Balancing the acceptance of earth's ongoing transformations with our power to enact change (interview with behavioral ecologist fred provenza, part 2)
Fred Provenza is professor emeritus of Behavioral Ecology in the Department of Wildland Resources at Utah State University and the author of over 250 publications and several books—his latest one being Nourishment: What Animals Can Teach Us About Rediscovering Our Nutritional Wisdom.
Fred is also one of the founders of BEHAVE (Behavioral Education for Human Animal Vegetation and Ecosystem Management), an international network of scientists and land managers committed to integrating behavioral principles with local knowledge to enhance environmental, economic, and cultural values of rural and urban communities.
In this podcast episode, (listen to Part 1 in EP191 here) Fred sheds light on what we can learn from the perspective that our planet and all life within it operate at different levels of consciousness and senses of whole, part, and self; how we can at the same time accept the fact that our Earth is constantly consuming herself and in transformation, while reclaiming our power to do what we can to realize the world we wish to live in; and more.
To start, get a glimpse below into the conversation between Fred and Green Dreamer Podcast's host, Kamea Chayne.
“We are members of nature’s community here on this planet. What we do to them, we do to ourselves. Only by nurturing them can we nurture ourselves.”
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This is a conversation on Green Dreamer with Kamea Chayne, a podcast and multimedia journal illuminating our paths towards ecological balance, intersectional sustainability, and true abundance and wellness for all. This preview has been edited for clarity. Subscribe to Green Dreamer Podcast on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, or any podcast app to stay informed and updated on our latest episodes.
On simple actions we can take to eat a more nutritious diet:
“It takes some work, but a person can start to think about what the best varieties are to buy in the grocery store (if one were shopping there) and what the best varieties are to grow in one's garden (if one were growing a garden).
And then, of course, let those plants vine ripen. When they are picked green, there's no chance for the plants to put in all those compounds that it ultimately wants to put in to entice us to eat that fruit.”
On transcending our senses of self:
“By nature, we identify with our family, community, culture, religion, politics, job, country, and so forth—all the ‘I am's.’ But that is a trap infracted locally in time and place.
Change the time and place and the ‘I am's’ change. Transcend the ‘I am's’ and we come to I am.
The experience of infinite compassion and belonging in the eternity of now manifests as energy and matter endlessly transforming experienced in a visit to earth.
Once we transcend that idea of ‘I am’ and realize our consciousness is part of the universal consciousness, we are one. We are one with the transcendent.”
Final words of wisdom:
"This is the question for all of us: What will become of our species? No one knows the answer to that question in infinite time and space. And maybe in the bigger picture, it's not so critical; an individual species in the universe is ever-changing.
For us, on the planet at this moment, the question is not if life will continue on earth. The question is if Homo sapiens will continue to live on earth.
I often think we are in a dimension of heaven right here—we are in the garden of Eden.
If we persist in believing that Eden is somewhere else, a place we inhabit after we die, I think we miss the point. Eden is a state of consciousness, not any particular place in the cosmos. It's right here; it's right now. It's wherever we are.
If on this planet, though, the love of power and money continue to trump the power of love for one another and our Mother Earth, I think our species is on its way of being thrown out of the garden of Eden. We won't have the opportunity to come to visit it (as a human at least).
We are members of nature's community here on this planet. What we do to them, we do to ourselves. Only by nurturing them can we nurture ourselves.”
