Resources In Niche
In public and private debates and conversations about sustainability a couple of reoccurring themes are apparent. One occurs when a advocate for environmental change is criticized due to some personal wrong committed towards the environment. The scale of this wrongdoing can be ever so small but still gain traction and bring dismissal to the subject discussed. The second theme is that of not good enough, this is tricky as there actually is a tipping point where not good enough turns in to not good at all. But the not good enough objection is often used against things that are making the planet a more sustainable and fulfilling place but not solving the entirety of our global issues. One anecdotal example is from a lecture by Björn Forsberg (author of “omställningens tid - The Time of Adaptation”)hosted by Umeå School of Architecture. After his talk which among other things covered urban farming in Detroit. One of the participants (a Master Class Student) said -“Urban Farming is cute and all but it is not really going to solve anything”. Both these themes of discrediting the work in sustainability are dishonest ways of reasoning (Thouless & Thouless 2011). More than that they hint on a misunderstanding of our place on this planet. We are in most ways no different from the other beings on the planet and every being on this planet is a evolutionary result of a possibility to use resources in an environmental
niche. There has been resources available for one or multiple species to use. The competition for these resources is what has led the arms race of evolution. A race that humans have so far been very successful in. One of the reasons for this success has been our possibility to adapt to new locations. Because of this we have been able to move when a location could no longer sustain our growing numbers. That the human race has overused the resources in the biosphere and that our actions has lead to significant damages to the production in our niche does not mean that there is no longer a place for the human species in the system, or that any solution must be total. But our role in it will need to change from predator to something a bit less destructive. We need to by all means available match the size of our resource use to the amount available. This means that it is counterproductive to dismiss partial solutions or believe that people that case some harm to the biosphere automatically end up on the outside of their fair use size. We are in a situation that is unique for us as a global top predator. We have in ways unimaginable for other species become aware of our position relative to our resources. This gives us a advantage in the dimension of time. We can gather data and make predictions. From these predictions we can take actions and create the type of future we desire. 40