Re: Recycling, Rosennean Style...

[Dan Fiscus <***>]

Ayten,

Some replies:

Ayten Aydin wrote:

> What is then the practical value of trusting the nature's inherent ability
> to purify or transform the waste naturally? In this connection I would go
> along with Leo's view:

I am not suggesting merely trusting non-human nature to
purify our wastes. I am suggesting adopting the functional
organization of life such that construction and decomposition
of all materials is coupled, so the idea of waste goes away.
Then, for the error or residue that is not recycled, I am
suggesting trying to understand and then adopt the seeming
magical property that even "waste" turns to gold over time.
These realities (eg soil, fossil fuels) can not be obtained if we
continual with industrial and mechanistic science based
business as usual. We can only hope to achieve such beneficial
environmental relations if we can understand life itself and
learn to act like life itself in organic unity with home as our
environment.

> "I would imagine in practical terms there is more to be done in raising
> awareness of 'total system accounting' than in any underlying
> technology or science. " I would add:
> with a lot and effective public education and consciousness raising
> activities also with a continuing research to produce supporting scientific
> proofs and perhaps some remedial solutions.

Agreed. And this list and Rosen's work seem central to this
program of education and total system accounting. Better
than cradle to grave as much life cycle analysis seems to
call itself, William McDonough talks about cradle to cradle
such that we have a true loop (impredicative/causal as well
as merely material recycling loop). Perhaps even more than
educating others, I think we know enough to start to build
these values and functional organizational forms into our
own everday lives. As Schweitzer is said to have said
"Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the
only thing."

Can we even do this ourselves? If not, how can we teach
anything about it?

Dan