Fritjof Capra – world renown scholar-activist, systems thinker, author, educator – joins Morag Gamble of the Permaculture Education Institute to share his reflections on COP26 and the shift in thinking and action needed to address the multiple crises humanity faces this decade.
Fritjof Capra, Ph.D., physicist and systems theorist, is a Fellow of Schumacher College (UK) and serves on the Council of Earth Charter International. Fritjof is the author of several international bestsellers, including The Tao of Physics and The Web of Life. He is coauthor, with Pier Luigi Luisi, of the multidisciplinary textbook, The Systems View of Life. Capra’s online course (www.capracourse.net) is based on his textbook. Find out more about Fritjof here: https://fritjofcapra.net
Morag Gamble is the founder of the Permaculture Education Institute – a global Learning Community exploring ways to live a one-planet-life, make a difference and make this our livelihood. https://permacultureeducationinstitute.org/
Header Photo by Josh Withers on Unsplash
The issue that seems to continually fail to be even discussed is perhaps at the heart of COP meetings: What does the world need?
The obvious response is material, to provide the basic human needs of water, food, clothes, shelter, etc. To achieve this, a healthy planet is essential.
But the other human need that is alluded to is that the world needs a healthy vibrant economic system, and here sits the underlying issue, because we have built a global economic system that is based on consumerism, excess and wastage, all of which result in an unhealthy planet.
Consumerism will always result in an unhealthy planet until such time as we learn to give back. Human beings are the only species on planet Earth that do not give back. We take, we process and our unwanted can no longer be absorbed back into the Natural systems of planet Earth.
The real challenge is the conflict that arises from having created an economy that has become a basic human need that threatens the security of supply of other basic human needs.
COP26 illustrates the value system of decision makers