4.4.3 Being human in nature

Part of nature, part of the solution

Us humans are a part of nature, even though we might have seemingly stepped out of the synergy and ecological systems that the rest of nature still exists within. Just the concept of observation implies an outsider’s view. But the more we can re-awaken our awareness of the superiority of natural systems to our own interventions, the more we can also return to collaborating and working within the system. Observation is a great tool and skill to practice to be help re-awaken this awareness, and it can be very challenging too. 

We may never understand the full extent of nature’s complexity, but we can acknowledge it and its constant striving for solutions. Knowing this also means that perhaps the most solution-focused way forward is to leave nature untouched and allow for re-wilding where possible. To do this, we need to reduce our land use which includes choice of food, that is eating more plant-based foods, and to grow food by better design, using land better both by area and over time. And an important part of this is to optimise soil conditions, and in so doing optimising the food we grow on the land we use.

How we treat soil, how we treat ourselves

In recent history and still today, we are treating soil as an inert, mechanical, chemical entity, rather than a living one. Something we can adjust, amend and mould to serve our requirements. But being living (or in many places dying), and part of that larger entity Nature, there is a constant solutions-based fight back, and our human needs are minor on that horizon. Nature has a very different time-frame to our lifespans, and it can take hundreds, thousands, millions of years to heal. Meanwhile, our perceived quick-fixes continue to tangle us up. Instead of focusing on resuscitating and rehabilitating life in the soil, we continue to attempt to bypass that life with technological and chemical human-centred approaches. And the more we do this, the more we destroy the very life we’re dependent on.

To get to the root of the issue, would be to focus in on what soil needs to be healthy. But in many areas of agriculture, we’re opting for symptom-control. We apply fertilisers with increasing doses. We develop more pesticides to counter the resistance developed by the pests

In the same way t

There are plenty of parallels between how we treat soil and how we treat ourselves. And what’s more these cross-

To continue the parallels between soil health and human health for a little longer, we have interestingly adopted similar treatments of ourselves as our soils. We’re of course generalising a little here, but let’s take a few examples.

Diet

Synthetic fertiliser – synthetic flavours

NPK – carb, protein, fat

Fast food

Opting for symptom control

Pesticides/herbicides/fertiliser use – Pharmacological and surgical control of symptoms – rather than understanding the root cause and altering our behaviour

Neglecting diversity

Compost, plants – In our diet

Embracing diversity in soil – embracing diversity in society

Unhealthy system