The first issue we got was all about plastics, the harm it does, sustainability clothing, microplastics, etc. I received the earlier issue which deals with the Ecological Civilization. While that is more utopian, from what I read, it may probably be the only way we can save our earth from spiraling down the proverbial celestial drain.
Reading the article by Jeremy Lent in Yes reminded me of an argument I have tried to make a long time. Many of you know I am a physiological plant ecologist by training. That is a lot of expensive words for someone who tries to explain why and how plants grow a certain way at that particular spot in nature. At times, we also call ourselves stress physiologists. Now the argument I make is that there is order in nature, while a lot of my non-biology friends tell me that I am nuts, and they see chaos. I even try to argue there is a form of mathematical order to it.
Now a fellow bonsai grower, Nigel, Saunders, puts it really well on his YouTube channel. I believe Nigel used to work as a graphic designer and he is a keen observer of nature and trees. In other words, you do not need to have a Ph.D. in physiological plant ecology; anyway, that may even be a handicap. I have seen more biologists that cannot keep a house plant alive. But back to our collective observations.
Nigel designs his trees going from one branch that splits into two, which then each split into two, which then again, each split into two, and so on (now here are your fractals). You also, according to Nigel have to make the length of the branches progressively shorter; actually half the length (fractals again). This is a very common rule in bonsai which Nigel discusses well on his videos. Others talk about it as well, but again he is a great teacher and a keen observer. Now, I tell the same thing to my friends. Other observations are that canopies usually do not touch and branches do not sprout from the inside of a curve. I have also always maintained that when a tree does this the total circumference, diameter or volume of the two branches can hardly be larger than the original from which it split into the two above (fractals anyone), otherwise there would be a deficit, and not enough water could flow to the top of the canopy.
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| Like Nigel, I have been fascinated by trees, their bark and canopy. Feel free to look through my labels of trees, roots and bonsai to see what I have written about them. Here is a good example of how canopies do not touch. |
Now here comes Mr. Lent who argues that in an ecological civilization we need a fractal organization. He argues that what Nigel or I are talking about are in fact a form of fractal organization of trees in in a larger form of nature. He says we see it everywhere in life, not only in trees, but in rivers, coastlines, in our lungs, our blood vessels, you name it. In ecology he argues it may go from microscopic cells to organisms, species, ecosystems, and the entire living earth. It is very much like what I describe in my last post about the book I am reading: “Finding the Mother Tree;” were it not for the microscopic mycorrhizae the forest would not thrive.
For humankind this would mean that the health of entire world would depend on the health of every individual living in it. Regardless of scale, whether it is humanity as a whole, a country, town, a community or a family unit, the same would be for the wellbeing of those folks; they depend on the environment around them, their health, happiness, income, of themselves and that of everybody near them. In other words, we cannot think of the whole without considering all the parts and make sure they are ok.
Some of you may claim that this is bordering on socialism or worse communism. Is taking care of your neighbors and wanting them to be as well as you, socialism? No, in a fractal society it is empathy and self-preservation and the preservation of this earth for future generations.
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