A two-minute video from the UK on "Nature"

 This is "tongue-in-cheek", but certainly right on the mark regarding the importance of the natural world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhlMWK7GysA

Of course, there are several more benefits of Nature in addition to those mentioned in the clip above.  Here are just a few---

1.  Healthy forests stabilize and fertilize soils.  Such happens both in the forest and downstream from it.

2.  Both macro green plants and microbes have provided us (and continue to do so) with life-saving/life-affirming  medicines.

3.  Billions of friendly bacteria exist in our gastro-intestinal tract.  Without them, we would not survive.

4.  Wetlands filter water and help reduce flooding.

5.  Birds, bats, some insects, and several other animals (e.g., frogs and toads) eat crop-destroying insects.

Too many neoliberal, mainstream economists and technocrats believe our economy is above, beyond, and superior to Nature.  The same is largely true of most people in Wall Street Finance and Banking.  They all are dead wrong.  All human activities are a subset of, and embedded in, the natural biophysical world.  The opposite view has resulted in the current Meta-Crisis.

We must stop electing people to political office who are Ecology-Blind.  If we don't, their blindness will continue to threaten organized human civilization.  Further degradation of the natural world will negatively impact our health, our food, our water, our air, our economy, and our overall well-being as never before.  Time is running out to reverse that course , and there's no greater priority.  Many people (on the micro-scale) are acting responsibly and getting on board.  We definitely need that, so KUDOS to them; however, too many politicians (on the macro-scale) and private Powers-That-Be in too many countries (including the USA) are stalling, and kicking the can down the road.

There is no comprehensive Plan to convert to a sustainable society in any country on Earth.  Bits and pieces, yes, but no holistic approach anywhere.  At least, I've not seen any, and I've searched diligently.  In my next post, I'll show you a Plan which could be a good starting point.

...........................

Not only my opinion.  Take Care

The Pandemicene: especially for humans who think they are separate from & above Nature

 Climate Change/Disruption (along with wildlife habitat damage/destruction by humans) is causing many animal populations to find a new home.  The result is an increase in contact and sharing of new viruses among different animals.  A new study in the journal, Nature, shows how that scenario likely will result in more pandemics in the human population.

https://www.democracynow.org/2022/4/29/ed_yong_pandemicene

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04788-w

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01198-w

Meanwhile, too many national Leaders around the globe appear to be working on window-dressing solutions to Climate Change, or simply kicking the can down the road in other ways.  On top of that, Leaders in a few places have launched wars during this time of an existential threat labeled the socio-eco-econ-ethical crisis.  Having done so, they exhibit monumental ignorance.  It's no wonder that many Main Street people are losing faith in the capabilities of national politicians...all across the political spectrum.

Not all, but most of the progress toward solutions to the crisis are happening below the national level.  Such is orders of magnitude better than nothing, but it will not suffice.  In fact, more is needed than just national efforts.  The crisis is global, not only national, or provincial, or city-wide.  Global planning and cooperation is crucial if civil society is to survive and thrive.

To those who may be concerned primarily with their national territorial imperative (see the book by Robert Ardrey, The Territorial Imperative) and the freedom of independence, please consider the following points---

1)  Neither of those two concepts will do you much good if you have insufficient food, potable water, clean air, unpolluted soil, etc., or if we all are ravaged by viral diseases, or have collapsed economies, or exist in a neofeudal society with only the very Rich and the relatively Poor, or if we're sick from a toxic environment.

2)  Cooperating to combat/mitigate/alleviate an existential global crisis does NOT have to mean losing nationhood or freedom in general.  Some sacrifices will have to be made by all of us, but you won't become a slave.

3)  In a real sense, the current system is making you a slave--- to Debt, and to the Rat Race of unlimited economic growth + overconsumption...while polluting our limited/finite habitat.  Who benefits?  Overwhelmingly, it's the Super-Rich, the Upper Crust, the new aristocrats.

Bottom line:  stop drinking the Propaganda Kool Aid coming from the State-Corporate-Financial Complex.  Ignore the sound bites and the molding of the public mind.  Question everything.  Ignore the Bread & Circuses.  Dig deep when you study an issue.  Think out of the box we've all been put into.

The public and private Powers-That-Be want you to believe technology is going to save us from the existential threat we're facing.  Without a paradigm shift in values/ethics, it won't.

.......................

Not only my opinion.  Be Well