One Apple A Day #1076
We are the environment.
Bayo Akomolafe says these words in this interview about the concept of Post-Activism. The whole sentence states that "we can no longer distinguish ourselves from the environment, we are not separated from the world that we claim to be part of. We are the environment; we are part of the world."
It is a powerful talk about the need to slow down in such urgent times, and I invite you to listen to the whole of it.
However, those four words really hit me differently.
We are the environment.
There is so much packed in such a simple statement.
Our typical definition of environment is human-centred. However, from the perspective of all the other beings on this planet, we are the environment. For a tree in the mountains or a dolphin in the ocean, we are the environment.
Not only that. We are each other's environment. I am part of your environment as much as you are part of mine.
And because we know that the environment plays an essential role in making every life thrive, we all have the responsibility to be the best environment possible for every other living being. Humans and not.
We are the environment.
It is a reminder that we are one with the world.
We won't be able to create a world that works for everyone and everything until we embrace this oneness and begin to heal ourselves.
“We often forget that WE ARE NATURE. Nature is not something separate from us. So when we say that we have lost our connection to nature, we’ve lost our connection to ourselves.” — Andy Goldsworthy
Thanks, Vanessa, for making me discover the work of Bayo Akomolafe.