However, when diversity is constrained by eradicating the best predators, whether it is due to dams, ecosystems are Easy to break and I’ll explain it. When diversity is suppressed, surprises become more devastating; New pathogens It is more likely to appear and spread.
The story is almost the same in human context. – Diversity of culture, language, ideas and ways of existence It is essential for resilience, creativity, innovation and social evolution. Actively penetrating the global tapestry of cultural and ecological diversity takes us away from the raw materials to imagine and create a better future.
Diversity appears in countless forms, beyond just the number of species that exist. Within a single species there is an enormous diversity of behavior, ecological roles, life history strategies, and even sexual patterns.
tradition
For example, salmon shows a set of adaptations to the unique attributes of the Birth River. Some populations travel thousands of miles to the ocean, while others complete their entire life cycle in freshwater.
Some mature rapidly, while others slow reproduction for years. This diversity of life history makes salmon populations much more resilient to environmental disorders.
Humanity also exhibits equally breathtaking diversity. There’s more in the world 7,000 languages ​​spokeneach encodes a unique way of perception, explaining, and interacting with the world.
Culture includes incredible beliefs, values, traditions and knowledge systems that shape people’s relationships with each other.
Reactive
Humans also have a great life history diversity that expresses in part through the diversity of gender, sexuality and sexuality.
Many cultures have long recognized non-binary gender. Even within a single society, diversity of human behavior is overflowing with neurotypical to neural, liberal to conservative, risk takers to risk aviders.
Just as diverse species occupy different niches within ecosystems, this human diversity allows people to bring different perspectives and strengths to the collective projects of human prosperity.
We are unable to know what specific representations of diversity, what unique life history, localized practices, or ecological knowledge are important during the next crisis or opportunity.
But we can see that diversity itself is key to our ability to grow and evolve, not only to survive the storm during tough times.
Borrowing a term from Nasim Nicholas Taleb is life-giving with diversity.Reactive ‘: The ability to not only endure and bounce off confusion and volatility, but also grow and thrive for them.
Biophysics
As both a scientist and a strange man, the longer I take to contemplate it, the more I believe it Strangeness It is the best concept we have to understand diversity.
It is not strangeness in the sense of sexual preference, but as a condemnation of the notion that nature is characterized by simple, consistent patterns such as males and females and straight, gay people.
To admit that nature is strange is to admit that the patterns we may see or more accurately impose is not nature, not the rules. These concepts are the product of our own limited ability to recognize and understand the nature of the world.
This makes me think we are very wrong about diversity. It contrasts with simplicity. But that’s not true at all. You can find relatively simple or complex ecosystems around the world.
Arctic tundrafor example, relatively few species than Amazon’s tropical species. But that does not mean that there is no more naturalness in Arctic ecosystems than in the Amazon, and that it exists in a more or less constrained biophysical context.
hegemony
Diversity is an indicator that is both an outcome and a process, and that is what we do to do within the constraints of the lifeform. If diversity is what happens when life is encouraged, then the opposite of diversity is hegemony: the outcome of life Repressed.
We suppress salmon when we cut off the spawning habitat at the dam because we think our needs are more important. We believe in the advantages of our food needs, so we suppress plants, birds and insects with chemical input. We believe in the advantages of globalized markets, which oppresses traditional and artisan foodways and economies.
In all cases, powerful use suppression is because we flatten the landscape of what and what is possible, and believe in a single way of life and the hegemony of existence.
The good news is that hegemony is destined to fail thermodynamicly because it contradicts the fundamental principles of life. The current regime of hegemony and oppression is formidable and deeply entrenched, but the more we suppress diversity, the more we must realize that our long-term survival rates will be impaired.
wealth
Our globalized food system has been hollowed out for decades by modern civilization’s obsession with the advantages of certain ways of producing food, in order to stick to the examples I know best.
result? Our food system is similar Zombie Regimethey are not actually alive, but are forced to continue moving with cheap input and labor. They are totally There is no ecological wealth and resilience.
Around the world, communities work to revive diversity and resilience by relocalizing food systems, dispersing governance, and restoring traditional languages ​​and land practices.
Community Support Fisheriesfor example, by restructuring the direct interaction between fishermen and eaters, it offers a diverse alternative to the industrial seafood supply chain.
These alternative models cultivate diversity by harvesting a wider range of species, reviving traditional fisheries, and allowing wealth to be distributed more equitably.
moral
During the Covid-19 pandemic, This diversity proved to be extremely valuablemany community-based fisheries allow local food to be adapted and flowed quickly while industrial fisheries set foot.
There are many battles where all the massive outcomes are being fought, from education to healthcare to territorial sovereignty.
They all start to appear bigger and more united. You are considered boundary skirmishes in a war of greater, unified diversity by those who want to choose hegemony.
Diversity is not just an environmental conceit or issue relegated to the politics of identity, but a central competition in this existential moment.
Standing up for diversity is at the same time a moral and instrumental command. To live through this moment and emerge in a world transformed for the better, you need to have the courage to treat it that way.
This author
Dr. Philip A. Rowling is the global director of global science and human dimension science at the Nature Conservancy. The author’s views here are not necessarily those of his employer.
