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Lesson: Sustainability


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Sustainability

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Sustainability is the ability to maintain balance of a certain process or state in any system. Let's say the system is you. How do you maintain a balance within your own self - between you and you? Well, if you think of part of yourself as a student and the other part of yourself as the teacher, I think I can help. The trick is to think a little beyond simply sustaining our natural environment - as in not depleting our natural resources. We have to look at relationships. If we can keep relationships among people going smoothly by keeping our spiritual relationship with our own selves smooth, then there is a chance to live sustainably in more outer ways that involve the whole environment. Teaching is where this begins - and ends. We must teach this to others - but more importantly, we must teach this to ourselves. Consider the following.

A Poem of Cmmandments of Sustaining a Relationship

I come first - yes, it's really all about me.

I am my own teacher - but I am also my own student, so I must listen to myself.

I have to care for me in order to care for something else - so selflessness comes second.

I change - so I must keep listening.

I don't always agree with myself - so I must be ready for teacher/student conflict.

My environment is a projection of myself - so it's really all about me.

My environment listens to me - but I also hear it telling me.

My environment is in order when I am in order - so it's good to care about me.

My environment is still becoming - so I must watch what it will become again and again.

My environment includes both agreement and disagreement - so I must learn from both harmony and discord.

The Iroquois lived a life in harmony with each other and with nature. They knew sustainability. They had an attitude toward a sustainable society that could keep a relationship going among their people and with the land. Most of us had heard this. But did you know that the Iroquois - not the Europeans - formed the basis for what became the United States of America - and the League of Nations, later the United Natins?

Did you know that Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson got many ideas for the way America was founded from the Iroquois? It's true. This is a lost idea to most Americans. The most probable reason we lost this discovery is that so many of the caucasion Americans in the 1700's came from Europe. They modeled our nation's capital - Washington D.C. - after Europe and then gave credit for our government to ancient Europeans - specifically the ancient Romans and the ancient Greeks.

The real truth is that the Native American Indians provided most of our models for both government and for our handling of our environment. They basically taught us how to make a sustainable political system and a sustainable approach to nature. Read this next set of notes for some pretty surprising facts about this.

TASK: Open this short essay on The Iroquois Indians as Founding Fathers . Keep it open.
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The Start of Science
In ancient times, there was no science as we know it. Mathematicians, philosophers, and engineers were the scientists. When they made tools and technology, it was called science. Sustainability slowly declined over the last 10,000 years as mankind came up with technology and 'science'.

This is not all bad. Mankind had to learn a few things. We had to work out two seemingly opposite tendencies: the ability to use our powerful, analytical minds to invent clever, new things. And the tendency to nuture and sustain our homeland. So. our first attempts to try out our new inventions may be turning out unsustainable; but perhaps we'll get it right, soon. Maybe we are about to join our cleverness and our caring. Read this next essay on some of the things we did as we started science.

TASK: Open this short essay on Lost & Found #5 The Start of Science . Keep it open.
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More Starts of Science

The next essay shows some of the new science that came from South America and Africa.

TASK: Open this short essay on Lost & Found #6 South America / Africa. Keep it open.
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