Primarily this looks like building terrariums and setting up fish tanks with the aim of making them as self sustaining as possible over a great number of years.
One of my favourite things to do is to create small ecosystems which mirror the outside world.
To do this successfully requires an understanding of the mechanisms at play and an appreciation of how they interact with each other to form equilibriums.
Something this has taught me which I feel we don’t take seriously enough in our broader lives is the value of decay.
We in the “real world” see decay as an inevitable force to be challenged and mitigated at all costs. After all, when we’re all relentlessly pursuing growth, and growth (it often feels to me at least) at all costs – decay is the opposite of what we’re trying to achieve.
With our bodies too we fight decay as an enemy to be vanquished – despite the fact that it will eventually take us all.
But here’s the thing. You can’t have an ecosystem without decay. You certainly can’t have growth without decay.
In a closed ecosystem, decay not only fuels growth, but it is also provides a necessary check against rates of growth which will destroy the ecosystem.
This is why in fish tanks and terrariums we intentionally include animals and plants which promoted and catalyse decay.
The Amano Shrimp dancing around in the video is a prime example.
I don’t yet know what this looks like in a broader context – I haven’t done the work required to have an opinion.
But it’s something that I’ll be thinking about, because I think for us to fight so hard against something which is such a fundamental part of life seems ridiculous.
#ThinkingInProgress #Decay #Ecosystems
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