Why Human Interconnectedness matters for Environmental Sustainability?
We are at an unprecedented moment in the history of humankind and in the history of our planet. Warning lights — for our societies and the planet — are flashing red. They have been for some time, as we well know. The Covid-19 pandemic is the latest harrowing consequence of imbalances writ large. Scientists have long warned that unfamiliar pathogens will emerge more frequently from interactions among humans, livestock and wildlife, interactions that have steadily increased in scale and intensity, ultimately squeezing local ecosystems so hard that deadly viruses spill out. The novel coronavirus may be the latest to do so, and unless we relax our grip on nature, it will not be the last.” — The Next Frontier: Human Development and the Antropocene, Human Development Report 2020
Notwithstanding the major advancements humankind has made in science and technology in the past 100 years, the Human Development Report 2020 warns how the bridled development has brought the Earth to the brink.
The Report points out, “To survive and thrive in this new age, we must redesign a path to progress that respects the intertwined fate of people and planet and recognizes that the carbon and material footprint of the people who have more is choking the opportunities of the people who have less.”
It also points out, “Easing planetary pressures implies understanding how all life on the planet — the biosphere — underpins so much of what we take for granted, like the air we breathe.” It underlines the essence of nature-based human development and notes, “Nature-based human development helps tackle three central challenges of the Anthropocene together — mitigating and adapting to climate change, protecting biodiversity and ensuring human wellbeing for all. Nature-based human development is about nesting human development — including social and economic systems — into ecosystems and the biosphere, building on a systemic approach to nature-based solutions that puts people’s agency at the core.”
The warning underlined by the Human Development Report and the argument for pushing nature-centric human development have been echoed by many practitioners, scientists and thinkers.
For instance, through his seminal work, Hind Swaraj, Mahatma Gandhi had tried to counter the general world view that the modern industrial civilization was resulting in a quantum jump in human progress. He termed this civilization as Satanic. He said that a large number of people were crazy to follow the tenets of modern civilization as they were attuned to a materialistic bent of mind.
The Vietnamese Zen Master, Thich Nhat Hanh talking about the civilizational crisis points out, “We are seeking happiness, but there is suffering inside of us. We are getting sick. We don’t feel at peace with ourselves. There is a big vacuum inside of us, so we look for things outside us to fill up the vacuum. We think that new and exciting things will work, but they do not seem to have an effect. We are consuming more and more, but we do not feel fulfilment. We need love, we need peace, but we do not know how to create love and peace. We know there must be a lifestyle that will create love and joy, but unless we know how to create that kind of life, we will continue to buy things.”
The challenge as put forward by the Human Development Report and practitioners and scientists is how to make citizens across the world committed to the cause of nature-centric human development. One of the biggest drawbacks is the refusal of humankind to critically understand the intricate relationship between nature-human-other living beings relationships. We, consciously or unconsciously, tend to forget the essence of human interconnectedness and our action, programmes and policies do not reflect this. We fail to recognize the deep connections humankind has with nature and other living beings in this planet.
Practitioners like Gandhi followed the Indian traditions in taking a cosmocentric view of human beings. For Gandhi, human beings were an integral part of the cosmos, and were tied to it by the deepest bonds.
Thich Nhat Hanh has beautifully explained the concept of interconnectedness or inter-being. In Healing Ourselves, Healing the Earth, Thich Nhat Hanh points out, “Your happiness and the happiness of other species inter-are. If you are healthy, if you are happy, then other forms of life can profit from you. If you are sick, if you suffer, then other species will have to suffer with you.”
He notes, “We have been talking about the environment as something different from us, but we are the environment. The non-human elements are our environments and we are the environment of non-human elements. So, we are one with the environment, we are the environment, we are the Earth. The Earth has the capacity to restore balance.
As we navigate our way to find alternative solutions for ecological regeneration and ensure a balance between nature-human-other livings, it is essential that we all are aware of the intrinsic nature of human interconnectedness. It is in this context, I make an argument to promote HUMAN INTERCONNECTEDNESS INTELLIGENCE.
In general many psychologists point out that intelligence is a collection of distinct abilities. Also for instance we have Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligence which points out that there are multiple types of human intelligence, each representing different ways of processing information.
Going further from the realm of emotional and cultural intelligence, in today’s context we need to nurture HUMAN INTERCONNECTEDNESS INTELLIGENCE to face the crisis that we all have landed ourselves in.
To me HUMAN INTERCONNECTEDNESS INTELLIGENCE should mean the capability of individuals to critically understand and recognize the cosmocentric view of human nature; have intrinsic faith on the earth-centric paradigm, able to discern action and development on whether it is going help in strengthening the relationship between human-nature and other living beings or not. It would also mean the capability of individuals to adopt a new lifestyle which is sustainable and earth-centric.
In order to develop skills and intelligence on human interconnectedness, educational institutions, different arms of Governments across the world , citizens groups and all lovers of Mother Earth need to come together. It is only then we will be able to reverse the serious damage that humankind has done to the Mother Earth. In fact, critical understanding of the essence of human interconnectedness should be a 21st century skill that should be promoted.