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Uta Weiland's avatar

"We’re all wrong, all the time—especially me." Perhaps we can rephrase it to "We all have particular perspectives, all the time."

Living in Germany I learnt two years ago from a ranger how disadvantageous the East - West orientation of the Alps is. During the last glacial period the forests North of the Alps lost a lot of their diversity in trees. It got too cold for many tree species and they could not "cross" the Alps and got extinct. In the Rocky Mountains the different tree species moved South when it got colder and then moved North again when it got warmer. Apparently today the variety in trees in North American forest ist about an order of magnitude higher than in North Europe. With the climate becoming warmer and dryer the remaining tree species in Germany are now endangered.

In elementary school I learnt how advantageous the East - West orientation of the first low mountain ranges in Germany is (just South of the North German Plain). During the glacial period a more or less constant wind blew from North to South and carried loess to the South across the North German Plain. The loess stayed at the edge of the plains where the low mountain ranges started, leaving very fertile land.

When humans decided to bring in new crops to Europe they did not follow latitudes (anyway there can be very different climate conditions on the same latitude). The other day I read in John Seymours book "Self-Sufficiency" the potato is originally a tropical plant. It was brought to Europe anyway, not following an East West direction but South North, leading to catastrophic historical incidences. We grow today potatoes in our garden in fertile soil enriched by glacial period loess.

Complex world, my limited personal perspectives. Let us make sure to take lot of different perspectives and develop our ideas further. Tomas, it is very stimulating to follow your perspectives and integrate them. Keep sharing your articles!

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Eliseo's avatar

I think that the spiritual credence and rational systems plays a huge role in civilization. Philosophical ideas such as monotheism, are definitely an upgrade, from a technology standpoint, because they take on the table the idea of god's transcendence: god lives in "another world" and this world is at men's full disposal. This idea enables the possibility to "use" the world for taking benefits as long as the sea, the mountain, the river, the forest, the animals are not (or not anymore) owned by a susceptible god. That's the reason why, for example, climbing a mountain (reaching a place where life isn't even possible for an hour) is an activity respected in "occidental world" but it would be considered foolishness in Nepal...

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