This series of posts are by Guest Contributor, Dr. Simon Divecha. They intimately illustrate Simon’s deep awareness of the connection between the personal and the planetary. Spoiler alert – they may be a difficult read if you haven’t discovered the gift inside the multiple challenges we face in our VUCA world.

Simon lives on the Isle of Harris in western Scotland – so as you read his story, imagine how you would fare if you lived an hour and a half away from your nearest neighbour.

Simon’s beautiful website Ve-Benevolution can be found here.

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Dr. Simon Divecha has been addressing climate change and sustainability for three decades. He’s both an award-winning academic, and a highly sought-after international consultant for all things related to climate change, carbon management and sustainability. Simon shares that, “I’ve been part of global organisations that have attempted to address climate change at a global level as well as trying to implement solutions at a local scale. What’s different now is the world has changed.

We’ve moved from climate change being something important we address to it being a human imperative. We’ve known the technical solutions for two or three decades but this is essentially a human problem. By which I mean it is as much about individuals’ cares and values and our societies’ way of acting as it is about money, profitability, business models and government policies. “

Dateline April 26, 2021

Immunity

Three and a half weeks ago I had my first Covid vaccine shot. I felt relived and surprised about
feeling relieved.
I took the opportunity to shop—living in a remote area pre-made pizza is a serious luxury! I
remember being up, super positive and encouraged as the days were getting rapidly longer,
weather warming here in the far northern hemisphere and hints of green buds appearing.
It is an hour and a half mountainous drive back. Entering the house I stumbled. That’s remarkable
—I am used to exceptionally good balance as a skier and climber. Being unsteady with shopping
in my hands is weird.

It got stranger

By the next day I am short of breath and definitely noticing my well out of kilter balance—as I’m
walking back down a hill I am worrying about faceplanting! By the evening I am fatigued, feeling
chilled or feverish in rotating cycles, sore stomach and head with an almost continuous adrenalinendorphin
like rush coursing through my skin.
I look up the covid vaccine side effects.
In many ways the vaccine side effects are a straightforward list. They are clearer than worldwide
side effects—our activities such as fossil fuel consumption driving are planetary biodiversity loss,
colonialism underlying an intergenerational, wildly inequitable wealth distribution. These are our
meta-crises.
The analogy to my side-effects is apt. We did not set out to create these crises. Mostly we were,
and are, seeking solutions.

Crises feed each other

The loss of biodiversity, for example, has quite a direct link with the likelihood of future covid like
pandemics—see Pivotal moment here> Similarly, our burning of fossil fuel is obviously warming
the planet and creating feedback, more severe and dangerous weather patterns, floods, fires
alongside much more that. More significant worldwide calamities and extinctions are on the way.
Cross-meta-crises links might be less obvious, e.g. between our current pandemic and
colonialism plus wealth disparity. Yet, this is very present. For example people in richer countries
eat more meat, we produce significant quantities of this in factory farms where animals are fed
grain rather than grazing on grass. That grain is grown on arable land which in turn pushes less
profitable farming into more and more marginal land, to de-forest land and degrade river systems.
Links from that include: more meat, less forest, less greenhouse gas absorption, a warmer planet.
There are many other connections yet, in simple terms, the world has a fever. When we have a
fever it is usually our body fighting an infection. A virus is multiplying inside us and our body is
fighting to regain health. However, if the fever is too extreme, it can damage our brains and it can
kill us.

To read the full narrative of this Part 1 of  Simon’s story click here.

Or to read the sequence of Simon’s 4 postings and/or obtain the pdf of the full series,  click on the links below.

Here are the links to this story in 4 parts and the full story.

Part 1 Immunity here>

Part 2 Visions beyond crisis here>

Part 3 Descent here>

Part 4 Boom, crash, bounce?? here>

Pdf full article, Immunity and a clot between our world and individuals here>

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COVID-19 has made people in India wake up to the links between food and health. Everyone was waiting for the vaccine. But it turned out that the people who did not get COVID-19 were the ones with high immunity. And who were they? The ones who weren’t eating junk food. They were eating indigenous diets: lots of turmeric, a lot of ginger, a lot of ashwagandha. As a result, there’s been a waking up to the sophistication of the Indian diet. This is in line with Ayurveda philosophy and its foundational idea about diet, which is just as Hippocrates recognized: let food be thy medicine. Ayurveda says, “Annam Sarvaushadhi.” Food is the best medicine.
Vandana Shiva

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