ILLUMINATION SPECIAL PROJECT

What Can We Learn from the Twelve? About Gaia? About Us?

Twelve indigenous elders share their wisdom. Let’s listen.

What can we learn from indigenous people? We seem so far apart. Thinking that we, in our modern cities, have created civilization. Thinking that we are more intelligent. With our modern science. With our busy lives. With our money, waste, and pollution.

We’re trying to do good.

Of course, we do.

All of us.

We’re trying to become rich because we’re afraid we will fall off the edge. We won’t have enough to eat. Cannot feed our children. Have no shelter. Afraid to be homeless. Afraid to be shamed.

So, where’s Gaia in all of this?

When she’s healthy, she’ll feed us all. For free.

When she’s healthy, she’ll give us all breath. For free.

When she’s healthy, she’ll give us all water. For free.

Maybe it’s time to listen to her. To Gaia. And to the people who understand her better than we do. Maybe it’s time to listen to indigenous people. And combine technologies that support life with old wisdom.

Maybe it’s time to be humble. And to take up our place as wise guardians of this earth. Create abundance for all. Live a life worth living.

Loving. Learning. Creating.

The Twelve is a film about Elders sharing their wisdom. And don’t think they are just old people. They are Elders. There’s a significant difference, often not really understood in our western culture.

Elders will be thinking seven generations ahead before making a decision.

And you can train yourself to do the same. Visualize the mature person in your children’s eyes. Visualize your son as a father. Your daughter as a grandmother. And in your mind’s eye, your decisions will shift.

Here’s the trailer.

We can transform our economies.

There are great examples of local economies that build their value on synergy. The business models are now adopted by start-ups worldwide. Not longer growing just for the sake of it. But growing organically in hubs.

These companies are resilient. They are collaborating fiercely. They aren’t afraid of competition because they operate from their unique strengths. And create their own unique blue ocean markets like this.

We can embrace nature-based solutions in our cities. Like Sao Paolo professor Renata Marè is teaching her students.

We can use new materials for our pavements and buildings. Materials that address 21st century needs. Materials that swallow excess water and release it when needed.

Materials that will make us happy. Plants and trees producing oxygen. Our brains will be producing serotonin, making us feel happiness even stronger.

We can learn how to think systemically. Yes, our world is a complex world. But we can learn how to navigate the complexity. We can learn how to deal with chaos. How to find solutions that matter. Not in an old-fashioned reductionist way, but systemically.

Seeing the connections between all the different parts. And realizing that these connections might have a bigger influence on the outcome than specific specialist details would have individually.

And we can stop fighting. And start building a new future. Together. All of us. Supported by our mother. Gaia. There’s no one best way. There are many routes to a healthy future. And we need to design the one fitting to our local circumstances. Our natural surroundings. Our culture.

Practical tip for today: regenerative farming will be the first bridge between natural systems and human systems. We can restore ecosystems and grow food for our families. Resources for our products and flourishing biodiversity.

Caring for healthy, living soil. Not using pesticides and fertilizer but restoring the soil with organic matter and micro-organisms. Healthy soil gives us healthy food. Healthy oceans give us biodiverse algae and seaweeds to produce cosmetics and clothes.

Caring for animals, plants, rocks, and minerals. Taking up our space in life and sharing with all other species. Let’s co-create our future together. Let’s unleash the abundance of nature and mindfully use ALL she produces.

The weeds, such as thistles, can be resources for bioplastics. Biodegradable in soil, saltwater, and freshwater. How? Novamont is already doing it. Redefining the world of chemicals. Using local, abundantly available crops to redesign our products.

The waste can be a resource as well. All organic matter containing cellulose can be used to grow mushrooms on like Ekofungi is doing. Eat less meat. Eat mushrooms instead. They are very beneficial for our immune systems. Full of protein and many other healthy nutrients.

And all the time we’ll be giving back to Gaia. We’ll be returning the favor like in every healthy relationship. Designing the whole production processes mindfully. And caring for the end result. Treasuring our beautiful products.

Let’s all be part of the transition.

Let’s eat first.

And if you want to learn about systemic thinking, food growing, and regeneration, maybe you want to consider doing a permaculture course in your own neighborhood. They are popping up all over the world. Check it out. And if you can’t find one locally, consider doing one online.

Here’s a great one (free, based on a voluntary donation). Designed by 40 very wise women from all over the world. As a team. Sharing their wisdom on land care and fair share. On wisdom with plants, food, and water cycles. Enjoy the learning process!

This special project for Gaia is thought of by Dr John Rose. He started it all with this story.

I tag some readers and writers in my Gaia stories for this special Illumination Project. You are on this list because of two reasons. You either asked me to be kept informed. And I would like to hear all of your perspectives on Gaia and positive action. Please tag me in your stories for this Gaia project. I’d love to read yours.

Dr John Rose, Dr Mehmet Yildiz, Amy Marley, Lanu Pitan, Carlotta Manzoni, Chris Hedges, Henery X (long), Agnes Laurens, Maria Antoanela Ionita, Infiniti, Livia Dabs, Eli Snow, Robert Nelson, Martine Weber, Christyl Rivers, Phd., Supriya Verma, Elisabeth Khan, Keno Ogbo, Ann K Frailey, Eliot Kersgaard, Francesca Brandani, Kayli Kunkel, Lets Save Earth, Chowa Sekai, Suntonu Bhadra, Mathias Barra, FILZA CHAUDHRY, Nomanono Isaacs, Jhon Munoz, Mike Alexander, Selma, Paul Myers MBA, Sylvia Love Johnson, Joe Luca, Rasheed Hooda, Bob Jasper, Kathryn A. LeRoy, Ph.D., Tree Langdon ♾️, Tim Maudlin, Trista Ainsworth, Aurora Eliam, CMP, B. A. Cumberlidge. Blaine Coleman. Kenneth Silvestri. Karen Madej💛, Ashok Subramanian

And if you want to connect, you can find me on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, or my website. Or somewhere in our food forest, enjoying the young foxes playing…

One more story about indigenous wisdom.

The Amazon needs our action. Please, hear her calling. And if you’re not close, think about her from afar. She’ll hear you. She’ll be empowered… like the alive being she really is.