Podcast: Visions

[Speaker 1]:

How might people in the year 2050 experience their relationship with nature and go about their everyday lives? Why don’t we ask them?

[Speaker 2]:

Hi, my name is Sam, and I’m talking to you from 2050. My generation has returned to nature. And no, that doesn’t mean that I have become Tarzan or that I’m living like Robinson Crusoe on a desert island. It’s just that it’s really easy for me to see, eat and experience nature.

I have taken a break from work at the edge of my town. From the bench where I am sitting, I can see my city. It’s quite green, nothing like the brown and grey urban jungles from the early twenty-first century

But if I turn around, I can see a countryside where nature and people are also thriving alongside one another. Human and natural environment are very well connected through green corridors and hedges. It’s a place I know well, cos I spend a lot of my spare time there. There’s very few green places I can’t go, actually. And my online shopping list is full of products sourced by nearby farmers, fishers and foresters.

[Speaker 1]:

That was a short snippet from the story of Sam. It’s one of three potential, positive futures that we are working on in the BIONEXT project. These stories aren’t a blueprint or a prediction, but we nevertheless want you to hear these voices. Because engaging with these different futures, can help us to start thinking beyond only what’s going wrong with biodiversity. It can help you to make better everyday choices for nature, as a policy worker, business professional or in any other role.

We’ve heard from Sam, but what if in 25 years, the world has become like Mo’s world?

[Speaker 3]:

Hey there, I’m Mo. If there’s one thing, I feel really strongly about, it’s this: nature is taking back its space. When I was younger, I lived in the suburbs of a smaller city, but that location was actually given back to nature, to allow a nearby river to run its natural course again. I think that’s inspiring.

From my city apartment, I’m looking out over a lush wild forest, which like many other ecosystems, has been fully restored. But I’ve never actually been there. And while some of these restored ecosystems play a role in education and recreation, many of them never have human footsteps in them. 

All food I eat is sustainable, naturally grown and healthy. And with the enormous diversity of native plants and the high microbacterial matter in the soil it’s hard to have a meal that isn’t fulfilling and nutritious. To think back on the massive exploitation of animals and land that still existed 20 to 30 years ago. That’s pretty wild.

[Speaker 1]:

There are quite a few differences between the worlds of Sam and Mo. When you think of it, they seem to hold very different values when it comes to nature. Sam’s society is valuing and conserving nature because of all it has to offer the world. The second speaker, Mo, is talking much more about the intrinsic values of nature. It’s key that it exists, but it lives a life mostly by itself, and we humans learn from that and adapt to it. 

So what if we throw in a third story? Enter Li. What’s their relationship to nature?

[Speaker 4]:

What my relationship to nature is? That’s kind of stupid question isn’t it? I am nature, and nature is me. I feel a deep cultural and spiritual connection to the natural word around me, cos people, animal, plants, rivers, and their habitats, they are all connected. 

From where I am sitting, I can see a series of hills and mountains, a small city, as well as farms, rivers and trees. It’s interesting isn’t it, how humans have always been interconnected with the natural world around us, but in recent years it’s become nearly impossible to distinguish between nature and society. 

I think my world is smaller than it would have been if I was born decades ago. I live in a quite localised society, which requires less long-haul travel and as we consume mostly local goods, that requires less freight and shipping. But I don’t mind, as I devote my energy to my connection to the world around me, and the work it requires to keep that world as beautiful as this.

[Speaker 1]:

So that was Li’s story. It makes you think, right? Sam, Mo, and Li. How is their life different from yours? Can you relate to their worlds? And what would need to happen for their story to become your future? 

This video was made by the BIONEXT project, which is working on solutions and tools to aid in the fight for nature and biodiversity. BIONEXT is funded by the European Union and UK Research and Innovation.