A Universal Human Belief
In all my many travels and discussions with people all over this planet, there has been almost unanimous agreement that “We only have one Planet Earth, and ‘we’ HAVE to live within Nature’s capacity to support ALL ‘us humans”.
Yet today ‘we’ need a massive 1.7 planets of Nature’s ecological system to support our human lives. And every day our demand on Natures support is increasing. We are living beyond our natural resource means.
Like most of us human beings’ I am also a human who wants to live a ‘Good Life’! But what is really THE Good Life??
Over the years I have come to realise that I didn’t know what that really meant and for the first forty years of my life: Like most, trapped in ‘The System’ I was ‘just’ following what Western society showed ‘us’ is supposedly, The Good Life. In 2004, I walked away from that Good Life, and set out to find the truths of an authentic Good Life. (The story here) .
In 2015, this transformative journey took me to the Global Footprint Network: I firstly got confirmation that on my own exploration I had nearly found THE Good Life, and secondly that my intuition, that society’s Good Life was not THE Good Life, was vindicated. Using their Ecological Footprint conceptual framework, in June 2015, One Point Zero was conceived. With that came liberating clarity of the Conditional Purpose requirement for Humanity, and each Human Being, This set the conditional framework for the authentic Good Life.
I’d simplified and transformed my life, but I was still short on this condition. The fundamental and conditional requirement to ‘Belonging with Nature’. I needed to liberate myself from The Inconvenient Truths: To live those Truths! There was still the final ‘ascent’ ahead: To reach a One Point Zero, way of Life!
In June 2018, with the launch of the ‘Trumped by Nature’ adventure I set out on this final ascent to validate my conditional Belonging with Nature: To try and live for at least 12 months continuously in the next 18 months, with a less than, One Point Zero, Ecological Footprint.
What this means is: That if every 7.6 billion of ‘us’ lived ‘like me’ (Ha-ha!) ‘WE’ would only need ONE planet Earths today to sustain US all. (hence the One Point Zero)
Today, we need One Point Seven Planet Earths! Even with our technology enhancements, and environmental initiatives, each day this number is increasing, In 1970 we ‘flew past’ the One Point Zero mark unaware of our future skyward trajectory.
Today these Inconvenient truths are ‘Fact‘, but they only stand in history as a human challenge: To transform ourselves to make them ‘Convenient’. Surely, to deny, or turn one back on them is to walk away from being a ‘Full Human‘. This ‘Inconvenient Challenge‘ is maybe ‘The Ultimate Human challenge‘, for each one of us: To get back on Human Purpose.
To put ‘This Challenge’ in context:
If everyone lived like the average resident of American, UK, the ‘Top tier’ European nations, Australia, and Canada, we would need Between 3- 5 Planet Earths today to prevent our ecosystem losing its ability to support human life on Earth. We all know, we only have One Planet… So, Hmmm!
I just cannot see how ‘WE’ as humans can be aiming for anything above One Point Zero?! We will be failing in our most fundamental Human Purpose requirement!
Yet for most western world people this requires a 60—80% reduction in current consumption and footprint related activity. These figures and the methodology behind the One Point Zero concept is all thanks to The Global Footprint Network. (If you want to know what your ecological footprint today is go here.)
I’m no academic, philosopher or scientist: I’m a diversely experienced, global, life explorer. For the explorer it is vital to feel the real human impact of the truths through stepping out of society and experiencing them face on, yet in the mindful context of the contrast with normal society.
Truth to Power: Making “The Inconvenient Truths”, Convenient!
In the truths of this final ascent, to a One Point Zero, Lifestyle, I have gained the Truth to Power. I no longer fear a One Point Zero way of life. I have only gained as a human, and the multi-planet demanding lifestyle I have given up way back, now seems so meaningless. The real Inconvenient Truths associated with needing a multi-planet lifestyle for happiness but knowing it is in conflict with Nature, and all that goes with that, are now no longer ‘inconvenient’ for me:
Their replacement truths now provide a new Power Within.