30 days of: Tech for Nature: Why?

Today is the “first” day of my 30 days: Tech for Nature

I will explore and share a little something on the topic every day for 30 days. And the idea behind this whole mission is that little steps take one far, and sometimes setting up a framework for a habit can really give it momentum.

Why tech for nature

but first why nature:

I grew up quite close to it. Even though we lived in an apartment block, I can see trees out the window, I saw the sea every day (out of my school window, for example), I've seen the sea under the surface, planted trees, ate cherries off those trees, ate chickens that were eating a few hours before, I might have even fed them myself. I have since stopped eating chickens, because why would I, when I wouldn't eat my cat or my mum.

As I've learned more about about sustainability I was a bit surprised how nature was often a side thought, just as something that takes the brunt of the side effects, something that we are prodding into, but not something of an entity of it's own. Everything was very much from the human perspective.

I love to bring this chart out from a report on SDG related efforts of the 100 biggest companies in various countries.

Look at the bottom two.

sad

There's a book called half earth, or maybe it's a concept first and a book second, and the premise is that maybe if we gave half the earth to nature, then it would have a chance to live and thrive, and there are countries and lands that (want to) give nature rights. And well there is just that feeling of connecting to the outside. Magic. I did some interviewers at the Blue Earth Summit last year, asking people of a special moment, when nature was magic, where they felt a connection, where they fell in love (with it, or themselves, or everything). And it was funny to see how many people had it so top of mind although rarely verbalised. It was bright and strong.

And a line that I like in the octopus teacher is when the guy talks about his son, and how spending hours in nature teaches gentleness.

And it's a special kind of gentleness, because there is also so much pragmatism, we eat we live we die, one that among other things makes one kill, but let me tell you a story from the savannah:

“We got close to a pack of lions crunching on some wildebeest, there was a baby one being crunched on by someone too. It was a lioness and two daughters, tiredly full, lounging, chowing on the body and bones. They had caught a mother and her child, and the guide noticed the baby was very small, suggesting that the mother might have been killed when she walked away to give birth” anyways it's real, and for some levity, right after, we saw some giraffes having sex.

Point of the story nature is magic, and nature is real, and nature is us, and I love it.

and also why tech

• leverage
• scalability
• easy to play

When I started in ed tech about a decade ago, I was so mesmerised by it, and how it made opportunities available and accessible.

Like a camera, it gives you an in into environments and stories, and it lets you contribute in a different way.

so why tech for nature

It's been a few years now, that I've been dancing around this field.

And the stories, organisations, solutions and ideas created under this umbrella are so increadible and so motivating.

Let's go! To explore them over the next few weeks!