Paul Hawken
The Natural Step is an affiliate of the Swedish organization of the same name (Det Naturaliga Steget) founded by research oncologist Dr. Karl-Henrik Rob‘rt in 1989 (see IN CONTEXT #28). Its purpose is to teach and support environmental systems thinking in corporations, cities, government, unions, and academic institutions through an easily understood dialogue process rooted in fundamental science.
The Natural Step teachings are a series of sequenced scientific principles that provide a remarkable and comprehensive basis for understanding the requisites for life on Earth and, in particular, how individuals, organizations, and companies can act so that those requisites are maintained and enhanced.
Dr. Rob‘rt’s key observation, which led him to found The Natural Step in Sweden, was that protecting the environment is being held back by arguments within the scientific community about peripheral details. The simple analogy is that scientists are like monkeys arguing about withering leaves in a dying tree, instead of paying attention to facts they can agree on, i.e. that the tree is dying.
The “pedagogy” of The Natural Step in Sweden was attained by engaging a wide spectrum of scientists of varying scientific disciplines to work together to create a description of the living systems that drive our economy and culture. After 21 drafts, Dr. Rob‘rt was able to get 50 prominent scientists to agree on a consensus document on the principles.
When you read The Natural Step documents or attend its seminars, it becomes evident that what we can all agree on is far more radical than that which we disagree on. We do not have to get into intricate levels of complexity or resolve scientific contradictions to understand how the whole system works, and therefore, what forces work against it.
The core teachings of The Natural Step, because they are scientifically incontrovertible and consensually derived, offer a common ground where people of all walks of life, of disparate beliefs and value systems, can discuss environmental problems without drowning in details or disputes. These create the milieu for the learner to have their own aha experience, that point where one gets it. As we know, once you get it, it is hard to unget. You see the world in an entirely different way, such that events or actions that may have seemed economically marginal become both understandable and economic.
One of the underlying guiding principles of The Natural Step is that each person is a genius in their business or their field of expertise. The Natural Step does not try to become the “expert” but instead trusts that people know how to solve environmental problems as soon as they can understand and define them for themselves.
The Four System Conditions
1. Nature cannot withstand a systematic buildup of dispersed matter mined from the Earth’s crust (e.g., minerals, oil, etc.).
2. Nature cannot withstand a systematic buildup of persistent compounds made by humans (e.g., PCBs).
3. Nature cannot take a systematic deterioration of its capacity for renewal (e.g., harvesting fish faster than they can replenish, converting fertile land to desert).
4. Therefore, if we want life to continue, we must (a) be efficient in our use of resources and (b) promote justice – because ignoring poverty will lead the poor, for short-term survival, to destroy resources that we all need for long-term survival (e.g., the rainforests).