Everything is cyclic

I thought for this week, I'd post about another fundamental of sustainability.  I haven't heard from epi-global from last week, but a comment from another party has suggested two websites to visit.  I will do this and plan to report back very soon!

But this week, I wanted to get everything thinking about the cyclical nature of everything.  Two weeks ago I posted about there only being ONE EARTH and everything we will ever have is already on it - its just that things change forms which is one of the fundamentals of sustainability.  The cyclical nature of everything on the earth is another of the sustainability fundamentals. 

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This link here on the Center for Ecoliteracy provides some nice simple descriptions of the different cycles and provides this good summary:

"We need, says Center for Ecoliteracy cofounder Fritjof Capra, to teach our children — and our political and corporate leaders — fundamental facts of life:

• Matter cycles continually through the web of life.
• Most of the energy driving the ecological cycles flows from the sun.
• Diversity assures resilience.
• One species' waste is another species' food.
• Life did not take over the planet by combat but by networking." 

Thinking about one species waste is another species food and then thinking about the waste the human race produces is scary stuff

When thinking about diversity and the articles you read almost daily about the loss of species on the earth

When you think about capitalism it is kind of like combat as opposed to networking - make more, use more, have more.  That what everyone strives for in a capitalist society, and I don't think I am immune to this.  Its hard to avoid it, but when you start considering the sustainability fundamentals you have to start reconsidering the way we do things.

On that food for thought I will leave you to your weekend............

Next week I will attend the block course associated with the Graduate Diploma in Sustainable practice.  The agenda looks amazing - I am quite sure though it will be completely exhausting (so I will completely sympathise with all our distance students at the end of their block courses).  I am looking forward to posting a blog on it next week!

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For those of you studying in the School of Veterinary Nursing this year, you will have access to a document called "Towards a Sustainable Future" which works through the fundamentals of sustainability and then helps to guide you in how you might  implement it into your lives and workplaces.  If you haven't already found it - have a look for it on your programmes Moodle home page!

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