Cycle of life: we need to rethink human life and action

Dr. Friederike Otto's statement that we need new narratives about what our world should look like stuck with me and has been on my mind ever since. In the pro.earth editorial team, counter-models to our current linear, growth and profit-oriented system, i.e. all kinds of scenarios suitable for grandchildren, have always been a topic. Today I would like to introduce you to one such scenario, actually a documentary film by arte that takes up and explores this topic in greater depth. It's about the cycle of life and, in terms of our economic system, the circular economy.

The Gaia hypothesis

This is based on the so-called "Gaia hypothesis", which assumes that life on Earth runs in self-regulating cycles and that everything is interconnected. The chemist, biophysicist and physician James Lovelock, who was 104 years old, put forward this theory in the 1970s together with microbiologist Lynn Margulis. According to their theory, the earth is a kind of living being, a large organism. Based on the salinity of the oceans, the oxygen content of the air and the climatological fluctuations, which have remained stable over millions of years, the two scientists concluded that there are connections between all the inanimate and living components of the earth that keep these parameters in a state of equilibrium that is favorable for the earth's creatures. "There is only a gradation in intensity, ranging from the 'material' environment of the rocks and the atmosphere to the living cells," says the chemist.

"The name is derived from Gaia, the Great Mother in Greek mythology. The Gaia hypothesis in turn motivated fields of study such as geophysiology, which places landscape ecology in a holistic context," explains Wikipedia.

Arte documentary "The cycle of life - the Gaia hypothesis"

The arte documentary tells the story of four visionaries from around the world "whose thinking shapes and influences the concept of the circular economy - 102-year-old inventor Dr. James Lovelock, biomimicry biologist Janine Benyus, engineer and designer Arthur Huang and financier John Fullerton. The extraordinary experiences of these very different people have changed the way they think about the future of humanity," says arte in the featurette. These extraordinary people re-evaluate many activities and ways of thinking and show us what our food, our cities, our financial system, even the fashion industry could look like in the future if we took into account the capacities of the earth and the basic idea that there is no waste, only valuable resources.

The individual personalities portrayed

James Lovelock, father of the Gaia hypothesis

In his old age, James Lovelock has his say and describes his path to this hypothesis. An impressive man, in my opinion. He was born on the last day of the Second World War in 1918 and died in the summer of 2022. In the documentary, he tells how, at the age of four, his father, who was usually absent, gave him a box of various pieces of electrical scrap and encouraged him to make whatever he wanted out of it. This spurred him on incredibly and he deepened his understanding of the workings of many devices and also of electricity, for example. In the early 1960s, he worked for NASA primarily on the question of how it might be possible to determine whether or not there was life on planets by analyzing their surfaces and atmospheres.

Biomimicry biologist Janine Benyus

In the documentary, we learn that her father gave her a professional microscope at the age of 11, complete with a name tag and the accompanying test tubes and glass plates, as well as a book on the professional use of microscopes, which opened up a whole new world for her. With a single drop of pond water, she was able to observe countless microscopic animals. This was the beginning of her lifelong interest in biological processes.

Benyus coined the term biomimicry in her book "Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature", and also founded the first biomimicry institute in the 1990s. The aim is to "learn from nature in order to solve human problems through sustainable innovations. The term is made up of the Greek words "bios" (life) and "mimese" (imitation). It is also sometimes referred to as biomimetics," writes the website linetocircle.

Link between biomimicry and the circular economy

"The concept of the circular economy is also ultimately based on the cycles in nature, which means it is closely linked to the idea of biomimicry. However, imitating nature is also a good approach to enabling a circular economy. For the transition from a linear world with waste to a circular economy, we primarily need better solutions in product design - and here we can learn from nature," continues linetocircle.

As she says so wonderfully in the movie: one person's waste can be another person's raw material. And since everything remains in the system, we should bring back the waste that we ship to the Global South, for example, and use it as a very valuable resource.

Arthur Huang and the circular economy

The Taiwanese architect and designer Arthur Huang is also portrayed and his work presented. Plastic waste has unlimited potential for recycling. Above all, he sees the future of "consumption without waste" in the circular economy.

Circular economy is very aptly described by arte in the documentary's accompanying text: " ... an economic system based on the idea that nothing should be wasted. It's a deceptively simple idea - and one that lies at the heart of nature and the natural world, but it's a far cry from the way most of us live our lives in the 21st century - and it has the potential to save our planet's resources and save us from the ravages of future climate change.

"We want to inspire people with the solar-powered Trashpresso ," says architect Arthur Huang, explaining his basic approach. "By showing people the process of recycling, including how they can recycle themselves, we want to make a significant contribution to greater sustainability and environmental awareness - even in the remotest parts of the world."

I was deeply impressed by his ideas and realizations and also by how far he has already come - like his house with all the fixtures and fittings created from waste - such as the vase made from old smartphone displays. Or the hospital with 96 rooms made from waste - simply amazing.

Financier John Fullerton

He was at the heart of the capitalist system as Managing Director of J.P. Morgan, where he worked for 18 years before leaving the system. He has been a full member of the Club of Rome since 2014 and wrote the book "Regenerative Capitalism: How Universal Principals And Patterns Will Shape Our New Economy" in 2015. He founded the Capital Institute, which describes itself as a non-profit organization that aims to change the financial system through its network in the private sector and through cooperation with academics from various disciplines. "The universal patterns and principles that the cosmos uses to create stable, healthy and sustainable systems in the real world can and must be used as a model for the design of economic systems," says Fullerton.

In his vision of the future, we are turning from consumers into customers. One example is the washing machine. It is "borrowed" from the manufacturer, serviced and repaired by them and then taken back at the end of its life and its individual parts recycled. Companies therefore no longer see themselves as sellers of goods, but instead provide services related to goods. Another example comes from food production. A company in which Fullerton has invested produces carp. The unsold parts of the fish are fed to crabs. The water from the crab farm is in turn used to grow tomatoes and basil. A circular economy that takes nature as its model.

This documentary has whetted my appetite for more. And makes me look forward to what may come, if we let it. Which we should. In my opinion.