The Biological Way – Mind the Gap Thomas Harttung * Thomas is a farmer but also a pioneer MIND THE GAP lessons from the farm and the florest Minding gaps We normally don't think about the gap dinamics became a farmer in 1994, to become a modern, efficint farmer it failed at that because of influences of professors at university (picture of his farm from above) to make it work, he had to change the POV from the master of the system to part of the system. The system was smarter and more powerfull than him. Instead of top down approach you have to think of bottom up! Fundamentals: . Newton and Darwin induce that everything happens on probabilities . the dice are not loaded, they don't cheat Basically the enviroment is like a system that all the living beings can link to, have different name for different cultures. chinese callet it tao 70' Flow 80' Gaya 90' The way forward! Competition is the exception, not the rule. That is also true for ecosystems. Ecosistems are 3d and they are on either side of the surface of the planet. Surface of the planet is a very special interface, a very fragil diafragma that separates the soil from the rest of the living beings. If we leave those ecosistems alone, they develop complex structures. It takes time! Specially if the man has destroy part of the system. Diversion and cooperation are key factors to keep them working Darwinism as it is thaught is just a reduction to the principle "Survival of the fittest". But there is more to it. (Btw: fittest doesn't mean strongest. It means "best adapted to it's environment") We where feed the wrong type of darwinism, one based in competition (the fittest survive) Cooperation rules in nature, not competition! == Example of a tobacco plant Tobacco plants are regulary "visited" by catterpillar worms. Catterpiler eats them for breakfest, lunch and dinner The tobacco plant recongizes the visit and triggers a message on a chemical level. They can diferetinate between 6 different species of worms. They release a compound to influence the worm. they have different eating habbits. Tobacco plant does try to put a lock (a timer) on the fridge! To stop the worm to eat to much. It also calls a friend, a wasp, that uses this specific worm. It invites the wasp to sleep over at the tobacvco plant (the wasp uses the worm to spread something). the tobacco plant also attaches a map, but releasing a special compound the plant informs the wasp to know where the worm is!) The worms are typically on the underside of theleaves. The plant sends out a map that directs the wasps to the worm because it's cooler The plant guides the wasp to the worm 95% of the wasp land on leaves that have worms on it. It works. this in turns makes the wasps lay their eggs on the worms. All this happens so that there is an balance between the plant, the wasp and the worm. Scientists copied the damage that the worm did, nothing happen. So the worm had some active part. it eats part of the plant to make it relaese the call to the wasp. (messaging between the wasp, the plant, and the wasp). == Competetion is the Exception Genetical engineering in the context of a mechanism that is that complex is simply useless. The plan is a totally unselfish system. We don't even have an idea about the huge bandiwidth outthere (nature!) Why does the tobacco plan loses some leaves? Because we taken out tobacco plants from their natural habitat (diverse fields) to monoculture fields, and removed all his friends (worms and wasps). We have side effects from the use of nitrogen, it's like having a plant on steroids or speeds. So it cannot do this fine conversations. So the solution to the loss of crop is to reintroduce the plan in their natural habitat. An example of nature reacting quickly: DDT. DDT is a manmade molecule. It's unlike anything that nature invented. it's a designer drug? huge success but... in less than 50 years, from the 60 till now, mosquitos developed 100 different ways/strategies to fight DDT. * thicken the armor * build hair to prevent contact to skin * acummulate DDT on fat cells, just like the humans do. Basically the natural world is much more smart than us Nature is Opensource :) All of this knowledge it's opensource! Genetic scientist are trying to emulate the hacker behaviour on new drugs, breaking rules and creating subterfuges to hide their real intentions when in face of a virus or other deseases. * they carpet bomb their way into nature and try to breakthrough * it's unstable because of the adaptive effects of nature itself == Forests work in slow motion Natural sciences -became-> Life sciences which is a eufemism of Science of Death the solution is multi-disciplinary approach but for that we need to Study gap dinamics! What's the gap in the natural world? It's the result of some kind of disturbance Ex. The wave lenght of the wind in the tree is the same wave lenght of your brain when it's in alpha-mode (sleeping, better recreation) ->>> That's why having a walk in a forest is so comforting. (waves is the same) ** ToDo: more walks in forests... :) Tree's were here before us and will be way longer that us. a tree that makes it trough adoslecence lives 120-200 years A professor told him that forests to keep on going, must be managed -> Total crap. == The most complex ones are the undisturber ones when a tree dies, it's a disturbance. the spot becomes a opportunity to other trees or plants. It creates a gap in the canapy (tree tops) the canapy (?) is designed to cover the optimal amount of surface is desinged to be a powerfull and efficient power collector by receiving sunlight. The more you study it you notice that is more a cooperation deal than a competitive deal. == The system is stronger and more disciplined than you Typical Ecologist speech: we're on the road to disaster! It's actually more more dynamic than that. He says the world is able to take as many as 10 million people. But it requires a concept change. The planet can hold 10 billion people, but it takes a new approach. We need to reboot the way we think about agriculture and landscape management. The new techologies are people driven and not technolies driven, as one might think! corporate agricultutre conglomerates: We need to disscociate ourselfes from the natural world to be able to feed ourselfes: they are wrong. The future of food will be people driven too! The point is: Natures way is not about giants. It's about diversity, micro techniques and grass roots movements. Decentralized. The parallels to the development of the web is more than visible. Microtech: microbrewereis, microdairies, micro* Totally new techoloy in food. Decentrlaized, flexible, oportunistic, unselfish in 100 years will all be farmers again The food future is to have a repository so large as the one we have today with the information and the net. It's a paralel to the web and to the world: agricultura as a soil/food web. Wood, food, our basic products: All comes from a natural world that is willing to cooperate with us. there are gap dynamics wevertywhere: between two rows of tree or carrots. don't just mimic the gap. Biomimicry google for it (copying nature bio + mimic) IT'S CALLED AGRICULTURE NOT AGRIBUSINESS! It's an art form, a craft, not a industry. Air: 21% oxigen, 78% Nitrogen, (1% rare gases :). If you go from 21% to 22% of oxigen, we're fucked! If that happens a huge number of plants will self incinerate. How does the plannet keeps the 21% of oxigen? * storms that mix oxygen in the sea, vulcans change the flow of oxigen. Draughts hinder the flow of oxygen * The people in the 80 described GAIA: a feedback mechansism that optimizes life on the planet! Lady GAIA, the person that is managing the system. You can talk to her and trust her :) She's formidable. == GAIA rules, OK? From Blog to Biology Just add: I Own You Kind of Blog: http://udentvivlthomas.dk == Questions How to apply to your own farms: forget everything you lear at school, forget it all. Forget about darwinism "Rule of the fittest". Inves your own creativity to make systems cooperate, create more complex systems (diverse, multi-culture), not simple ones (mono-culture). They will become more robust. the end.... *** Keep white lines at the bottom.. it helps... *** Save often! :) *** If you want to see all the text without the track changes colors, use View > Hide Changes. It's non-destructive. *** Remember to export to HTML (on the file menu) before closing the application. It is worth it. Requires latest version (?) I have 2.1.1