Autumn is my favourite time of year. I love being bundled up in jumpers and scarves without it being absolutely freezing, I love the food, I love those chilly but sunny walks, I love it all. But one other thing I love is that we can see nature at work. The leaves turn brown and red and become a mulch, eventually returning to the earth. To me, this perfectly represents the difference between nature’s approach to resources and ours. So, that’s what I’m going to be talking about this week.
Nature works in a cycle where materials flow. Everything grows, then dies, where it is returned to the soil, allowing the nutrients to be recycled and used again. For example, trees shed their leaves in autumn to protect themselves from cold and dry weather during the winter. The leaves then fall to the ground and begin to break down, helped along by invertebrates like worms, slugs and snails and also mould or fungi. The leaves then release inorganic nutrients into the soil, where they are taken up by plants and help new growth. To quote the Lion King, it’s the Circle of Life!
So why do I love this process so much? Because it reminds me that there is a way of living where everything is returned to the ground and sustains new life. The more widely used term for this in the ‘human world’ is the circular economy. The basic principle of this is that resources travel round in a circle and do not end up in landfill. Products are created and once no longer in use, can be fully recycled into more new products, or refurbished, so that there is no waste. This is essentially the same thing that nature already does – if this has worked for the planet for so long, then why did we ever decide that changing it was a good idea?!
Every year, autumn reminds me that there is a way for us to live where we make full use of all our resources. It also reminds me that nature has it all figured out, and really we don’t.
That’s all from me this week! Stay tuned for a lot of content next week on the approach to Halloween…
Waste Makes Waste 