WORLD

How the Age of Extinction Can Be Overcome by Abundant Adaptation

Umair Hague and 3D Water Evaporation

umair haque is a well-known economic writer on this platform and elsewhere. He’s the vampire. Living at night for reasons you will find out when reading his stories. Umair and I understand each other.

The world sucks. American citizens are being blindly kept in hypercapitalism, just like the Koreans. Welcome to Netflix’s Squid Game in our real world. And of course, there’s the fact that nobody is doing shit about climate change. Global warming. Until the shit hits the fan.

And that time is now. Hot shit is flying around the globe now.

India is experiencing the worst and earliest heatwave. And India is not alone. Children are noticing. Read Umair’s story with the same image I use in mine. The Age of Extinction Is Here — Some of Us Just Don’t Know It Yet.

“My other sister says that in the old, beautiful city of artists and poets, eagles are falling dead from the sky. They are just dropping dead and landing on houses, monuments, shops. They can’t fly anymore. [..]

People, too, try to flee. They run indoors, spend all day in canals and rivers and lakes, and those who can’t, too, line the streets, passed out, pushed to the edge. [..]

You see, my Western friends read stories like this, and then they go back to obsessing over the Kardashians or Wonder Woman or Johnny Depp or Batman. They don’t understand yet. Because this is beyond the limits of what homo sapiens can really comprehend, the Event. That world is coming for them, too.” — Umair Hague

Children are born for these times. Children see the implications of what’s happening very quickly. And in Umair’s story, there’s a child. She feels the Extinction Event. She’s a deep observer. A deep listener.

She’s five years old. And she asks: “Mummy, where is the monster?” She sees the dead birds and animals lying in the street and her only conclusion can be that there’s a monster somewhere lurking in the (until now non-existent) city bushes.

“It’s already 50 degrees Celsius in the Subcontinent. Spain is bracing for an extreme heatwave, of about 40 degrees plus as is Europe, as is much of America. That’s at one degree or so of global warming. At two degrees? The Subcontinent hits 60 degrees Celsius. Spain and Europe hit 50. At three degrees? Equatorial regions hit 70 degrees Celsius or more. Spain and Europe hit 60.” — Umair Hague

Adaptive Species Are Thriving Species

Umair and I are four hands on one belly as we would say in my (Dutch) native language. We just look from different angles toward possible solutions. So, that’s why I’ll give you mine. And motivate you to read his solutions too.

Combined solutions are always better solutions.

In my economic worldview, there’s no use trying to convince institutions, industrial CEOs, and leaders on the comfortable, velvety plush seats of power of anything. They are the ones with blinders on.

They want to keep things as they are. And that’s stupid. Technological and commercial lockins are to blame for our shitload of shit. The changes are so visible, I can’t believe that not everyone sees them!

But sadly, they don’t. Yet. So, can we be Davids to Goliaths and change the rules of the game? Yes, we can. And we should. For our children and grandchildren.

So, what can we do?

Remember Darwin. Adaptive species are thriving species.

Is my worldview bleak? No, not exactly. In contrast to Umair, I have hope. Active hope. I live a life of Abundanism.

Abundanism is abundance based on three values. Life, health, and freedom for all. With my hands in the soil and my feet in the sea, I contribute worldwide to the solutions I write about. We need to add more abundance to our world. Abundant microbes create healthy, living soil. Abundant minds can live with huge diversity.

Abundant freshwater will replenish our bodies. Abundant color, dance, and vibrancy will replenish our souls. And abundant materials will make basic needs cheap if we embed them in wise economic systems.

Life is about aliveness, isn’t it?

Well, let’s dance4theplanet with my friend and Netflix star Vandana Hart! She understands what’s happening. She makes a real difference in cities around the world. Living her artist life with city dancers.

I’m witnessing wonderful results all around. Nature-based solutions. Biomimicry is the #1 innovation tool right now. Blue Economy has been building cluster economies, economies of scope, since the 1970s.

Web3, DAOs, and NFTs are changing the world from centralized systems to decentralized and fully distributed systems. Power to the people definitely includes digital design! Social and environmental startups and innovative SMEs are changing the status quo right now.

So, I just do my job in all this. Spreading my Wild Writing wide and far. So everyone can copy projects, ideas, and best practices.

We can be an adaptive human species. And thrive…

City Life in the Year 2222

My descendant Merlinda is a young mother living in the year 2222. She’s the great-great-great-granddaughter of one of our grandsons (they are now 7, 5, and 3). Our grandsons live in the Netherlands, a country predicted to be the first nomadic European tribe because of rising sea levels and flooding rivers.

So, I talk to Merlinda. And write about her experiences. I give Moonshots of what’s possible. How does Merlinda experience her city in 2222?

• Merlinda walks the streets between lush green walls and roofs. Cleaning the air outdoor air like our already built city hall in Venlo. A healthy building. The citizens know that in order to cool a city with evaporation and the small water cycle, you need 3D thinking. You need height differences in plants for the small water cycle to function
• Merinda never gets wet feet because her city is designed like the sponge cities in China. No flooding. And freshwater is kept moving underground until needed in dry times. No extraction of groundwater for drinking water. Desalination instead
• Everybody carries a desalination bottle with which they can quench their thirst healthily. The remaining salt she uses for the molten-salt batteries in her home
• Merlinda’s phone (well, is it a phone? It looks different and tiny) is holding her NFT-creations (non-fungible token). And the DAO (decentralized, autonomous organization) she’s part of gives her a basic income in her very diverse community of makers. No need to be poor on basic needs. And if she wants anything extra, she works for it. Although, work and life have merged for Merlinda. She just uses her unique talents to contribute to life. And is paid. Or not. Whatever she chooses
• In 2222, energy is designed from local sources. One building at a time. Small, self-sustaining grids of 12–24V in houses. Balancing supply and demand in the area. Hydrogen doesn’t need electrolyzers or compressors anymore. So, it is used widely. Stored safely in compartmentalized vessels shaped like beehives. First designed in 2021 by the international biomimicry students of Born Global
• The children play in the streets because the cities are without cars. The smallest and slowest means of transport have right of way. Pedestrians. Cyclists. Rules have been made for when a swarm of drones comes over to deliver some basic needs packages of stuff that really cannot be produced locally
• The swarms happen less and less in 2222. Because the technology of phytomining and additive manufacturing is now so far developed that Merlinda 3D-prints a new dress when she wants it. The old one is immediately decomposed by microbes. Activated in the dress material
• And the shops? They don’t trade stuff. They trade experiences
• Merlinda’s city is not so densely populated anymore. Demolition of unused buildings is #1 and many people have relocated to the countryside. Inland. Mountainous areas. They can because of their remote work. They have become digital nomads. And they love it because they work on food and resource forests too. Like the indigenous agroforestry now happening in Hawaii
• Monsanto and Bayer have been transformed into biochemical companies focused on processes instead of old-school poisoning chemistry. Just like DSM, Firmenich, and Novamont have already done centuries before
• There are open community biolabs everywhere. People have the power in 2222. Not the big companies. Their customers are kings and queens. And all citizens have used their power big time to arrange huge changes
• In Merlinda’s time, we don’t live near rivers or coastlines anymore. The earth isn’t choking in asphalt and concrete. Material science changed a lot of that. As well as the economic rule that people cannot inherit buildings or land. We are born naked and we die naked. And the time in between, we have freedom. Autonomy combined with full responsibility for all that we create
• In 2222, the pioneers living on the Great Pacific garbage patch are no longer pioneers. They have found out how to grow food and desalinate water, and they have built healthy houses on the plastic garbage. Biodiversity is huge on the garbage patch because the animals were much quicker finding out how to live here. The people who settled here want to have space. Well, they got it. And they share it with many other species. They changed the name of their continent from Garbage Patch to Flourishland.

And all people get on with creating their vibrant lives…

Citizen Power

So, my friends, what can we do in the meantime to be an adaptive species? The easiest way for humans is to create conditions conducive to life. No depression, blood, sweat, and tears, please. Just lazy common sense. Go back to the core and redesign your own life with simplicity.

Be the change your want to see in the world.

• You can live like an artist. Your life is your artwork
• You can create a tiny forest near your home. The huge movement started in Asia. Watch Shubhendu Sharma in his TED talk. You can throw seed bombs on every open space of land. Regreen. Cool down the city
• You can influence your local government. You can lobby to give rivers and mountains human rights. This will stop ecocide via law and give land access to guardians who appreciate her value
• You can educate yourself and your children about biomimicry, blue economy, and decentralized distributed DAOs. Systemic Design. Design Thinking. Experimenting. Exploring. And of course, you can immerse yourself in nature and learn from Gaia herself. That’s what I do for my Wild Writing
• You can simplify your life and stop hoarding and buying stuff. Our houses are way too big. Just for stuff. You can declutter your life and mind by embracing Marie Condo’s motto. “Does it give you joy?”
• You can bridge the gap between your private and professional life. You can bring your heart and soul to your workplace. Get yourself into some deep observation and deep listening. And you’ll know what needs to be changed. Manipulative business models. Exploitative strategies. There are alternatives these days. Apply them! And marketing is old-school anyway. Who believes adverts these days? Do it differently. Start a movement. And have honest conversations with your fans

Just remember, humans have been roaming the earth now for 300,000 years. And our earth has been evolving for 4.6 billion years. Who’s the wisest? Well, I think you can guess the answer…

Some old-school credibility for my writing can be found LinkedIn. You can also subscribe to my newsletter there. I’m a certified biomimicry and blue economy professional and external expert to the European Commission.

Thank you, Mike, for adding your wise energy to my words on abundance in our think-and do-tank Abundanism. Systemic Design for a good future.

Thank you, Gaia, for giving me Wild Writing. © Désirée Driesenaar, 2022