The Last Tree.
Easter Island, Lost in the Cedar Wood and the IPCC Mitigation of Climate Change Report
Welcome to Regen/ Notes
… a newsletter of regenerative news, stories and more, with a sideways focus on the built environment, curated by Martin Brown. It is a companion to our Regen/ Zoom activities where we connect the spaces between regenerative dots, sharing ideas, themes and individuals that invigorate and inspire.
The Last Tree on Easter Island
We probably all know the overarching story of Easter Island, but to revisit through the brilliant Penguin Green Ideas series book, The Last Tree on Easter Island by Jared Diamond, against the backdrop of todays world is so very sobering.
Faced with an ever increasing and insatiable consumption of the islands’ trees, natural materials for rope and food to support labour, all to build ever bigger statues in image competitions between clans, society collapsed rapidly into conflict, inequality, famine, refugee, illness and cannibalism.
When the islanders did get into resource difficulties, there was nowhere to flee to, nor where they could turn for help. In Doughnut Economic thinking, they busted the outer island resource limit which led to the collapse of the islands’ social foundation’s inner ring.
This reinforces Easter Island as a metaphor for our worst-case scenario. A metaphor that resonates with our overconsumption of stuff that exceeds one planet living, often for growth, image and a #DontLookUp meme.
We have to wonder if there were concerned voices raised on Easter Island, the equivalent of the IPCC, giving sane advice on not cutting down that last tree. Was there the equivalent of the sustainability / environmental manager within Easter Island clans, but too concerned with the most effective way to use the ever diminishing resources available, to beat the competing Clans in growth and winning at all cost, whilst knowing how much trouble they were in? Oh what a parallel with current times.
Epic of Gilgamesh
In a lovely and timely article in Prospect Magazine, (How folk music became the genre of environmental protest), Eleanor Salter quotes Robert Macfarlane who recently teamed up with folk musician Johnny Flynn to produce the brilliant Lost in the Cedar Wood. It tells the Epic of Gilgamesh—the destruction of a sacred cedarwood by Gilgamesh and Enkidu.
“Although the oldest known written story, the epic of Gilgamesh has a message of ecocide at its core which resonates today”
“Here we are, deep in the Anthropocene, failing to heed that warning of what happens when the natural world is systematically stripped of its liveliness and treated purely as infinite resources,”
Fast Forward to 2022
“The last two decades saw the highest increase in emissions in human history. Even though we know how much trouble we are in”.
Inger Anderson at the launch of IPCC 2022 Mitigation of Climate Change
Limiting global warming to 1.5C or 2C would mean “rapid and deep” emissions reductions in “all sectors” of the global economy, says the latest report from the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). CarbonBrief have published a comprehensive In-depth Q&A: The IPCC’s sixth assessment on how to tackle climate change
And from the 3000 or so pages of the report, this cracking chart may be the only one you need. How powerful would it be to see this as an infographic if every design office?
Sprint forward to 2025 and …
‘Carbon emissions must peak’.
Regenerative Playbook
“Sustainability since 1987, based upon the Brundtland definition (doing nothing today to compromise future generations) has failed and will not arrest the climate and ecological collapse we are witnessing” Martin Brown (Introduction)
Today, as we face the challenges of climate change, inequality and environmental degradation, we know that aiming to do less harm to people and to our ecosystems is simply not enough. We need to be Regenerative. Josie Warden, RSA (Welcome)
EarthDay 2022
We are only a few days away from this year’s Earth Day on the 22nd of April, with a theme of Invest in Our Planet, which marks the 52nd anniversary. The next edition of Regen Notes will feature more on EarthDay. What would be on your “invest in Our Planet” list?
Zoom Regenerative
zR continues its journey of raising awareness, joining the dots and celebrating the regenerative journeys of individuals on the 12th of April featuring Interior Designer and Author Rachel Fowler and Founder Tracing Green Canada and Drawdown Hemp Tracy Fielding
Registration details here - why not pop in and join our community of concerned and inspired regenerative future seekers, hear Rachel’s story leading up to the recent launch of her beautiful range of wallpapers, and Tracy’s insights into the wonderful world of hemp. Plus of course our gathering space, one-to-one chats and inspiring conversations.
What gives me hope?
Totally agree with Rob Hopkins here, and with all the doom laden news from the IPCC, this is what should give us all hope.
