Anthropocentrism and Ecosystemic approach
I wanted to share with you a question that over time has become a reason for action for me: How can we succeed in living sustainably on a planet where everything is connected by being centred on ourselves?
This is not new, we are not succeeding, the “we” refers of course to the human species as a whole. The aim is not to hold this alarmist discourse carried since the 1970s by most of the scientific community, which is mobilising day after day to change this way of thinking and functioning that is ours.
It is more a question of the simple observation that an ecosystemic, circular environment where everything is calculated, measured, and constantly readjusted over the last 3.8 billion years; does not go hand in hand with linear and individualistic anthropocentrism. Pure logic? From my point of view, yes. Man is an animal species, certainly endowed with intelligence, with a conscience that allows him not to know the impossible, but he is nonetheless a species dependent on the resources offered. It is therefore logical that we should adapt to what this implies.
We have always done so; we have always bounced back and will always bounce back from the various challenges (most of which we impose on ourselves) – the current period is a glaring example. But to achieve this in the long term, we need to change our way of thinking and seeing things. It is no longer time for short-termism, whether in political, financial, or social decisions, but also in individual decisions. Let us look ahead and let us already observe what is happening around us and how this space is evolving. Let us learn from it, and for once in History let us have the courage to be humble. Otherwise, it will be difficult for future generations not to hate us. I could go on like this for several pages, but it will not make any progress, and there are far more competent people who are masters of the subject who do this every day.
It is easy to expose the problems and complain about them, but it is much less easy to act and propose solutions, lines of thought and development. We are beginning to understand this, and initiatives are springing up everywhere – I am thinking of the large-scale awareness of my generation, for example. In a system governed by the economy (I am not saying it is a bad thing), if we want to change the fundamentals, we must rethink the governance. And the solution appears, it takes shape through the development and implementation of the circular economy at different scales. The blue economy, biomimicry and the “cradle to cradle” strategies are all components of this. The notion of sustainable design is starting to find its way to our engineers and industrialists, the development of new materials, new bio-inspired solutions are becoming more and more important day by day.
Unfortunately, time is short, so let us go along with these movements, let us make it easy by accepting to test, to review some habits at the individual level. At the state level, let us facilitate investments, put in place constraints, and simply regulate certain markets… Because in addition to being a viable system, the resulting value creation is beneficial for everyone and at all levels.
You will find some links if you want to learn more about these principles of the circular economy, how the change is possible and already launched:
Circular economy and strategies :
Blue economy :
https://blueindicators.ec.europa.eu/published-reports_en
L’économie bleue 3.0 – Gunter Pauli
Natural design :
http://www.cradletocradle.com/
Biomimicry :
https://biomimexpo.com/biomimbook-2/
Arthur Richert
Business Developer
