Tomorrow I will be attending a conference in Los Angeles to network with those working on getting the city to Zero Waste. This is no small project as what is needed is a major overhaul of infrastructure. Much like LA's traffic this needs strong planning and smart numbers running to make it happen. Part of the solution is composting and getting Waste Management facilities to upgrade their operations. Everyone can get into composting right now if they wish as there are several inexpensive ways of doing this at home. Here and here are some examples of turning a significant portion of your garbage into food for your garden.
Nature's autonomous maintenance of itself is one that we should be taking more time to understand. Of course what happens is quite different as what we humans tend to do is take systems that already work and try to reinvent the wheel so to speak. In other words, what we're currently doing is destroying (quite literally) thousands and thousands of template systems found in nature in order to put in its place one of our own. Due to our limited scope of time, mainly referencing the few thousand years that humans have been around as opposed to the billions that earth has, we are basically challenging the earth in a battle for who can design the better system. We feel that our way of living in our economic world must somehow indicate what the status quo on earth should be. What's good for humans is good for everything else.
It would seem that all we're doing is rearranging the chemical compositions of the earth. Earth has put everything in its place, from the crude oil in the ground to the water in the oceans to the trees in the forest, and has done a pretty good job of getting everything to sort of work together. This working together includes the many different lifeforms that inhabit this planet as well. Insert humans. Our perception is, cut down that tree so I have something to write on. Drill that oil out so I have somewhere to go. Rearrange the molecular structure of many chemicals so I have something to carry my water in. The central theme to this is us...and only us.
There are a few people in life who do understand the system we are apart of. What we see out in the streets however is very much different as our connection to the big picture is becoming less and less. We've disconnected ourselves in exchange for an enclosed world that we desire because of the television we wish to watch. Or the music we wish to listen to. Or the video games we wish to enjoy.
We now make more of a connection with our physical bodies from man-made created chemical compositions than that of what our own bodies are made of. That's the disconnect. We have more in common with the tree outside that your neighbor's dog keeps peeing on than the object made from plastic from which you are reading this text. Basically what we're doing is a very inefficient job of trying to "make this world a better place". There's no need. It's doing just fine on its own without our two cents.
Having said that let's look at what we can do to get reconnected. First, take a deep breath. Get your body in tune with your soul and penetrate that until you touch upon spirit. The part of you that is timeless. That part of you that has nothing to say because everything you see, hear, taste, smell, and feel says it for you. Once you've rested on that then look around you. Recognize the other living organisms that are doing the same thing you are, namely...living, being. Now take this opportunity to see what you can do to clean up the mess that you have created.
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