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Goal 12 “Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns” has a target 12.8 which reads: “By 2030, ensure that people everywhere have the relevant information and awareness for sustainable development and lifestyles in harmony with nature.” This target has an “indicator” intended to measure its degree of achievement, which is: The extent to which [i] global citizen education and [ii] education for sustainable development [including climate change education] are mainstreamed in [a] national education policies [b] curricula [c] teacher education and [d] student assessment. This papers considers two issues: first, the meaning of “nature” in the expression harmony with nature; second, the content of “global citizen education” that could promote development in “harmony with nature.”
The meaning of nature
‘Nature’ is more
difficult to define than ‘environment’ because it has different connotations
depending on the level of human perception and the values assigned to it at
each level. Fundamentally, as a word, ‘nature’ has been spoken since the 13th
century. It originated in Old French as nature,referring ‘to being, and principle of life; and in Latin as ‘natura’ referring inter alia to the universe, and literally ‘birth,’ from ‘natus’
meaning ‘born.’ From the late 14c. the connotations of ‘creation, the
universe;’ and ‘nature personified- Mother Nature’ were added. And from the 1660’s ‘nature’ also refers to
the “material world beyond human civilization or society.”[1]
Today in common parlance, ‘nature’ has both physical and metaphysical connotations, terms whose meanings are often intertwined. For example nature has been described as a composite of visible and invisible parts of an infinite organism. Tangibly, nature is embodied in trees, rivers and other natural entities; it is defined as embracing all living and non-living things—humankind included; nature includes the mysterious processes whereby the visible world comes into existence; or this natural world as it exists with or without human civilization; and it may be considered the sum of all the phenomena of the universe. Nature is Life, the Creator, God.
In the discourse on the meaning of harmony with nature’ there is a common confusion between nature’s instrumental, extrinsic and intrinsic values. The instrumental value of nature is the provision of resources for human use and consumption. Its extrinsic value lies in the eyes of beholder and is found for instance in the beauty of a landscape, or the delicate weave of a cobweb. Nature’s intrinsic value lies in its own substance, is independent of human appreciation. Best perceived through spiritual insights, it is often neglected, at a high price. There are many aspects of life and the universe veiled in nature’s transcendent or metaphysical dimensions that have fundamental relevance for the continuation of human existence. This is recognized by eminent thinkers down through the ages.
Nature inspires sensitive observers to meditate on thoughts, intuitions and ideas arising when they are alone in its wilderness. The forces of Nature, experienced by the author of the Hidden Life of Trees and other writers of works on nature, awaken receptive readers’ imagination, and poetic inspiration. The music of the spheres, as expressed in many different ways in bird songs, help people to find peace, serenity and soulful nourishment. Many symphonies of the late 18th to 20th centuries echo enchanting sounds emitted by living and non living phenomena of Nature. Great works of art convey their profound understanding of Nature in their imitations of Life. The intrinsic values of nature if introduced into the political discourse on problems confronting contemporary societies—affluent or destitute—would enrich policies with perspectives evoked by the Heart.
The Content of Global Citizenship
Education for Development in ‘Harmony with Nature’
If education is limited to what is known of the
physical universe and taught within the confines of scientism and naturalism,
it is unlikely to bring about any semblance of efforts to harmonize with Nature. Science according to Einstein is a refinement
of everyday human thinking always subject to change and endless haggling over
so called facts. Not to deepen
understanding with such insights of reality fed by Nature and the Universe is
to “wrestle in the dark with an unknown opponent.” All the more so because as
physicist Brian Greene notes: “assessing life through everyday experience is
like gazing at a Van Gogh masterpiece through a coke bottle.”[2]
Sadly this is just what the international community has been doing—assessing life through the green glass of a coke bottle. Since the 1960’s “environment politics” dominates the political discourse concerning nature. From the first World Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm in 1972 to the latest World Conference Environment and Development, Rio+20, the term “Nature” rarely appears in world reports and texts of international declarations and national resolutions.
And in the SDG’s the word Nature appears once as the object of the catch phrase “in harmony with nature.” It is the word environment which displaced nature in the 1960’s that still echoes in debates elaborating strategies for sustainable development. In national and international political forums, Nature, represented as the environment, is demystified, disenchanted, and disaggregated. Its parts are reified in a simple and familiar scientific terminology including biodiversity, biosphere, climate change, habitat, raw materials, pollution sinks, and ecology.
Sensitivity to the intrinsic values of nature’s creations’ calls for humanity to take a holistic approach to the problems of the environment in order to restore harmony with nature. Knowledge of the essential physical properties of natural phenomena, [whether animals, plants, or other living organisms, or the atmosphere, the land or the sea], alone cannot be gained by reducing the study of nature to an examination of its fragmented parts. Although biologists, physicists, chemists have gained significant insights from deep knowledge of “proven” objective physical realities, many scientists are unable to predict nature’s behavior with full confidence. Their approach overlooks inter-tangled connections affecting the life force of physical phenomena. While no one would doubt the utility, even the necessity for analysis of disaggregated elements of nature to find solutions to discernable and discrete problems [even a grand crisis like climate change], it is important that educators and concerned citizens not lose sight of Nature as a holistic unity—the life force — foundational to the world. Intrinsic webs of life, woven together constituting Nature, are infinitely greater than the sum of their parts.
A number of people share the strong belief that the
holistic concept of ‘Nature’ must be taken seriously in the science and
discourse on earth politics. The tragic Covid19 crisis, as well as diseases
affecting forests, causing the disappearance of birds, and many insects, pollinators,
in particular honey bees, are desperate calls for deeper knowledge, respect,
and understanding of these entities—inter-twined in the webs of Nature. For
these reasons a holistic approach must be taken to the development of plans and
policies for development that gives heed to understanding the ‘nature of
nature’ and its extrinsic and intrinsic values.
Failure to take into account this complexity dooms the best intended
measures for overcoming environmental crises.
The cast of Nature’s advocates consists of philosophers,
poets, artists, musicians in addition to natural scientists and a host of other
thinkers. These proponents shed the light of their disciplines, preferably
informed by spiritual insights, on the decision-making process. This other-sourced knowledge expands horizons
of thinking, interjects the weight of other values, stimulates creativity,
appreciates the contribution of intuition, encourages imagination, and offers
the poetic inspiration that moves hearts and minds to embrace Nature’s
intrinsic values as fundamental to life. This direction of education and
training is essential should sustainable development be truly in harmony with
nature, as opposed to harmony as a mere balancing of natural resources with the
technology and life styles permitting carrying capacities of material resources
to provide them.
At the end of the 20th century, John Kenneth Galbraith, pondering the present situation and the stunning evidences of over-development, stressed the need for improving the Art of Living through stimulation of the intellect, artistic creativity, meditative thought and character building. The humility coming from recognizing that humankind’s diverse world views may be glimmers of reality, as Einstein implied, gives renewed validity to the importance of wider acquaintance with the universe for society’s well-being and humankind’s flourishing. Even glimpses of reality, the awe they inspire and the respect they generate are better than ignorance for the continuity of life on the planet and should underpin efforts for living in conformity with nature.
Copyright©Barbara.Baudot May 2020
[1]https://www.etymonline.com/word/nature
Copyright©Barbara Baudot2020
[2] Brian Greene, The Fabric of the Cosmos, (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004)5.