Nature’s Economy ... in a nutshell

'Economy'

"Economy is a beautiful thing
Purposeful in its simplicity
Superior in design
Fruitful by nature
It leaves no waste behind
Balance is its function
Order its state
Efficiency its feature
Elegance its trait
Inclusivity is its hallmark
Beauty its face
Harmony its effect
Our home is its place"

- Paul Heaney, 2009


In a nutshell
I am a simple person. I have no formal background in economics. I am Joe Bloggs who blogs!
So what makes me think I have anything to contribute to this great and profound subject?
Well, from where I’m standing - as a photographer and journalist, many of us have blinkers on, and from what I see through my barely focused glass eye - sharp enough to spot a few things - some of us are galloping in any direction as fast as we can ‘in order’ to get out of the mess we seem to be in, while some others are standing still with a sense of bewilderment. While yet others are caught in the headlights of blind panic - or indifference! Perhaps we should take a long deep breath, and open our senses to where we are - quite literally. Have we seen too many one trick ponies that are only good for a while? Are we missing a trick? A trick that we’re tripping over every day without realising it - is there anything out there we can learn from that may have learnt how to manage things very well thank you, but strangely has been ignored for so long. Lets face it, after all this time we still haven’t got economics right - yet!

And yet, we live on and in the midst of the most economically sound and most efficient system there is - no, I’m not talking Brown economics, Reaganomics, Bush or Keynesian. But there is a system that does work, and we could learn from, and its right under our noses. It is in front of eyes. It is in our nostrils. We touch it every day. What is it?

The way I see it
Well, let me first and foremost say where I stand and why I am putting this blog together. I am driven to creating this blog out of the importance I see that economics has on not only in all our lives, but in regard to the welfare of the Earth and beyond. My sense is that getting economics right - or ‘house management’ as the ancient Greeks saw it - is vital for the welfare of the greater system. Or if you like, a well managed house residing within a much greater home - a home to all life - planet Earth.

My standpoint is that no man is an island and that the world is intricately and inextricably interconnected - both the human and natural worlds. This goes beyond globalisation. All systems affect each other. Therefore we must look to getting it right in whatever we do, and that whatever it is we are employed in, has minimal harmful affects on the rest of the system as a whole. A system that looks after its surrounding systems, by default looks after itself. It is both giving and selfish - a perfect system if you like.

If the local and national economy where we live is our home, with all the implicit necessities of care and maintenance that entails of looking after it, then the garden is the Earth - partly ordered, partly wild - the perfect garden I suggest, but cherished and well maintained by us - it’s guardians, or gardeners.

My sense of economics is one that is a system that is mutually beneficial to all within that system. As an example, we can see in Nature - the most efficient of all economies - that balance is it’s hallmark. There may be short term fluctuations - earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes (all ways of releasing pent-up energy), and species populations can grow out of proportion left to their own devices, but over time, any imbalances are balanced out. One species may be eaten by another predator species at some point. Without such imbalances that humans are capable of, the Earth would appear to be a self-sustaining system. The are checks and counterbalances that occur naturally. It seems to me that we have to find ways to devise and maintain our economic systems that are in harmony with the natural world, where excess is minimised or curtailed - using our own checks and balances, albeit in a ‘free market’ system - in an attempt to maintain a balanced system that is not harmful to either humans or the natural world. Indeed, both can feed and help to sustain each other. A symbiotic relationship.

I started this blog, summarising my thinking on ‘economy’ with the efficiency of a poem, and a sub-heading - ‘In a nutshell’. Perhaps by way of example, we can say that the model of a perfect economic system is a nutshell and its nut - fruitfully productive, efficient by design, feeding other elements within the system it inhabits, being that it is beneficially nutritious to more than one species - squirrels and humans for instance, and is the basis or seed for more nut producing trees. It is a self-sustaining and holistic system that profits more than its own species or sub-system. It is a representative example of an holistic economic system. A virtuous circle - in a nutshell!

My background & interest
In my life I have barely sustained myself as a photographer and food writer, but very early on, before I embarked on this career, having initially sketched out a life for myself as an interior designer or even architect, I went back to the drawing board before I got to ink any grand designs, and picked up the camera. Like father like son. There was a certain economy about this too I have to say. A certain sharing of resources. But at an even earlier point than this, I had discussed my future with one of my mentors, an eminent and highly successful and cherished family friend - Emeritus Professor Malcolm McDonald MA(Oxon), MSc, PhD, D.Litt. FCIM FRSA of Cranfield School of Management, who suggested I take up a PPE course (Politics, Philosophy & Economics).

I never did follow this route, and I’m not entirely clear why, but that perhaps my natural leaning was to using my hands, and brain, not at the exclusive expense of either one. And after all, I took joy in the immediacy of being able to create ‘something’. And after all, being that my father was and still is a photographer, I guess it was in the blood. So perhaps a natural impulse there.

Perhaps it was the course of least resistance, or a natural path to follow and channel my energies. I’m a great believer in intuition, and have found this - what I believe to be a natural attribute in human beings - slowly developing, with attention, within me. But I’ve always maintained an interest in all three subjects (PPE) - from an amateurish distance! The nearest I got to anything vaguely formally economic was studying Industrial Studies at school - so no prestige there!

Although I did subsequently study a course in practical philosophy run by The School of Economic Science, which had its root and origins in economics - an enquiry into economics root and branch, and a quest into a better economic way as a result of the Great Depression. It was a course that taught efficient use of energy on the personal level, based on the premise that true philosophy, or ‘love of wisdom’ is worth pursuing, in order to seek answers to fundamental questions about life. I also took up mediation as a result of this.

Now, back in the mid 1990’s, I noticed a friend of mine was doing rather well with his personal investments. I suggested he commercialise his very successful system. Well, after many interesting years of research and development and honing this ‘value investing’ methodology, we realised we had something very special here. It has evolved into quite a comprehensive, if not ‘holistic’ set of algorithms and methodology - in fact two distinct methods or 'products' now, one for investing and one for trading, both of which we think are now ready for commercial exploitation. Hence my even keener interest in the subject that continues to rock our world - that of economics, and the dynamics and effects that investors, traders, bankers, politicians, even the media and rumour mongers have on the world. And now here I am blogging about it all.

Having developed a keen interest in the stock market over the past 13 years - albeit once again at a distance - I am now throwing myself to the wolves as an investor and trader, and with this interest in investing, I’ve become more interested in economics and who and what influences we are all subject to, and how might we find a better way out of the current mess. After all, the macro view naturally informs the whole process.

For those who have a direct and significant impact on the world of economics at the macro level, I think the holistic approach is obviously a useful one to adopt. The nearest to such a scenario the politicians seem to have come to this more unified approach is what they call globalisation, but this is hardly the whole answer. It merely recognises the fact that the world does not work in isolation. Our economic systems are though now perhaps too fragile, and interconnected as they are, it is a bigger ship that is floundering in choppy waters, if not in danger of sinking, rather than a fleet of smaller ships.

I’m interested to see if we can’t find an economic model that works on more sustainable and holistic lines - or even curves! One that is rigorous, unified and sustainable. There is evidence for naturally occurring models, and it is obviously beneficial to see if there is anything to be learned from naturally occurring models, to see how the world works. pragmatically successful models. The quest for a hitherto economic model that is more rigorous and unified and practical, that is not so much mutually exclusive from the natural system, but inclusive and works in empathy with the Natural world.

It seems to me that we humans like to bend the apparently unruly world of Nature - straight and ‘true’. In fact, there is precious little in Nature that is straight. Interesting point perhaps? Poignant especially when you realise the world is full of cycles, positively revolves around cycles. Maybe we shouldn’t take on a ‘line’ of thought, but rather a ‘curve’ of thought. Many are the property and stock market investors who have been blind to the historic cycles that remind us from time to time of certain irresistible forces that upset our neat linear view of the world. Perhaps we should see life and systems more as an evolutionary curve or even a spiral.

Jay Harman - a naturalist, entrepreneur and award-winning inventor certainly seems to think in these terms. He terms it ‘the pax principle’, after his business. There is much evidence to support this view of life fundamentally being none-linear. From stock market and property cycles - crashes and corrections, to polar flips, to the movement and paths of celestial bodies.

There is far more evidence that the world and all life adheres to a non-linear pattern. Maybe we should take more notice of this and build this into our own systems and methodologies. In line perhaps with a ‘bendy’ world rather than a resistant, in-coherent, repeatedly fractured and consequently more painful world.

Averting a greater crisis
What I’m keen to comment on and help point out (in my humble view) are what I see as the various mistakes we seem to be making, in the hope that my comments may be helpful to anyone out there who may have some influence on the subject. And indeed, I’m certainly open to comment in return. After all, I believe we stand a much better chance of ‘getting it right’ by having reference to one another and kindly assisting in the peeling back of the eyelid for greater clarity and insight. After all, just when we think our eyes are open, its always nice to have some other person of superior vision, ably assist us. Or indeed to have someone gently wake us from our dream! I for one prefer the light of reality - in theory! Though there is of course a place for dreams, such as those that offer a vision or remarkable insight for a better way.

It seems to me that Governments the world over seem to be floundering, and rarely taking pre-emptive measures that are sensible. In a way, you could argue that major economic fluctuations are inevitable, or natural phenomena. There maybe something in this. Life is peppered with recurring cycles, and this can also be an evolutionary process whereby these cycles are gradually modified over time.

Rather like any other system in the natural world, when there is an imbalance, something happens to correct this. In other words, ‘corrections’ seem to be a natural and inevitable feature of life, whether its in the financial markets or in the natural world, this is just how life is. The trouble is of course, human beings have a tendency to forget this tenet of reality. Perhaps we should look at this more closely and accept it. This would perhaps ensure that corrections in our systems are shorter lived, with deeper penetrating routings of weak and inefficient bodies, as in Nature.

We are going through an opportunity at present to flush out the weaknesses and causes of imbalances to the economic systems that are plaguing and destabilising the world of human affairs. This is natural. And my sense is that it must be a swift and thorough ‘cleaning’, so we can move on as quickly as possible. Many astute thinkers I know of and have come across are of this view. The consequences of not allowing this to happen, or of not taking effective remedial action in good time and in depth, is for the same problems to return in the future - but with a vengeance! Delaying the inevitable. Though the repercussions of such delay or tinkering will be far worse. The imbalances far more pronounced. And this is my great fear. Hence this blog.

You have to be cruel to be kind
It is said that Nature is cruel. Well if that is the word that explains the efficiencies of the natural world, then so be it. Nature has had billions of years to evolve systems that are more efficient than we have been able to achieve in our relatively short history as a species. And my sense is that it makes sense to take note of how Nature functions and deals with imbalances.

It occurred to me in the late 1980’s that we should use our intelligence to look at the much greater intelligence of Nature, to learn her methods and to see how we could apply her evolved technologies to our needs, in countless ways. I’m actively working on this line of thought in order to establish a foundation in the UK dedicated to this very idea - what in her seminal and catalytic book in 1996 biologist Janine Benyus termed ‘Biomimicry’. In other words, mimicking the most efficient systems and technologies that the natural world has very conveniently evolved for us - all for free!

Biomimicry seeks to emulate the evolved and honed strategies and technologies of countless species on this planet, in order to improve how we human beings as a species live on this planet, in empathy and harmony with all other systems. It is a subject that looks at life’s systems the way they are. It is the study of the economy of life and how we may bring a greater economy to our lives. This has been a long standing dream of mine, to find a way of living in synch with Nature by learning from it. Surely this is the ultimate economic model - one that actually works! So why aren’t we paying more attention to it? I think it requires a more dynamic way of thinking. Of opening up to the world of possibilities that Nature’s hidden treasures can afford us.

We need to cross reference and cross fertilise our ideas and observations more, with different and diverse fileds of research and endeavour talking to each other, with scientists and designers sharing strategies. Lets find ways of having conversations with each other across the scientific divides. Lets have more open access in sharing knowledge, stimulating each others endeavours with fresh insights, giving ourselves a fresh and different perspective on the way things are done and how they might be done better, at less cost, by re-engineering our world to fit the more natural organic model. Simply open our minds to what is actually going on all around us in the natural world. Just think how many eureka moments there may well be yet to be revealed once the momentum kicks in. Life will be simpler, less stressful and a far better quality of life will ensue.

Because I have not focused over the years on this subject in hand, whilst pursuing my career as a photographer - albeit a professional observer if you like - I failed miserably to come up with a term for this whole subject matter and fascinating idea for exploratory endeavour, dipping in and out of the tantalising possibilities my thinking afforded me. But thanks to Janine Benyus, a woman of great insight, vision and energy, who is a great communicator, we have a tangible way of explaining this whole concept, with which we can get to grips, and proceed to act sooner than later. For it is my sincere belief that if we do not heed these issues and adopt and adapt Nature’s technologies, that in their beautiful economy are both harmless and beneficial to all other systems, then we are probably doomed - and I don’t say that lightly - I’m an optimist by heart! I like to think of myself as the pragmatic optimist.

The path of least resistance
Nature always takes the path of least resistance, so wouldn’t this make so much sense as an economic model? Examples of such natural models have been eloquently exemplified not only by Janine Benyus and her Biomimicry Institute, but by other open eyed people and Nature pioneers or so called ‘bioneers’ such as Jay Harman. Well worth taking the trouble to look into their work, inventions and discoveries. Beautiful and fascinating stuff. And once you see the practical examples of how Nature does economy, it opens up a whole world of possibilities. And that’s the exciting thing about it, when people of all walks of life and ‘segmentations’ start to talk more to one another and discover with delight what Nature has known for countless millennia. One starts to get a glimpse of how life really could be a paradise on Earth. Efficient and beautiful, elegant science is to be found naturally - everywhere - right under our feet, in the air, in the water. Biology in particular has much to teach us about economy.

So, we have in biomimicry, a model economy that holds great wisdom as the way to go, that is not so much contrived - as has been our way over recent centuries - as honed in the full rigor and light of life’s unforgiving yet abundant and intrinsically life affirming evolution. A paradigm to live by.

We have much exciting work to do based on a rigorous enquiry into Nature’s most intelligent and pragmatic economy. Thank goodness we are starting to wake up and smell the coffee - if not the roses! We are taking at the present time our first tentative steps in the right direction in biomimicry, towards a more sustainable way of doing economy across the design board. The likes of BMW, The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Nike and the like have all taken notice and taken a leaf from Nature’s book, learning from more successful examples to be fond within Nature, of how to design systems and processes with greater elegance, efficiency and beauty, using less energy than we have managed to achieve to date, being as we are, divorced from Nature and her naturally efficient systems. We have upset the balance with our ‘sophisticated’ and over complicated, flawed approaches. Surely we can muster enough intelligence and awareness to recognise a greater intelligence around us. Surely it is time for an intelligent change.

Time for change
The enemy of change is complacency. But is the force for change also dependant on money? Or energy? Can we afford to be complacent? Of course not. It is clearly time for a more sensory economy, a more sensitive yet resilient economy, a more organic economy, one that grows naturally and reacts to changes more instinctively and effectively, with more dynamism. One that is ‘green’ in essence - root and branch. An economy that bristles with a vibrancy and sparkle, as clean as Nature’s own, not dulled or stifled by overly complex instruments. It is time to stop swinging like an erratic pendulum from crisis to crisis, implementing consequential strategies that hopelessly chase each other and only serve to compound the problem long term, if not short term, and destabilise the system rather than address the fundamental flaws. We need a stable economic system that has in-built measures in place that can take shocks and hack changes in extreme conditions, rather like a well designed bridge or an insect’s leg.

We need an economic system that has a more natural pulse, that is in synch with the natural world, in tune with the seasons - especially when it comes to the food we grow and eat. We need to establish a food chain that is more suited to localised needs. Where there is an emphasis on local produce and all the positive ramifications that entails, with greater benefits for producer, retailer and consumer. Biodynamics is a very interesting system of farming that is a less forced approach and is successfully implemented on 60% of farms around Europe.

Biodynamics (not to be confused with biomimcry) has its origins in Rudolph Steiner’s work from the early part of the 20th century. It is simply a more natural way of farming, yet potent, using natural fertilisers. It is based on a more systems inclusive, kinder, more natural science, and utilises the amazing properties of horn, and pays head to the cycles of the Moon. It works! Those farmers that have implemented this system in the UK have found that in areas where the bird and butterfly populations had dwindled, this wildlife happily returned, a rebalance was restored to the land and environment in general. It is a step further than organic farming, and because it is not dependent on industrially produced fertilisers and pesticides, it is kinder to the land (and humans) and doesn't cost the Earth.

We need to establish an economy that is self regulating, but with the watchman in place who doesn’t take his eye off the scene. Deregulation released a torrent of energy and creative activity in the financial markets over recent years. Unfortunately that was all spoilt by not only corruption, but a lack of diligence, corporate mismanagement, and a lack of checks and balances to ensure conflicts of interest were avoided, and that data was accurate and not misguided or corrupted. It was also a result of over-complication, of apparently smart bankers devising complex instruments in the securities sector, which only led to undermine confidence in the whole system as this secretive 'dark arts' complex world led to confusion and lack of clarity. We let a handful of people spoil the party. Some who were delusional, some who were fearful - that they would be left behind in the race for profit - and some who were careless and anything but risk averse. It was risk without sense driven by fear and greed. The herd instinct and mentality played its part too. We do not necessarily need to throw the baby out with the bath water. We just need to be sensible. Fearless, yet sensitive. Open and watchful.

It is time to realign ourselves with the rest of the natural world, to learn from Nature’s most efficient economy, and practice it ourselves. This approach will help us to look after ourselves by looking after the Earth, which supports us - but only just - now we’ve created so many imbalances to the greater system.

Issues of money & energy
Whether we need to completely rethink, redesign our economic systems, that may not even use conventional monetary tokens of exchange, is perhaps a question, if not for now, then perhaps for the not too distant future. But however we decide to exchange our goods and services between one another, to exchange value or energies, it is obvious we cannot go on the way we have been going. At the heart of this matter may be the question of energy - what we use, what form it comes in, how we distribute and generate it, how we use it. Perhaps we can find the philosopher’s stone for our energy needs by looking more closely at Nature and how energy is exchanged between its various components. This might actually be key to arriving at a more balanced and workable economic system.

Energy in Nature is abundant and free. On the whole, the natural world - where man does not interfere too much or adversely - seems to manage to find energy for sustaining itself quite happily thankfully without the need for money! Worth thinking about perhaps. What is more, Nature has developed highly efficient systems for harnessing abundantly free energy in one form or another. So do we as a species not have the wit to do the same? Have we not enslaved ourselves to some extent, on forms of energy that are not only ‘expensive’ on us, but on the planet too? Surely we can remedy this. In fact there are some of us who are looking at alternative and abundant forms of energy - and free energy at that! This is not necessarily biomass based - an option that is likely to lead to more problems than it fixes - but there are less labour intensive and less costly forms of energy we need to discover and apply. Biomimicry can play its part in that. This is one of the most important aspects of economy we must work on now. It may even be the most pressing need.

When you consider that more and more people are becoming energy poor - defined as spending 10% or more of their income on energy for the home, this is unsustainable. We also need to redesign our homes so that they are less dependent on such expensive fossil fuels. All forms of intensive energy use must undergo a radical design shift, at least while we are so dependant on fossil fuels.

In fact energy, food and water generation and distribution are probably the three most important areas we need to address when you consider the dire consequences this can have if we don't get it right - famine and war! We need only look at recent past and current conflicts to see from where the real origins of conflict have arisen.

In conclusion
I suspect there is much wisdom in looking at how we utilise energy in all its forms, but I also think the future will not be energy poor, but rich, and free. It is the natural condition.

Nature’s economy is worth investigating. Its benefits are manifold. The Nature or biomimicry based model is by far the most dynamic and exciting future which we can implement for the sake of a totally harmonious economic system. Indeed, for our survival. It is the fabled philosopher’s stone. Nature as archetype. It is the actual blueprint for sustainable systems coexisting in harmony for life on this planet. It is our happiness. It is a happy Earth. A happy Gaia. It is life, not currently as we know it, but as Nature knows it. But it is hopefully the way we will come to know it. For Nature is our ultimate home, and it is Nature with which we ‘feel’ most comfortable, awake, and excited, especially if we can harness Nature’s principles to help sustain ourselves most efficiently in the most life affirming ways possible. It is the only way to balance the book of life here on this planet. It is literally, the economics of life - in a nutshell!

In my next blog, I hope to be able to share the fruits of my thinking as to how we may better manage our economies - in a nutshell - the holistic, sustainable approach. We’d be nuts not to!