System Software for Landscapes
It’s pretty simple actually. Due to human settlement and recent extinctions of large animals or mega fauna, some 10 to 14,000 years ago, our planet lacks the necessary biological diversity to function properly.
Imagine getting the most sophisticated computer on the market and trying to run it on Windows 1.0.
Exactly. Our planet is a biochemical supra-organism and the bio portion has been diminishing for a quite some time. This has resulted in land degradation, desertification and choked forests over a significant portion of the globe.
We are still debating the notion of climate change while experiencing more frequent and severe adverse events and ignoring the underlying cause that has been persisting for milenia. The feedback loop is obvious but the answers are far from convenient in our current reductionist mindset.
The good news is while we can’t fix it over night we can “reboot” and update our system software. Using simple technology and planning we can manage livestock species in relationship with extant wildlife as a proxy for this missing component to enhance ecological function and create the resilience needed to buffer current extreme events and remediate this decline.