Value beyond coin
We must look away from the bright and shiny tokens of transaction and into the depths of the intersections of our lives.
Once again, thank you, friends: last week’s post on the need to overcome the trade-offs of “compromises” and engage in truly inclusive collaboration was appreciated by many readers. Please keep sharing these words, if you are moved to do so.
This week, under another heat advisory, the challenge facing all of us feels both immediate and profound. Certainly, we must transition away from our addiction to fossil fuels, substantially reduce our carbon footprint, flatten the curve of ever-warming temperatures. But our impact on the planet goes much broader, and deeper, than that.
Shifting from fossil fuels to electricity means more batteries; more batteries means more extraction of essential components like lithium. As you might expect, lithium mining is far from benign. (Here’s a good source on the process, along with some stunning photos: https://www.euronews.com/green/2022/02/01/south-america-s-lithium-fields-reveal-the-dark-side-of-our-electric-future)
Water overuse is already decimating supplies in too many places around the world, including the American west. (Here’s a story about the depletion of the Colorado river, reaching crisis proportions: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/04/opinion/drought-climate-colorado-river.html)
The list could go on. And it could become tremendously discouraging, looking at all the items on it. Instead, let’s dive into the middle, the ground, the core.
It is time to transform our relationship with the earth to recognize, respect, and commit to regenerative practice: in economics, in technology, in agriculture, in politics, and in our communities.
Regenerative practice means we refuse to swap one type of extraction for another (oil for lithium, for example). We refuse to deplete a life-giving resource, water, to provide convenience or to support an imported, colonial view of beauty (I highly recommend spending a few minutes watching a video from the New York Times published under the headline “Kill Your Lawn Before it Kills You,” linked after the photo at the bottom of this post). We support farming that improves soil health, leaves air and water clean; we support ways of life that honor our dependence on this beautiful planet. We refuse to support those who would govern without true consent of the governed, who would sell our bodily autonomy and even our problematic democracy for one more year of power, one more pile of wealth.
We do not trade money for life, or life for money. Regenerative practice requires us to look away from the bright and shiny tokens of transaction and into the depths of the intersections of our lives. There, we see that all life has value far beyond coin.
In one way, regenerative practice is as simple as the rule I learned in scouting: leave a place better than you found it. Then, we focused on a campground or picnic area; now, we must include our world. The wider lens raises the level of complexity: how does this place relate to that one? If I tend to something here, am I making something else worse over there? We work on these complexities and within them, doing our best.
But the principles embedded in the practice are simple and powerful: give back, give forward. Be mindful of the wisdom of our ancestors, and of our legacy for generations yet to come.
Tread lightly, and with love.
Thank you for treading so lightly, and so lovingly, beside us all.
How to Fall Out of Love with Your Lawn: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/09/opinion/lawns-water-environment.html?