This is how human civilisation can save itself

John D. Liu on Inside Ideas

“We can restore all the degraded lands on Earth — and that needs to be the central intention of human civilisation. If it’s not, then we don’t know what we’re doing.”

John D. Liu speaks with a sensibility that should be second nature to all humans. He lays bare the dark fantasy humanity is engaged in: the ludicrous priorities governing our collective behaviour, which gives rise to delusions that we can own each other, bits of the planet, or believe that it makes sense to build nuclear weapons that can blow us all up, or have children mining minerals for electric cars. These fantasies run deep, John says — and they are dark.

On today’s podcast, he insists this “can’t be the basis of human civilisation”. He asks people to see it for the lunacy it is and to focus instead on the real human priority that “the restoration of the Earth’s systems is the great work of our time”.

Stepping out from behind the camera

In the 1980s and 90s John was working as a television producer and cameraman with CBS News, RAI and ZDF, covering major geopolitical events. During this time he was asked by the World Bank to document the spectacular rehabilitation of the Loess Plateau, and witnessing restoration work so effectively, and on such a grand scale, proved to be a transformative experience.

“When we do restoration it works much faster than anyone would imagine and it works well,” he said.

But the big question is “how do we now go from me to we?”, and to making restoration the focus of our collective intention.

“How do we put at the centre of human civilisation a collective intelligence, a collective intention, and how do we define that collective intention?,” he asks. “I would say that means restoring all the degraded systems on Earth because if we did that we would address toxicity, food insecurity, soil infertility, air quality, water quality, we would reduce dramatic weather events. And we would be in harmony with one another and the Earth.”

A tsunami of consciousness

John believes we can escape the dark fantasy reality has become by accessing a new level of consciousness

“There’s nothing wrong with the Earth, the problem is human beings,” he says. “Human civilisation is facing an existential threat but I think we can deal with this but not with the existing institutions, or the existing level of consciousness. We have to have a tsunami of consciousness which transforms the central intention of human civilisation, from shopping to restoring ecological function on a planetary scale. And we make sure that all human beings are treated justly and equally. And that all other species have their place and are treated equally, so that it’s not about the accumulation of material things or the domination of other people, it’s about survival.”

Such seemingly impossible turnarounds are not only possible, they are happening. John’s documentary on the Sekem initiative in the Egyptian desert shows this. In 1977 Dr Ibrahim Abouleish’s dream of producing agricultural and societal abundance from desert land appeared to many as just that, but is now a flourishing reality.

Likewise, the Ecosystem Restoration Camps John founded in 2016, dedicated to “repairing the Earth” by “bringing everyday people together, to restore degraded ecosystems from the ground up” are a flourishing reality.

When you listen to John’s voice you can hear the planet speaking. In valuing junk, sitting in cubicles selling bits of plastic for shipping around the world, and seeking domination of things, it is telling us we are destroying the symbiotic relationship we are in with all living things. But, as John makes clear, if we stop this and instead restore ecosystems, then “everything is possible”.

Article from INNOVATORS MAGAZINE.

Get a deep dive on inside ideas from global thought leaders, sign up for our ‘Innovate Now’ newsletter to get episodes straight to your inbox.

Check out Inside Ideas podcast website.

Watch and subscribe to Inside Ideas on YouTube, listen wherever you get your podcast, and follow the show on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Innovators magazine, and Apple News