Fish Eyed View

Looking at the World through a Different Lens

Archive for April, 2009

Making the Most Out of What Is Available

Apr 30

Posted by Fish Eyed View in Archives, Conservation, Philosophy, Society, The Recession

As a continuation of this series…

In the setting of nature and the species that live within it, food, water, and the resources used to provide shelter are sourced from the local environment.  These species utilize what is available to them in their local habitat.

Now, as humans are a vastly more complex species than others, our lives are no longer really as simple as only being guided by the pursuit of basic food, shelter, water, sustenance, and happiness.  We have created endless supply chains for items that sustain us and contribute to the building of our shelters.  Even some of the most elemental of products that we consume are shipped from thousands of miles overseas.

Let’s start by breaking this down a bit.  Are our needs really that much more complex than those of other species, when you hash them down to the most fundamental level?

In a general sense, I don’t feel that they are.  We are driven by the same needs, desires, and instincts as many other mammal species.  We need food, water, and security; love, and contentment.  Those are the essential driving forces that make us tick.  They are entirely evident if you peel back all the layers of the human condition.

The thing that does make us different from other species is that we have been able to harness our creativity and the power of ideas.  This has only been enhanced throughout time by our unparalleled ability to communicate with each other with precision.  We have evolved into incredibly intelligent beings who have essentially been able to create a complex world around us that caters to manifestations of all of the above needs, desires, and instincts.

Now I won’t go too deep here into this sort of philosophy on a money blog, but I will extract some things that can be learned from our inherent origin as species who emanated from nature.

And again, I am looking at the natural world and its origins in a general sense which is not intended to be exclusionary.  I feel that religion and evolution can go hand-in-hand and are compatible.  I do not disbelieve in one or the other.  Each is an interpretation of the world we see around us and each has its own validity.

There are a couple important things that I feel can be learned from examining the natural world and how most species utilize resources from their local habitat…

making-the-most-from-what-you-haveMaking the most out of what is available. Going back to the example of birds.  They utilize the natural resources available to them.  They build nests out of whatever they can find, and they certainly make the most of it!  So reflect upon this a bit in relation to your household in general.  Are there resources around you with which you can be creative and use to your advantage?  How often do you find that you no longer want a certain item that is perfectly useful or in good condition?  Is your first thought to just discard it in the trash?  Is there something useful that could be gained from it instead?

Our commercialized society has conditioned us and ingrained in many of us the notion that we must always have new and “upgraded” things, and that we should not settle for hand-me-downs, repaired items, or things that are older.  And of course that makes sense from the view of the manufacturer or producer – they must create a continual market for products somehow!

And this insatiable thirst for the latest and greatest is essentially the antithesis of the notion that we should make the most out of the resources around us.  In our homes, we are trained that things are disposable and to be used only once.  In many areas, we basically have little choice about where the things we buy originate from.  A huge percentage of household wares are manufactured in other countries.  Just a random stroll through a department store makes it evident that there is a low number of items available for purchase that were made in the United States.

In my opinion, from a household level, practicing frugality in general is a very large contributor toward a possible remedy to these habits, which can only help toward a more sustainable economy and environment.  This sense of frugality will be discussed in my next post in this series.  But what about society and the economy in general?

We have shipped hundreds of thousands of jobs overseas, since somehow the corporations figured that instead of utilizing the skilled workforce it already has within the borders of the country it does business in, that it can profit even further by utilizing labor in other countries.  That is not making the most out of what is local.

And the same goes for the raw materials needed to produce the manufactured items.  Most of the time I would guess that the least expensive materials are utilized in the manufacturing process, using elements and substances from foreign lands.  Now of course, saving money isn’t a bad thing, but in many ways, I think the overall concept of that becomes a lazy crutch for many corporations seeking to take the easy way out and not making the most out of what is available nearest them.

So am I saying that corporations and the way our economy works is entirely bad?  No.  Should we eliminate global trade?  No.  We need exports to help flourish.  What I do feel though is that corporations, investors, and businesses need to step back a bit from outsourcing jobs to other countries, and also need to utilize resources local to them and make the most of them.  Why can’t we employ more of our own citizens?  Why can’t more products be manufactured here?  I don’t think it’s for a lack of resources…

Check back soon for the continuation of this post, and a currently applicable example of how using the principle of how natural systems utilize resources to their maximum possible benefit can potentially create jobs and independence.

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Interdependence

Apr 27

Posted by Fish Eyed View in Archives, Conservation, Philosophy, Society, The Recession

In these modern times, many of us in the industrialized and civilized world are quite disconnected from being truly interdependent on nature itself.

Many of us live in cities or towns in a house built to protect us from the elements, but also to provide a comfortable, convenient existence. And I certainly won’t complain about that.

But it is a bit unfortunate though that, since we have created a modernized, mechanized, and material society around us, and have made money the primary means as to how to obtain sustenance, we have, in many ways, lost sight of a true reality.

That reality is that we are a part of nature, and not above it. The natural world does not revolve around us, nor is our natural environment here only for us to use with reckless abandon.

Without getting into an ideological debate with this, it is important to remember that this notion is not incompatible with religious faiths, whatever your belief is, so my intention is certainly not one of exclusion. I feel that evolution and religion are compatible, and belief in one does not necessarily mean that you have to disbelieve or discredit the other.
So with that being said, let me get back to my examination of this notion that we are a part of nature, and realizing our place in it to the fullest extent possible can help us become more of an interdependent society, rather than a dependent one.

And this will be done in a more philosophical sense, with which you, depending on your situation or environment, may be able to extract and apply things to your specific situation as you see fit. Obviously, we all may not have tillable land to start a garden in our backyards, or live in proximity to an area with which farmers’ markets thrive. And that’s fine – the most important thing to keep in mind is that the simple realization of our place in nature can help bring about positive change, no matter how small, and a collection of small changes equals much larger ones!

In many ways, we have built a society that relies entirely on money to function. If the money were to all of a sudden become scarce or lose its value, then many people would not know what to do.

Since the start of the Industrial Revolution, we have lived in an era of relative abundance. Due to technological advances and the motive of profit, entities have been developed that make a business of production for the sake of making as much money as possible.

Now granted, there have always been businesses throughout modern history, but never on the scale of the corporations that have come about through the evolution of the Industrial Revolution. This sense of wide-scale production and transportation has created methods to put the production and dissemination of goods in the hands of large manufacturers and distributors, thus making it easier and less expensive to obtain whatever goods a person desires, as long as he or she can afford them. What has resulted is what we could call “the economy.”

interdependence

Instead of making things for ourselves, from resources at hand and local to us, we have become reliant on going to “the store” for everything that we want or need. Most of us no longer plow our own fields to grow our food, make our own clothes, dig our own wells for water, and so forth. Without this hands on approach to nature, we lose sight of what it really takes to bring about our own sustenance. We do not see what it takes to grow a bushel of wheat. We do not see what it is like to raise a herd of sheep to bring about wool for our clothing. We have not built our own shelter.

Now again, I am not saying that we should all abandon our way of life and go out into the woods and live off the land. But I am suggesting that we at least remember that the world around us is not all about cars, streets, stores, airplanes, TV, and such. We are interdependent with nature.

Now there is a large degree of interdependence within in the current-day economy, but that interdependence has shifted from a true back and forth relationship with nature, to one where it is entirely dependent on nature, and interdependent on other industries, all of which are mostly only dependent on nature as well.

To me, this sort of relationship can easily get out of balance, because in general, it does not fully heed the principles discussed in this post. Our economy has become out of balance, possibly and partly because of a disproportionate measure of handling of resources among different entities, whether that be money itself, raw materials, natural resources, and more.

When we try to make the most profit possible, for the quickest gain, while spending the least amount of money and effort, the result can many times be a degradation of the resources required to produce the product in the first place.
A good example of this would be a corporate farm that produces only one type of crop in its fields. Over time, without rotating different crops on the same field, which can help maintain the right balance of nutrients in the soil, the soil can become infertile and essentially useless, therefore deeming that area of land no longer tillable.

Thus, the crux of my point: Without the realization that we are indeed part of nature (interdependent), instead of masters of it manipulating it for our sole benefit (dependent), then imbalance follows, which wreaks havoc on our world and economy as a whole.

When you realize our place in nature, you realize the importance of nature’s principles, more of which will be discussed in updates to come…

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It’s All About The Balance

Apr 25

Posted by Fish Eyed View in Archives, Conservation, Philosophy, Society, The Recession

Natural ecosystems are all about balance.  Due to the factors that play a role in this - most importantly, the interdependence of all species – the ecology of the earth in general keeps itself in check.

In the most simplistic interpretation of how an ecosystem operates, everything essentially relies on other things within its environment for sustenance.

Look at birds for example.  They live entirely from resources found in their natural environment.  They get their food from eating insects, fruit, seeds, plants, and other sources, depending on where a particular species has evolved and adapted to.  Water is obtained from rivers, lakes, the ocean, or even from food, depending again on the species and where it has evolved.  Shelter, when needed, is created from resources local to the area as well.

Considering this, one important point to keep in mind is that most species in the natural world use only the resources they need to survive, and no more.  So that brings a further point to emphasize…

In natural ecosystems, virtually nothing goes to waste.  There is a remarkable sense of efficiency apparent when a variety of interdependent biotic (living) and abiotic (non-living) components of a given environment are studied.

Although there is much to learn from our natural earth as a whole (but without going too much further into the vast complexity of it), I want to extract the most important principles of what keeps ecosystems in balance, so as to examine how they might be applied to our households.  This can potentially benefit the economy and environment as a whole by helping keep our human-created systems and infrastructures in better check.

So what are these principles?

its-all-about-the-balance

Interdependence. – We all play a very important part in the economy and human environment as a whole.  How we use resources in our households, in our businesses, in our corporations, and in our countries directly or indirectly affects each other in one way or another.  For example, a large majority of the American public relies on grocery stores as their food source.  The grocers rely on farmers and corporations to produce the food.  The food producers rely on the natural environment to produce the food sold to the grocer.

Natural resources are sourced locally. – Using the example of birds, they utilize resources from the local environment with which they are currently in.

Frugality is the norm. – In general, species in the natural world use only the resources they need to survive, and no more.

Conservation is automatic.  Efficiency abounds.  Wastefulness is essentially non-existent. – Many species plan for scarcity.  Instinctually, they use resources with this in mind.  Whether this means gorging themselves to build up their fat stores to get them through a winter with relatively no food, or the fact that there may not be much food currently available in their environment (so they have to consume sparingly and to maximum benefit), in either case, they are essentially following the ideal of conservation.  The concept of wastefulness doesn’t come to mind, because resources generally don’t come easy.  The concept of interdependence integrates into here as well, since some species also may conserve so as to save more to share with their immediate groups, for example.

Now of course there will have to be interpretive applications of these concepts to many areas within a household or area of the human environment, but much can be derived from them.

Check back soon for an examination of each of these principles and how they can be applied to your household, which can not only create more balance within your finances and well-being, but within society as a whole.

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Money, In Essence, Is Not Natural

Apr 23

Posted by Fish Eyed View in Archives, Conservation, Philosophy, Society, The Recession

There are basic elements of life that must be met in order to ensure survival.  Once these needs are met, then in general, the next things of importance can be embraced, and a sense of fulfillment met.

So how does money fit into this picture?

Before I delve into a bit of philosophy about that, I wanted to take a moment to examine the natural world around us.

In the natural order of things, money plays no part.  There is no other species of life that uses it, nor is their a true ecosystem or natural pecking order that revolves around it.  But yet, there are hundreds of thousands of species among us that live out their existence without the use of a unit of trade or legal tender to bring amount their means of survival or fulfillment.

From a naturalistic point of view of the world as a whole, the human species does not take precedence or superiority over other species; rather, it fits into the natural balance of the earth’s ecology.  In this naturalistic sense, which is essentially non-existent in our civilized world, humans would have an ideal habitat with which to thrive and be fulfilled from the environment around us.  There would be no need for money, because everything needed would be at hand, and our instincts would guide our survival, just as is so for every other living organism.

Although I am not an adherent to the overall philosophy of naturalism, I do think there are some very useful things that can be learned by looking at the world through that lens from time to time.

money-is-not-natural

Now the human species is entirely too complex to hypothesize that it would be possible to have a society that does not utilize money; hence, it only makes sense that our civilization requires it to function.  But I do feel that at one point, it came to a crossroads where it has went far beyond a locus where money can be viewed as a useful tool, to a place where we have become overly reliant on it, so much so that if it were to become suddenly scarce or lose its value, then we would be left stranded in ruins.

One can only look back to the Great Depression to see the effects of such a scenario.

We have transcended to a point where we have let our creations overcome our true place in nature, and as a result, we are losing touch with the true reality.

Now I’m not saying let’s all take a “let’s get back to our roots” approach to living our daily lives.  We are at a given point in time where our society is built how it is built, and all we can do is move forward.

But we can make adjustments in our thinking and behavior that allow for “progress” to take a different direction.

Our economy is built on a model of continued, sustained growth, and if that doesn’t happen, it seems that issues result, as evident by the current economic crisis.  But can our civilized world perpetually “grow?”

When it comes to big picture economics in general, like the ones that you learn in Macro- or Microeconomics classes in school, I am certainly no expert.  Those concepts seem entirely too complicated for me to comprehend with logic, as I tend to view money in more simplistic terms, so I will leave that up to the experts.

But one thing I can assume is that as an economy grows, so does overall consumption, and the resources needed to support it.

I do feel there is a problem to this model though, in that there is only a limited number of resources to utilize to fuel this consumption and growth.

So should a change in approach be integrated into our society and economies in general, so as to develop a more sustainable and balanced economy that can last for generations?  Should we examine natural systems and see what can be learned from them?

There is a lot to be learned from observing the natural world around us.  Now it will be far too complex to try to examine this looking at the big picture of the world as a whole in this blog, but what about taking some simple ideas and integrating them into your household philosophy?

Check back soon for a start to this discussion…

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Impossible Duality?

Apr 21

Posted by Fish Eyed View in Archives

What exactly is this world around us?  Does reality lie far beyond what we really see in the industrialized world?  Beyond the economy, our modern infrastructure, our cars, our homes, our jobs, the grocery store, the shopping mall, the television, and many more human creations, what indeed makes the earth work?  Aren’t we in control, and don’t we take dominion over the workings of the globe?

These are questions that have been circling around in my mind ever since I was a small child.  Looking out into the world, my analytical mind has always been very curious about how things really work.  I have always tried to seek out knowledge, and determine what makes the most sense to me.

And with so much knowledge out there, there are certainly many interpretations and a varied wealth of data about so many things.  Naturally, with so much to comprehend, I would say that I generally don’t take things by only their face value.  Being an intrinsic skeptic, I try to look for the whys and hows about things, rather than just take as truth everything that the powers that be sometimes masquerade as infallible.

With these innate characteristics, I see the world around me in a way where I feel that what the modern, industrialized, human-created world projects on us as how things really are, may be, in fact, not how things really should be.

Does this mean that I am a misanthrope?  Most certainly not!  I love people and the beautiful culture, community, compassion, respect, and good works that humankind has created.  Our modern society is definitely something that is astounding and remarkable, and so many benefits have been bestowed upon us as a result of technological advances and inventions.

We have been able to develop a quality of life that is reliably unsurpassed in the history of the world.
With this gradual development into things as we know it though, there have been many aspects which have delivered us farther and farther away from the natural origins of our being.  In many ways, this is unfortunate, because we may really be missing out on certain elements of life which otherwise could be part of us.

The reasoning for this?  Well, it could possibly be that throughout humankind’s evolution - physically, mentally, and spiritually – our ancestors were asking a similar question to mine.  They could have been trying to figure out the workings of what was around them, always with the instinct of survival guiding them along the way.

nature-science-and-history

Without the adeptness into the field of science as we know it today though, along with the continuing advancement of intelligence, earlier humans were only able to explain the cosmos in ways that they could comprehend at the time, and made the most sense to them, given the knowledge and technology at their disposal.  Many times credulous (e.g., the world is flat), due to the lack of resources that could assist with factually grasping the complexity of the universe, deep-seated axioms were developed and became entrenched.  As time went by, and the human population got larger and began to spread into other areas of the globe, the desire for power and wealth further emerged from these axioms, and at times, greater knowledge led to greater power, using what was considered to be the ultimate truth.  This was many times held by the triumphant and their wishes, and was forcefully dispelled to those under their control.

Fast-forward to more present times, and one can look back and potentially see the vast multiplicities of thought that have characterized the unfolding of life as we know it today.

Additionally, with some further observation, one can see the reign of power (and the varied evolvement of the structures that lust for money, control, and manipulation), and how they have manifested themselves.

I feel this makes for a good part of the foundation on which a lot of our society has been built upon.  And this may be where the crux lies – in other words, it could be how life in our industrialized world has gotten to the point where it is losing any semblance of a natural, balanced existence.

For the sake of this existence, I perceive that it is incredibly important to carve out a sense of duality…

Our civilization has become so advanced and complex, that it is impossible for the population as a whole to be able to fully set this aside, and entirely integrate back into nature.  We have built vast megalopolises that are home to skyscrapers and tens of millions of people.  Very little recognizable nature exists in many of these “concrete jungles.”  An average working citizen may spend his days between home and work, walking or traveling on pavement, going from building to building, spending most of his time indoors amongst synthetic materials.  He may dwell in artificially-lit surroundings, in front of a computer screen, crunching numbers for ten hours per day, five or six days per week.  “Food” from the snack machine may be morning-time “sustenance,” fast food may be for lunch, and a microwave meal for dinner.

Everything he consumes comes from the store, neatly packaged in boxes or other containers.  He wheels the cart through week after week, while he watches money come and go.

The kids go through a similar routine as well.  They walk or ride to school the same way, spend all day in the classroom, and time spent outdoors may consist of an artificial ball field, a playground set, or a concrete court.
Sounds like a snapshot of modern life to me.  Is it bad?  No.

But there is some detriment to it; hence, why I feel a dual-existence – one that creates a healthy balance and understanding of the workings of our modern society, but also places a large emphasis on how we, undeniably, are a small part in the grand scheme of things – is steadfastly important.

Why?  Because life is much more than the scenario I described.  We cannot forget who we really are, and where we come from.

Again though, modern civilization is not necessarily lousy by any means.  I am a part of it like everyone else in the industrial world.  It would certainly be difficult to abandon the ease of turning on the shower every morning, only to instead go jump in the lake as a means of bathing.  Although sometimes that may be fun, what happens during the winter?

You can think of many examples of things from our current times that would certainly be difficult to live without!

But since many of us live far from nature, and have for our entire lives, we may not even know what that is like!

And it goes far beyond that.  As much as we need to experience nature, we need to understand it as well.  Comprehension of the natural world leads to an enhanced appreciation of it, which in turn can allow us to integrate it more into our lives, and for us to integrate more into nature.

This may go against the current workings of present-day society, and its “conventional” (but profitable) solutions for whatever ails us.

So what do we do then?  How can we integrate toward a more natural and sustainable future, with everything seeming so insurmountable?  Refreshingly, there are more and more of us asking the same question!

There are many solutions just waiting for us to embrace them.  When we focus upon the principles about how the world really works, then we can see hope for a more balanced, sustainable, peaceful existence just around the corner.

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