind becomes as calm and smooth as the surface of a mountain lake, perfectly reflecting the world as if it were a mirror.

Image: Mountain Lake calm water glassy mirror 

Source: http://pixabay.com/en/lake-calm-water-glassy-mirror-389980/

And, it is upon this perfect reflection that inspiration, imagination, insight and experiences of pure joy can be witnessed. In other words, when the mind settles down, the true nature and substance of the consciousness can be perceived directly.

Mindfulness and Nature

"Look at a tree, a flower, a plant. Let your awareness rest upon it. How still they are, how deeply rooted in Being. Allow nature to teach you stillness."

~ Eckhart Tolle, Stillness Speaks 

Source: http://www.notable-quotes.com/t/tolle_eckhart.html

If it is true that observing ourselves—our own mind, heart, body, can lead to a stillness in consciousness, an emptiness into which true insights can emerge, then what about being mindful about the world around us? What happens if we apply the same principles used in mindfulness meditation while in nature? Actually, a very interesting phenomenon takes place. We begin to comprehend its true nature.

For example, Rudolph Steiner, founder of the Waldorf Schools in 1919, said “All of nature begins to whisper its secrets to us through its sounds. Sounds that were previously incomprehensible to our soul now become the meaningful language of nature.” Source: http://www.awaken.com/2013/02/quotes-by-rudolf-steiner/

This sentiment is most certainly echoed by countless esotericists, mystics and practitioners of mindfulness, from practitioners of Japan’s unique brand of Shinto Buddhism (which incorporates Japan’s traditional ancient Shinto tradition of nature worship and Buddhism) to the Dalai Lama.

Video: Mindfulness in Nature

Source: YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUM4Z2JIyQI ;

http://dalailamacenter.org/heart-mind-2013-helping-children-thrive/short-films-inspired-heart-mind-2013/mindfulness-nature

But this is not to say that the relationship between mindfulness and nature has gone unnoticed in more secular circles. Books like Awake in the Wild by Mark Coleman are an example.

Image: Cover, Awake in the Wild 

Source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/136232.Awake_in_the_Wild

There are also numerous scholarly articles addressing the issue. Consider the abstract from Andrew J. Howell’s, Nature connectedness: Associations with well-being and mindfulness:

“Wilson’s (1984) biophilia hypothesis predicts that people’s psychological health is associated with their relationship to nature. Two studies examined associations among nature connectedness, well-being, and mindfulness in samples of undergraduate students while socially desirable responding was controlled. Significant associations emerged among measures of nature connectedness and indices of well-being (in Study 1 and Study 2) and mindfulness (in Study 2). Results are discussed in relation to possible mediators and moderators of the association between nature connectedness and mental health.”

Source: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886911001711

This is all well and good, but let’s be realistic. With the massive urban intensification programs being pursued worldwide in a bid for efficiency and curbing the impacts of population explosion, access to that which can be seen and experienced as “nature” are becoming rarer and more far afield than ever before—for most people.

The term Nature Deficit Disorder or NDD has emerged only in the past few decades as a direct result of people’s changing relationships with their world—particularly as young people switch to virtual representations of the natural world delivered on interactive devices—and the impact it is having on their minds.

Mindfulness and Ecosystems

Ecosystems are a way of bringing nature in its highest expression back into our daily lives, so that we can be mindful of it and our relationship to it. Rather than being surrounded by lifeless, artificial, and largely toxic environments at work, at school or at home, we can surround ourselves with vibrant colours, lush textures, and living sounds of conscious super organisms: trillions of creatures living together in harmony and mutual symbiosis.

Image by Genesis: Mindfulness & Ecosystems

To be mindful in the presence of an ecosystem, is to open the door to a whole new level of consciousness, a whole new world of peaceful discovery. It’s not a world that can be described; it is one that must be experienced. But that’s how it goes with matters of the mind: be it the busy, crazy mind that’s full, or the peaceful, tranquil, mind that’s aware, receptive and present…mindful.

From NASA’s Air Pollution Video to K-Cups: Macro to Micro to Macro, we’re All Connected

Video: NASA Animation Shows Asian Air Pollution Moving Across the Globe

Source: YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtAd4p22NRo

“The indigenous understanding has its basis of spirituality in a recognition of the interconnectedness and interdependence of all living things, a holistic and balanced view of the world. All things are bound together. All things connect. What happens to the Earth happens to the children of the earth. Humankind has not woven the web of life; we are but one thread. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.”

~ Rebecca Adamson

Source: doonething.org: Do One Thing: Interconnection QUOTES

You don’t have to be a member of a Buddhist, Taoist, Hindu, or indigenous tradition to know of the interconnectivity and interdependence of all things. As a matter of fact, you don’t even need to be spiritually inclined at all to recognize this most ancient and universal tenet as a scientifically verified and verifiable fact. Indeed, the above video from NASA should make it clear: on this planet, at least, we’re all in this together…we are all connected.

If you want to see just how deep that interconnectedness runs, there is an excellent article on the topic at: http://www.starstuffs.com/physcon/connected.html.

For today’s discussion, we want to keep it more on a macrocosmic level—that is, limit it to our planet and the ways in which actions in any one region affect the whole.

We know that pollution spreads. The above video by NASA—revealing how aerosol particulates move through the atmosphere—shows how in this case air currents carry pollution to other parts of the planet.

What’s particularly interesting in this case is how this type of airborne particulate matter may be contributing to climate change in unexpected ways. Water vapour in the atmosphere collects around airborne particulates and results in precipitation. More particulates; more precipitation. If those particulates have a certain chemical composition, they may react with the water and result in a solution such as acid rain.

In any case, the pollution is returned to the earth in unexpected locations and ways; namely, as dissolved particulates in water…that goes straight into soil, streams, rivers, lakes and oceans. The water cycle drives all life as we know it on this planet, and anything that’s dissolved in water goes where the liquid water flows…including the bodies of plants, animals and ultimately humans.

Image: Pollution in the Water Cycle 

Credit: Quiksilver Foundation 

Source: http://school.xvatit.com/index.php?title=The_Water_Cycle

It’s very much a case of macro ecological disturbances having very real negative effects at the micro-level of individual human health and wellness.

In a very real sense, the planet earth has its own circulatory and respiratory systems. What we treat as unconscious physical systems (weather patterns, climate) are in fact part of a living breathing megaorganism…if ecosystems can be called superorganism, then a collective ecosystem of ecosystems on a planetary scale is mega indeed. 

But the mega is not immune to micro disturbances; at least, not in the aggregate macro effects. As discussed in The Attlas Project – SEE The World in a New Light:

“The question is not whether there are micro causes that have macro effects.  The real question is what micro opportunities do we seize today that will lead to positive macro effects in the future?”

~ The Attlas Project

This is just something we can feel in our gut. (Literally, if anyone has ever had a stomach infection). The point is: if it’s true for positive micro opportunities, then the same is true for negative micro disturbances. It explains why the inventor of the K-Cup, John Sylvan, now regrets having done so.

Originally invented for use in offices and other places where the efficiency and convenience of being able to brew a single-serve coffee out of a small plastic cup seemed to make practical sense, the single-serve disposable coffee-pod phenomenon has ballooned into a behemoth of a multi-billion dollar industry, in which personal taste and convenience drives the bulk of sales, and what critics call an environmental catastrophe.

Keurig K-Cups are non-recyclable, and an estimated 30 billion plastic K-Cups now litter the planet, mostly in land-fills, but also no doubt in the floating plastic debris field in the Pacific Ocean. (What is true for particulates and global air currents is equally true for plastic and global oceanic currents).

It even prompted one group to express their distaste in short film format…

Video: Kill the KCup 

Source: YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRGiGbX9lIo

Most everyone likes a good action drama flick. But sadly, humanity has a tendency to make life mimic art versus the other way ‘round. We need to wake up to the fact that there is no such thing as “an isolated incident,” or a “contained ecological disaster.” Likewise, the little choices we make day in and day out affect all of us.

Genesis Eco Fund believes wholeheartedly that the key to bringing the all-important reality of global interconnectivity and interdependence back into the consciousness of society is to bring micro examples of that interconnectivity and interdependence back into people’s lives…ecosystems.

You would never toss your used K-Cup into the ecosystem in your home, workplace, or school. Maybe, just maybe, that in and of itself will get you to start reconsidering tossing that used K-Cup at all…and maybe relax and spend a special moment actually enjoying a fresh-brewed pot of coffee together with family, colleagues, etc. in the interconnected and interdependent company of an ecosystem.

It’s definitely a positive micro opportunity that has potentially profound macro effects. 

Race to the FINISHED Line? “Racing Extinction” does more than Ask Tough Questions

In #RacingExtinction Director of @CoveMovie_OPS Targets a Network of Earth’s Problems http://t.co/DRoS6GwK2E pic.twitter.com/rbMqJQfOlu
— Racing Extinction (@Extinction_OPS) January 27, 2015

Image: Racing Extinction: it’s not a spectator sport anymore

Source: https://twitter.com/saradecc

“My goal is to make a film that doesn't just create awareness, but inspires people to get motivated to change this insane path we're on. Films to me aren't just entertainment -- they are for me the most powerful weapon in the world, a weapon of mass construction.”

~ Louie Psihoyos

Source: thedodo.com: If "The Cove" Inspired You ... Wait Till You See "6"

Weapons of mass construction. A Contradiction in terms, or the coolest term ever? We at Genesis Eco Fund love it, together with Louie Psihoyos, the Academy Award-Winning Director of “The Cove” and Executive Director of the Oceanic Preservation Society.

His latest project, “Racing Extinction” (formerly entitled “6”) goes further than most activist documentaries about exploitation of the natural world. It not only takes action, it documents the actions being taken and shows the world—in an exercise of modern guerilla-media warfare—the err of its ways. 

Video: “Racing Extinction” Official Festival Trailer by Oceanic Preservation Society

Source: YouTube http://youtu.be/MwxyrLUdcss

Is it effective? Will it ultimately make a difference? Or is it too little, too late? When asked by The Dodo, How bad is it really?  Psihoyos replied, “One paleontologist told me that WWII will be a footnote in human history compared to the current loss of biodiversity that our generation is presiding over.” Source: https://www.thedodo.com/if-the-cove-inspired-you-wait--524234729.html

Translation: Bad. Really bad.

According to Psihoyos, we could lose half of the species on the planet by the end of the century. And although this will not be the first mass extinction to happen in the planet’s history, it will be the first that is caused by human behaviour.

Whether or not this is the case, only time will tell.  The more immediate impact of Psihoyos’ work—on The Cove, Racing Extinction and OPS—is its revelatory value; what the threat of such mass human-caused ecological and genetic devastation reveals about humanity’s appalling relationship with nature.

We all know about humanity’s dismal track record of environmental exploitation, going back thousands of years. But what Psihoyos and his colleagues manage to achieve is show us that things have not improved in many places in the world. If anything, population growth has all but guaranteed that things have gotten much, much worse than they ever were before.

The technology and large scale machinery for the wholesale destruction of species has never been as advanced as it is today; neither the potential profits for individuals and groups participating in the trade of threatened creatures—including but in no way limited to sharks.

And let’s not forget that much of the trade in threatened species is built on a cultural foundation of traditions stretching back thousands of years. Combined with booming population growth and middle class aspirations of material wealth, it is inevitable that demands will be met with supply, as long as that supply is available…no matter the cost.

Such short-sightedness is but one of the many tragedies of the intellectual animal which calls itself “human.”

How do we turn things around?

Psihoyos suggests:

“1. Get your home, school, places of work and worship, and government buildings off of fossil fuels ASAP
2. Explore a plant-based diet

3. Tell everyone you know to see this film
  
The solutions are all upgrades. I've been driving an electric car for five years, and it never goes into the shop because there's only one moving part in the engine -- the rotor -- which lasts forever. I power it with solar panels, I don't pay for gas; in fact, my whole house and studio is powered by the sun. My license plate says “VUS” which stands for Vehicle Using Sun -- it's the opposite of an SUV. My local electric company (which OPS has been working fervently to overthrow) pays us to produce electricity because we generate 140% more energy than we use.” Source: https://www.thedodo.com/if-the-cove-inspired-you-wait--524234729.html

Genesis Eco Fund proposes you look at getting an ecosystem for your home, office/workplace, and school.

Any dog owner with will agree it is all but impossible for them to eat dog. Likewise, someone who had a pet rabbit will likely turn their nose up at rabbit stew. This is because of the deep relationship they have with their pet—and by extension pets in general. 

Living in an ecosystem one becomes more conscious of—and sensitive to—the intrinsic value of nature and ecological systems. One has a much greater appreciation of fish, for instance, when one sees how their lives support the lives of plants in an ecosystem; and, conversely, how the plants support the fish. One appreciates snails as more than escargots when one sees them eagerly cleaning the ecosystem of algae.

An ecosystem is a living, breathing microcosm of the planet as a whole. Being a part of that microcosm gives one a visceral, experiential appreciation for the whole that no intellectual or conceptual argument can match.

Yes, a film can provoke strong emotions and trigger change, but an ecosystem in your life is there always: day in and day out, like a nagging Mother Nature reminding you to make your bed and wash behind your ears, it’s not easily ignored, let alone forgotten.

And so while we applaud the efforts of Louis Psihoyos and others who devote their lives to powerful cinematic reminders—these tools of mass construction—it takes more than a blueprint and a business plan to actually build the future we want. Those 90 minutes, no matter how powerful they are, need to be backed up by real substance 24 hours a day, 7 days a week…in other words, ongoing immersion in a space of love.

That is the power of an ecosystem to enact sustainable long term positive change in peoples’ lives. The kind of sustained changes in attitudes and life choices Louis Psihoyos and his colleagues hope to be able to spark.

War of the Wolves B.C. Should look to Yellowstone Case before Wolf Cull

Video: Wolf cull in B.C. | A War on the Wolf   
Source: CBCNews http://www.cbc.ca/player/News/ID/2653349257/

“Nature needs no help, just no interference.”
~ BJ Palmer
Source: greatest-inspirational-quotes.com: The Greatest Inspirational Quotes Nature

Today we look at a contentious issue again, one which rattles people on both sides of the argument: human interference or non-interference with nature?

Should human beings overtly get in the way of natural processes, systems—ecosystems—extinctions, even? It is a contentious and emotional issue. After all, as people we tend to get pretty attached to one of two deciding factors in the argument:

1. Nature First:be it a moral position of superiority over human judgment; or, an ethical statement on the rights of animals and plants to exist free from suffering. 


2. Humans First:be it our position of moral superiority (being “conscious,” the most “evolved” of all animals, and/or divinely assigned the role of guardian and custodian of the planet and all life on it; or, a pragmatic secular statement on humanity’s rights to exploit nature however and whenever it deems necessary; that this, too, is survival of the fittest.

These two positions are not mutually exclusive.  In the case of the proposed B.C. wolf cull discussed in the video which opened today’s article, advocates of the cull are claiming good ecological stewardship, claiming they have the best interests of the “endangered” caribou at heart—a “beloved Canadian symbol.”

We can’t help but wonder if those considering this cull have looked into the Yellowstone case for what the large-scale impacts that top-level predators have on ecosystems.

Video: The importance of predators, the Yellowstone case 

Source: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAGEXDlUHDE

We wish to try and be somewhat balanced in sharing this information; so for the sake of balance, we should point out that even the Yellowstone “success story” has its detractors. One man’s success is another man’s disaster. This should come as no surprise.

Video: Crying Wolf: Exposing the Wolf Reintroduction to Yellowstone National Park – Preview 

Source: YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHRWIrbrlHI

Good or bad, right or wrong, for better or for worse, one cannot debate that the re-introduction of wolves to Yellowstone was a human intervention…albeit reversing previous human interference which included culling wolves and/or driving them from Yellowstone in the first place.

The point is, human beings have an ongoing and unquestionable knack for intervening in nature which leads to highly disruptive if not all out disastrous results.  The planet even has a continent which more than any other has served as a massive experiment in species introduction, relocation, and interference…Australia.

Video: Human interference with nature - it doesn't work! - BBC wildlife 

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMG9CzArGBE

So where do we end up? Species introduction bad? Species reintroduction good? In the final analysis, these questions of good or bad, right or wrong have no place in the discourse of nature. We should, by now, know all too well that nature does not share humanity’s ideas of morality, nor does it function on a purely binary code of conduct.

At times life appears sacred to nature, and we see it nurturing and fighting to protect life at all costs from all threats. At other times, nature appears callous and uncaring, partaking in wholesale destruction of entire species.

Nature is mysterious that way, and the thinking human doesn’t like mysteries…the thinking human likes to be in control. We like to think we have the answers, and want to believe we know what we’re doing. Humanity like to think ourselves masters of the universe, whether we are scientists manipulating genes in test tubes, or spiritual gurus professing ourselves to be one with the Source of the Universe.

The problem is precisely our point of view…not which point of view we have, but the fact that we have one at all. It’s the very notion of imposing what we think—from our subjective perspective—needs to be done on what operates on a fundamentally objective paradigm.

Say what you will about nature, it at times appears fair and other times unfair…but what it is not is biased. Nature is what it is. And truthfully, it’s only from this level of consciousness that anyone can hope to approach any problem in nature and hope to get it right.

Intervention? Non-intervention? Who knows? Here’s what we do know: you’re never going to think it through…like so many of our experiences of nature, you have to feel it, but not subjectively in the mind (“poor caribou, poor moose, poor wolves”), but objectively: what is most beautiful.

You can fill countless textbooks on the ecological effects of this or that; using statistics, satellite imagery, head-counts of fauna, and every conceivable metric to stimulate the mind in an attempt to convince it of what is right or wrong. But to know what’s most beautiful you only need your imagination...

Australia overrun with foreign invaders? Yellowstone returned to her former glory? Unknown consequences to B.C. ecosystem?

Just feel it. What feels right?

“Smarty Plants” & the Roots of Plant Intelligence

Video Link: The Nature of Things with David Suzuki: Smarty Plants: Uncovering the Secret World of Plant Behaviour

Credit: cbc.ca: The Nature of Things: Episodes: Smarty Plants

“We think the Sagebrush are basically eavesdropping on one another.”
~Rick Karban, U.C. Davis Ecologist
Source: The New Yorker – The Intelligent Plant

A few weeks ago, PeapodLife posted a blog entitled Do Plants Hold the Secrets to Consciousness? . Today, we offer a good deal more dramatic evidence that plants not only behave, it is quite possible they have complex behaviour and even intelligence.

Genesis Eco Fund also wrote on the topic of plant communication as it relates to ecosystems back in July: Do Trees Communicate? Ecosystems & the Communication of Plants.

Mainstream materialist science has no choice but to accept plants are not the passive organisms it assumed them to be. And while many still dismiss the notion of plant intelligence, others are embracing a different view.

Probably the most well-known of these is Stefano Mancuso, Plant Neurobiologist. Here is his TED Talk from 2010:

Video: TED Talk - Stefano Mancuso: The roots of plant intelligence 

Credit: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIfwFLDXFyQ

Listening to the passion of his presentation, one can easily comprehend why Mancuso is the Co-Founder of LINV - International Laboratory of Plant Neurobiology.

Plant Neurobiology? Plant Neurobiologist? But plants don’t have a brain. “If you are a plant, having a brain is not an advantage,” Mancuso says. And yet, he has dedicated his life to the pursuit of plant intelligence. Source: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/12/23/the-intelligent-plant

There is certainly much more which could be said on this topic.

For starters, the conversation must invariably and inevitably move from the question of individual plant intelligence, or indeed, plant and animal intelligence, to one of ecosystem intelligence. That is, the ability for the superorganism to exhibit behaviours which show intelligence.

And certainly, in the view of Genesis, the conversation must (and will) eventually migrate from the question of intelligence, to the issue of consciousness and the discussion of what these two terms describe and how they differ from one another.

But today, we think we’ll just share some more videos demonstrating that something is indeed going on with plants, and it’s a secret world that we’re only just beginning to explore in any meaningful way.

Video Link: Mind of Plants: Documentary on The Intelligence of Plants, produced by Gédéon Programmes, K Production, ARTE

Video Link: Nature: What Plants Talk About – Documentary

Why “Education” Gets a Failing Grade; Ecosystems Encourage “Growth Mindset”

Image: The Teacher from “The Wall”

Source: The wondeful life of being a Pink Floyd fan: Another Brick In The Wall

We don't need no education

We dont need no thought control

No dark sarcasm in the classroom

Teachers leave them kids alone

Hey! Teachers! Leave them kids alone!

All in all it's just another brick in the wall.

All in all you're just another brick in the wall.

~ Pink Floyd, The Wall

Source: The Original Pink Floyd Lyrics site: Another Brick in the Wall Lyrics - Part 2

Video: Pink Floyd - Another Brick In The Wall, Part Two (Official Music Video)

Source: YouTube: http://youtu.be/HrxX9TBj2zY

How little has changed in 35 years.

Oh, we know: the educators will cry foul at a statement like that. But the truth hurts sometimes. And that’s the point of today’s blog. To truly get better, one better get used to the idea of failure.

Real learning comes by way of trial and error, exploration, discovery and—effectively—self-learning. But our education system—and indeed culture—worships “success” and fails to recognize the immense importance failure plays not only in the learning process, but in personal growth, all manner of progress and evolution itself!

Allow us to change the dark tone to a more positive one by way of sharing a video from Khan Academy.

Video: You Can Learn Anything 

Credit: Khan Academy

Source: YouTube – Khan Academy

Salman Khan started the not-for-profit Khan Academy on his earnest beliefs that:

1. Anyone can learn anything—evidenced by so-called neuroplasticity of the brain.
2. Everyone should have free access to learn anything—why his online academy is 100% free.
3. Failure should be celebrated and efforts rewarded—in the struggle to succeed one will naturally and inevitably face failure, and that’s a good thing since failure teaches us more than success.

In a recent blog post, Salman Kahn describes a heartwarming story of his son reading a story out loud, struggling for over a minute before finally pronouncing the word “gratefully.”

“He then said, ‘Dad, aren’t you glad how I struggled with that word? I think I could feel my brain growing.’ I smiled: my son was now verbalizing the tell¬-tale signs of a ‘growth¬ mindset.’…I decided to praise my son not when he succeeded at things he was already good at, but when he persevered with things that he found difficult. I stressed to him that by struggling, your brain grows. Between the deep body of research on the field of learning mindsets and this personal experience with my son, I am more convinced than ever that mindsets toward learning could matter more than anything else we teach.”

~ Salman Kahn

Source: Khan Academy: blog: The Learning Myth: Why I'll Never Tell My Son He's Smart

Brilliant. Finally, decades since the release of The Wall, educators are coming around to the conclusion that their job is about teaching how to think not what to think.  To create a learning mindset: immersing children in a culture of trial and error, where failure and success receive equal billing; children are rewarded for overcoming obstacles, not for succeeding at tasks that came relatively easy to them. Can calls this the “growth mindset.”

Of course, the challenge is we live in a culture which lives in a “fixed mindset.” Not only does society tell us what to think, how to feel, what we need to be, buy and/or experience to be happy, etc. Our culture also glorifies success. We are inundated with advertising, game shows, reality TV contests, films, newscasts, sports stars, celebrities and “success stories” of all kinds proclaiming “the glory of victory” and “the agony of defeat.”

More than anything else, our culture worships “celebrity”—sports stars, actors, billionaires, royal couples, religious icons, even mobsters and famous criminals like Bonnie and Clyde. This tendency to embrace a “cult of personality” suggests our conditioned belief that talent (such as intelligence) is fixed—something we are born with, in our genes, etc.—for the masses to celebrate (and envy). 

In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell turns the ideas of innate intelligence and ambition—“born talent”—on its head. He argues that environmental factors and one’s attitude to achieving success through constant struggle and effort are paramount to success.

Image: Outliers Cover 

Credit: Malcolm Gladwell, Penguin Books Australia

Source: Fell From Fiction: “Outliers” by Malcolm Gladwell (2008)

In said book, he coins the phrase “the 10,000 hour rule,” implying that mastery emerges only after thousands of hours of efforts, failures and renewed efforts.

In fact, one “superstar athlete” Gladwell mentions in his book would like to take a minute to go on record and apologize if he added to the mass contemporary cultural delusion which forgot the old adage, “success is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration.”

Video: Michael Jordan 'Maybe It's My Fault' Commercial

Source: YouTube: http://youtu.be/9zSVu76AX3I

Controversial as Gladwell’s argument and Kahn’s “growth mindset” may be to those entrenched in their fixed mindsets and established worldviews, one cannot argue Michael Jordan’s first-hand experience, nor the fact that we are products of our environment. Even the recent science of epigenetics indicates that genetics are not “fixed”—that environmental factors can turn certain genes on and off.

Finally, we come to evolution and nature itself. In nature, nothing is fixed. We recommend watching the videos posted on PeapodLife’s Blog Article: Meditations in Motion, Living Ecosystems Give Life to see the significance of that statement.

Evolution is both success and failure. We recently coined the phrase, survival of the most fitting, in response to Darwin’s erroneous conclusion that evolution came down to survival of the fittest. The fact is that the environment of the ecosystem is an intelligent growth environment. Like the growth mindset described by Khan, it gives equal billing to success and failure.

What we know for certain is that evolution takes time. Ecosystems are patient; far more patient than individual organisms. Nature tests…nature experiments…nature explores…nature discovers and surprises itself.

Nature is not just always about ripping the throats out of prey, chasing off competitors, etc.  Evolution tries new directions with new species, and abandons species which longer serve the “superorganisms”—ecosystems, biosphere. Ecosystems function on collective harmony and symbiosis. Darwin’s model would turn nature into nothing more than a bleak free-for all and terrible chaotic anarchy.

Perhaps it’s no wonder that our world, fixated as it is on “fixed mindsets,” on success, on glorifying and rewarding winning while denouncing and punishing failure, on competitiveness and “survival of the fittest” is looking more and more like a bloody mess. And why, all too often, has degenerated and degraded into scenes right out of Pink Floyd’s legendary Rock Opera.

So here we’ve come full circle and wound up back in the dark, cold classroom of that rock and roll hell. Before we sign off, let’s do so on a positive note about the growth mentality, and receive some valuable advice and a hearty “Thumbs Up for Rock and Roll!” by a true expert on learning, and what it means to succeed.

Video: Thumbs Up for Rock and Roll! 
Source: YouTube: http://youtu.be/eaIvk1cSyG8

Is FEAR of the Natural World our Future!? Indoctrination, Education & FEAR

Video: Soldiers VS Camel Spider

Source: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQRKjoAr_q8

“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood.

Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.”

~ Marie Curie, As quoted in Our Precarious Habitat (1973) by Melvin A. Benarde, p. v.

Source: Wikiquote: Fear;

Image: Nothing in Life is to be feared…

Source: Quotepixel.com

Just what are these two soldiers afraid of? Behold, ladies and gentlemen, the camel spider:

Image: “The camel spider is a very fast member of the arachnid family, able to reach up to 10 miles (16 km) per hour. It is also not at all deadly to humans although its bite is very painful. Despite this, they are hugely vicious predators when it comes to prey they can handle which includes insects, lizards, small birds and sometimes rodents. They thrive in desert locations and have large powerful jaws which are sometimes up to 1/3 of their body length. They use this great weapon to seize their prey and smash them up with a chopping motion. They are not venomous but use their digestive fluids to dissolve their victims’ flesh which makes it much easier to get what remains into their stomachs. Their main prey are termites and beetles. … Camel spiders only bite in self-defense if they’re disturbed or alarmed. If you happen to be bitten by one you should definitely consult a doctor but as they are not venomous so you need not worry about dying!” 

Source: FactZoo.com Camel Spider - Frightening Giant Arachnid

Now don’t get us wrong, we recognize that arachnophobia and other animal phobias are real psychological phenomena in that many people have “irrational fears,” particularly of creepy crawly things. And seeing images of camel spider bites on the internet likely only disturbs people even more:

Image Collage by GenesisEcoFund.org: Effects of Camel Spider Bites

Source: InsectBitesPictures.com Camel Spider Bites

Clearly, what makes these particular bites appear so nasty is that they were allowed to become infected. They almost certainly hurt a lot, but being that camel spiders are non-venomous, it’s much ado about very little (not the spider, they can grow fairly large as described above).

But irrational fears are irrational fears, fed usually by folklore and myth, of which allow us to debunk a few right now:

Image: Myth vs. Truth 

Source: SpokenEnglishPractice.com: 4 myths about learning to speak English

TOP 5 MYTHS ABOUT CAMEL SPIDERS:

1. Camel spiders run after humans: Desert dwellers, Camel spiders don’t run after humans per se; they just want some shade. If you run, your shadow runs with you and the camel spider will chase your shadow to stay in the shade. If you stand still, the camel spider will, too. At night, they are attracted to light and will run towards it.
2. Camel spiders scream: Apart from a few species of Solifugae which may hiss, most camel spiders are silent.
3. If under a camel, they leap into the air and disembowel it, eating its stomach: This old myth is probably where the name “camel spider” comes from. Camel spiders may stand under camels for the shade, but they have no taste for camel meat (or human flesh for that matter).
4. Camel spiders eat or chew on people while they sleep. Their venom numbs the area so people can’t feel the bites: Camel spiders are not venomous, and though their bites are painful, they are not deadly to humans. They also only attack in defense. It is conceivable a camel spider might bite you if you threatened it while sleepwalking or tossing and turning, but they would just as likely just run away.
5. Camel spiders can run up to 30mph and jump up to a height of three feet: The fastest camel spider clocks in about 10 miles per hour. They don’t do any significant jumping.

Source: LiveScience Camel Spiders: Facts & Myths

Media and Pop-Culture Bake Such Myths into the Psyche

Let’s not forget how much Hollywood likes to take such “scary” folklore and myth and completely blow it out of proportion for the sake of “entertainment”—cheap thrills, chills and gags—for profit.

Image Collage by GenesisEcoFund: Hollywood’s Love-Hate Relationship with Spiders (movie posters) Image Sources: http://wewatchsoyoudonthaveto.wordpress.com/2013/10/19/movie-recap-horrors-of-spider-island/, 

http://exclamationmark.wordpress.com/2006/09/09/kingdom-of-the-spiders-1977/, 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arachnophobia_%28film%29, 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1659216/

From “Horrors of Spider Island” and William Shatner’s not-so-famous “Kingdom of the Spiders” to “Arachnophobia” and “Spiders 3D” (movie posters depicted above) Hollywood’s enduring love-hate relationship with creepy crawlies sees no end in site…well, except perhaps for this big REAR END…

Video: ‘Big Ass Spider’ Trailer 

Source: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvEL10Ugd4I

Does it not beg the question? If all this is for “shits and giggles” (it’s all just old fashioned myth; harmless entertainment), then explain to us the reaction of the two soldiers in the video which opened today’s blog!? The answer lies hidden in the fact that these are SOLDIERS…

Institutions Indoctrinate “How Things Should Be” and Dogma Replaces Reality; Rationality

There is no question that the military is one of the most powerful, potent and ubiquitous forms of indoctrination there is. It is also without question that apart from certain fanatical religious organizations, there are few institutions which can match the military for indoctrination into strict codes of conduct…dogma by any definition. (Is this the hidden reason why soldiers wear “dog tags”?)

There is no authentic “education” in the military (despite there being military colleges and universities). The entire structure and programming of the military is designed to achieve one goal: a robustly constructed, finely tuned, well-oiled machine ready to leap into action at a moment’s notice…
…unless there happens to be a ‘big-ass spider’ in the barracks.

Indoctrination and dogma lays down track for the train follow. Sure, it can be a powerful locomotive, carry the weight of an entire nation, and run like clockwork (especially if it’s in Japan or Germany), but it’s not so good when it comes to flexibility and dealing with elements which don’t run on the rails…don’t follow arbitrary schedules…aren’t machines.

In other words, indoctrination leads to fear of NATURE.

Nature is the antithesis of indoctrination. Nature, as science now know, functions on “chaos” a lot more than “order.” Whereas indoctrination and institutionalized education seek to define all the possible parameters and acceptable possibilities within said parameters, nature constantly surprises and amazes.

No matter how often science thinks it has nature nailed down, something new and incredible is revealed which blows the lid of everything we knew was “out there” (or “in here,” as the case may be).

But our minds are so programmed, so conditioned into a certain “set pattern” of thinking and doing; so digitally, mechanically geared, we have the natural reaction to the appearance of anomalies in nature: WE FREAK!!! (Again, like our soldier friends in the video which opened today’s blog).

Our institutionalization, mechanization and digitization of minds (via indoctrination, education and entertainment) creates fear of the new; fear of the unknown; desire for “order” and fear of the natural world which is “chaos.” And the result?...

EVERYBODY IS WOUND UP TIGHT

Is it just us, or when watching the video of the soldiers, you’re kinda worried that these are the same people armed to the teeth with fully automatic firearms and have in their hands some of the most sophisticated and destructive weapons systems ever conceived of?

Maybe this video is an exaggeration; maybe it’s the canary in the coal mine…a stark reminder of the slippery slope of indoctrination leading to tension, anxiety and fear from that which is all but completely harmless!

What’s the answer? Ecosystems of course!

What if our soldier friends had access to (or grew up living in; studying in) a vibrant high-order ecosystem? What if part of their education and training included being in an environment of mutual harmony and symbiosis, with a positive relationship with all living things?

Image by GenesisEcoFund.org & PeapodLife: It’s a Jungle out there, so get used to it with a jungle in here.

Now, no-one is saying ecosystems should come equipped with camel-spiders! (They wouldn’t like all the water anyway). But a spider or two may move into an ecosystem over time. There will be little tiny shrimp in it, almost certainly. Maybe some crabs. Fish. Maybe other animals (as per size of the system, comfort levels of the home/building owners/managers, etc).

If our educational system is already so institutionalized, we must carefully look at the current educational system and examine what role ecosystems can play in changing educational paradigms.

In contrast to a steaming locomotive, authentic education, modelled on nature and taking its cues from ecosystems, provides individuals with the equivalent of an off-road vehicle, enabling them to go exploring their world and be much better equipped to changing circumstances, adapting situations, and unknown, unforeseen encounters.

And possibly avoid rather embarrassing viral videos of the internet. (C’mon dudes…it’s only a spider. And we guarantee he’s more afraid of you than you are of him!)