Thursday, September 17, 2009

Vandana Shiva: AutoPoetic Systems and Earth Democracy


"Solutions are coming from those who know how to live lightly, who have never had an oil addiction, who do not define the good life as "shop till you drop," but rather define it as looking after the living earth and their living community" says Vandana Shiva. This passage, and her entire book: "Soil Not Oil: Environmental Justice in an age of Climate Change" have greatly inspired be because I believe that simplicity is a solution, and that those who have been living lightly are our teachers. In North America we have a long way to go, but we can take inspiration from those who truly live lightly. And we can advocate for environmental solutions that are just for everyone.

Here are a few more quotations on systems that are autopoetic rather than mechanical. I have found living without the mechanical solution of my fridge has helped me to learn a little about the simple and poetic solutions inherent in nature and my understanding of it.

"In biology, the term development refers to self-directed, self regulated, and self-organized evolution from within. In the terms of Chilean scientists Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela, systems that self-organize and self renew are autopoetic systems...If the economic domain were to think of development in the same way, it would lead to a flourishing of biodiversity and cultural diversity. Development would conserve resources and energy while improving human well-being and human welfare."

"Self-organizing, self-regulated autopoetic systems are diverse and multidimensional. They display structural and functional diversity. They can heal themselves and adapt to changing environmental conditions. Mechanically organized industrial systems are designed externally. They are structurally uniform and functionally one-dimensional. Mechanically organized systems do not heal or adapt; they break down under stress. When a twig of a tree breaks, the branch heals itself. When a part of a car breaks, the car cannot repair itself."

"Earth Democracy calls for a systemic and inclusive response to the climate crisis, not the fragmented and self-serving response that corporations and rich countries are making. Earth Democracy allows us to break free of the global supermarket of commodification and consumerism, which is destroying our food, our farms, our homes, our towns, and our planet. It allows us to re-embed our eating and drinking, our moving and working, into local ecosystems and local cultures, enriching our lives while lowering our consumption without impoverishing others. In Earth Democracy, everything is interconnected. "

Vandana Shiva, Soil not Oil.
Posted by Andrea Peloso at 6:01 PM 2 comments
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