When the rain falls to the earth, a thought blooms in mind. Slowly unravelling, it
takes shape fed by the cool summer breeze of nightfall. Everything that leaves the
warm cocoon of the earth falls back onto it and dissolves to become one with the
soil again. In nature, we see flows everywhere. Everything participates in a cycle;
no living or non-sentient being isolates from it. Even the water spirited away ends
up in a loop, and so does every element, including the life-forming carbon and the
breath-giving oxygen.
Every beginning should have an end. But we, humans, have given a cold shoulder
to the natural law of creating things in a cycle. We see this reflected in our linear
economies that have pierced their obstructive stings in the way we do any
transaction, be it with a mass-producing market or the depleting Nature. The
human obsession for symmetry and straight lines has gone so far so that even our
systems of production work in that manner. We begin things without an end in
mind; we consume things without disposal in our thoughts. The dawn of
hedonism has not just taken over the individual but also the vast networks of
corporations billowing carcinogens from their smokestacks while producing stuff
that has already been destined as waste.
In the midst of all this endless consumption arose the revolutionary concept of a
circular economy. Things designed according to how Nature works always result
in a stable and fulfilling system. Attesting to this is the observation that whatever
Nature invents, there is no waste in the process. Every by-product becomes a
resource, and the definition of waste is lacking. The withered leaves discarded by
a tree become a source of food for the tenacious earthworm. Every construction
is simple, using the least amount of materials and generating absolute energy
efficiency.
Our human systems should get inspired by this natural circularity and replicate
similar designs to create our own circular economy. Retaining value in our
products like how Nature does, where the nutrients formed remain nutrients
even after passing through the whole trophic web, is a vital ideology. Not just the
materials utilized by Nature, but also the practices are sustainable enough to
support a whole ecosystem. We can correlate this with ethical sourcing of
resources and the return of products back to the manufacturer after successful
use.
Nature does not perceive its creations as commodities as we do; they hold strong
value, and everyone has their unique niche in the usefulness of life. Every loop is
narrowed, slowed down or closed completely to ensure the continuance of life.
These ideas uncover our potential of how much more efficient can we be as the
producers of redundant objects. Our economy should function as an ecosystem
where nothing goes out of the loop and where everything is inter-connected. Let
us begin the transition from our take-make-dispose attitude to a more circular
vision that reveals a spitting image of Mother Nature.
- Divya Gujar (divyagujar44@gmail.com)