The book Abundanism is coming along just fine. We are combining everything we have seen in the world so far and are condensing it into a book full of solutions and ways of thinking.
What are our basics? We learned from the blue economy (nature, systemic thinking, and technology), biomimicry (nature, technology, and living systems), permaculture (nature, biobased, ecosystem restoration), and agroforestry (ecological intensification) and our many many talks and projects with people, communities, companies, and governments.
And now we do our own thing. Make our own toolbox. So, lots of people can start with quick implementation. That's our aim.
Conversations & Triggers
I do know we need to have the conversations though, at Abundanism we certainly don't know all. But it certainly helps if you have a basic idea of where to look for the answers. And nature is in this our best compass. Nature and health for all humans and all other species.
The book will be broad. A core of the flower with loads of reproductive organs. :-) In the top picture, you can see what it entails. There will be puzzle pieces for all kinds of roles in life: parenting and educational roles, governments, businesses, farmers, and deep divers.
We will focus on identifying the toxic triggers in our currently very flawed systems such as economies and societies. Of course, we all need to become conscious human beings. That's clear. But until we are (and that is always a process from cradle to grave), we will need the systems to be built with healthy triggers.
Only this way, also unaware people will go automatically in the right direction.
Toolbox
We have developed many tools over the years. Zooming in & zooming out. Upstream & downstream. The Machete Method. And of course, our crystals. Why crystals? Well, that's easy. We need to leave space for Gaia to come in and add to the conversations.
The future always unfolds in crystals. So, we do that too. Our best crystal tool is the most simple one. Minimizing, maximizing, optimizing. We minimize what we don't want anymore. We maximize what we do want. And we optimize it all in a relevant system, the place where we are living our lives and doing our things.
If we focus on sustainability and regeneration, it is often about products and practical solutions. So, we use this one. Minimizing materials, maximizing processes, optimizing the relevant living system.
Let us give you a small example.
Problem? Microplastics in the sea and oceans, and in our human bodies
One of the big causes? Washing our synthetic clothes
Solutions now? We are only blaming each other. The consumers, who keep buying synthetic cheap stuff. The fashion designers, who keep the desire for beauty and new consumptions alive. The producers, who should go to organic materials. Some people say we should only minimize and go back to low-tech and the past.
Our take on this is a bit different. We blame no one. We just identify the acupuncture points of change and educate and inspire to make it happen.
What's the reality?
Consumers will keep loving change. We love the seasons. It's natural. We want different colors and life energies in spring than we do in winter
I would not want to go back to low tech and the past. My grandma and my mum wasted their lives doing hard jobs that could have been done by technology. They never had time for enjoyment. I wish people would see the past for what it was. A hard life with many kids and women who were burned out before they had even tasted life. Besides, washing clothes in the river is way worse for the water quality of our planet than what we do now
Going completely organic and non-synthetic isn't an option anymore. Our organic cotton t-shirts have a little elastic material in them to make them fit. And we all like it too much to ever let that go. The same with plastics. They brought us affordable functionality beyond borders. But it's time to move on. Be smarter. And better
So, what are the acupuncture points of change?
We always say: Nature has all the answers. What does Nature do to disinfect?
UV light
Wind flows
Water vortexes
Did you know a river cleanses itself by using vortexes? Pressing bacteria out and inviting them back in. Spiraling to the core of the vortex. And spiraling out with centrifugal forces. Fascinating!
Okay, when we know this, we can start walking in whatever role we have as human beings.
The Big Shift
The big shift would be to have a washing machine that doesn't use water to wash clothes, but UV light and ultrasonic waves. I knew Ad, who died a few years ago, who invented just this machine. The machine was even produced and tested and then buried by Bosch and Unilever. Too risky for their current market segments
So stupid! We all know that the first out there has the best chance of succeeding with evolutionary big shifts
Personal and Low Tech
Until these new machines are here and affordable, we can do other things to make our lives as sustainable as possible. Do you know for instance that washing liquids make the water wetter to penetrate the fibers? And as a result fish and frogs get sick? Water pollution penetrates their skins because of these harmful chemicals.
We really live in a sick world!
Make your life simple. Stop buying what doesn't make you really happy
Make sure you don't stink. Smell your smell in a natural way so you don't have to wash your clothes so often. Mike uses no product at all to make this happen. I use a little bit of deodorant cream based on colloidal silver to prevent stinking. It gives us lots of freedom in our nomadic lives
Buy as organic as possible and wash with a washbag that filters out the microplastics
Wash clothes with water and dry them in the UV light of the sun (and wind)
Use one drop of essential oil instead of fabric softener
Happy Living
Dear friends, don't despair, please. We need all of our energy to make the changes happen. It also doesn't help to point fingers at each other.
What can all of us do in our jobs?
Governments: make laws against ecocide and all pollution! Enforce that businesses take responsibility for all they create. Demand that they make a plan to phase out all pollution and waste in 5-10 years. They had time enough to change their linear business models into regenerative, abundant business models combined with ecosystem restoration
Businesses: One big shift for your business models is to think about minimizing product sales. Materials? Use structure to create function instead of solid material. Packaging? No packaging is always the best. No product? Go from product to service. Functionality? Combine, combine, combine. Who wants to have a specialized pineapple cutter when you can have a knife and a youtube video on how to cut your pineapple as easily as possible? That's a business idea! Small knives with safe and handy instruction videos. To all companies, I want to say: stop marketing. Start a movement and your fans will come to you
Science: your the newest bio-geometry, bio-mathematics, and quantum biology ways of cleaning up and creating minimized, affordable for all new things
To all people, I want to say: become conscious, please. All technologies, all normal household things can be weapons. A car, a knife, the Nikola Tesla energy solutions of point zero and vacuum. But it doesn't mean we need to stop it. We can be wise human beings on a journey...
Of course, there's more to know. But complexity can be so simple if you know where to look. Next time you think about it, go visit a tree. See her for the no-noise, no-waste factory she is. Take some deep breaths. Feel the huge mycelium networks underground, trading water for sugars with the roots of the trees. And then approach your problem again.
Happy journey!
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