Listen to your Elders👵
Dear earthlings,
In every corner of the globe nature is telling us to stop and listen. We offer a piece of advice in these trying times.
🗞️ In Climate News
🇧🇷 Brazil’s Senate ignores Supreme Court’s decision and approves “Bill of Death: PL490”.
🇨🇭 Tens of thousands protest for climate justice in Bern, Switzerland.
⛽ UK gives go-ahead for biggest new North Sea oilfield in years.
🌡️ Climate change blamed as Europe’s cities see Autumn heatwaves.
🇮🇳 Heavy rain causes glacial lake to burst, killing 50 and stranding thousands in Sikkim, India.
🏔️ Mont Blanc, the tallest mountain in the Alps, shrinks by another 2 metres in just two years.
🇺🇸 Teenagers in Florida, USA battle county over plan to loosen wetland protections.
🗽 More rain expected to pummel NYC, as the city recuperates from last week’s deluge.
📈 Cool Trends
♾️ eco-musings
👵 Elder Wisdom
I recently decided to embark on a regenerative farming project on my family’s land in Italy. In Spring, before committing to the project, I met a wonderful permaculturist from Trieste, Chiara. I asked her, what are your plans for the summer?
“I’m spending the summer in the mountains between Austria and Italy with an elderly couple that has been living self-sufficiently for thirty years. They forage medicinal plants, conserve food for the winter, make their own cheeses, it’s amazing. I want to make sure I learn as much as I can from them, before it’s too late.”
Definitely different summer plans for your average 30 year old, which made me wonder: if wisdom is acquired with experience then why are we not looking to our Elders for solutions to our current problems? Already a lot of ancestral knowledge has been squashed under the guise of “development”, yet contrary to popular belief, I don’t think that modern technology or Silicon Valley will save us. Intense industrialisation and the reductionist scientific method are clearly responsible for many of the problems we are facing, so why would they be part of the solution?
If you analyse “sustainable” trends — mending clothes, eating seasonally, preserving food, tending the land and having a community to rely on — most of the current grandparent generation would find them completely normal. They’re the generation that grew up during a world war, they’re particularly appreciative of the abundance nature can offer whilst hyper aware of the scarcity that human induced insanity can bring. They’re the last generation to remember a world before hyper consumerism took centre stage. Our Elders hold invaluable knowledge and I think listening and learning from them may offer more wisdom than we can find on Chat GPT.
🌏 The Culture Column
📺 What we’re watching: Rice as a peace offering in India’s human-elephant conflict capital
📸 Profile of the week: @flourshingdiversity
📚 What we’re reading: Ancient Futures, Helena Norberg-Hodge
🤯 Scary fact we learnt this week: Only 4% of the world’s mammals are wild.