Julio Bin, Brazilian Consultant, Professor and Speaker on Sustainability and Business Development

Interviewed by Tim LynchJuly 23, 2014
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Imagine - if our society is living sustainably and we are consciously not creating consumer waste; that all our purchases are based on quality products, for example clean food  that everything is biodegradable, on how little waste (packaging) there is, we will be making huge progress.

That reducing our intake is also at the forethought of our minds, that all things are being recycled or reused and that everyone is mindful that we all are part of a closing the loop culture our knowingness will automatically realise that we are part of a greater whole.

This holistic notion, that we are embedded in the greater dynamics of the biosphere - of us all elegantly cycling through everything and being aligned with nature as in Cradle to Cradle the idea promulgated by William McDonough, we will be on our way home to being more at one with the planetary ecology that we are embedded in.

At present we are far from it, as this is not being languaged from any level of Government, who at present have no intention of empowering the community to become more 'conscious' - solely because they are not.

This interview with Julio covers his upbringing in Brazil, where its the disparity of social economics, that widens the gap between the many poor people just subsisting and not really living in a healthy highly educated community.

Even if the environment was actually ok, its the waste and misuse of resources, such as planned obsolescence that we are constantly working to pay off something that is breaking down, that is putting a huge burden on the environment, that is still an increasing issue today. Even here in NZ, the landfills are becoming full of cheep junk that maybe only over the last few weeks, were purchased as cheap childrens toys etc.

We are living in a throw-away society, that keeps throwing out the trash, but on our small planet we are actually throwing in and this means we are covering us and our great sustainer with our own waste.

In Brazil, poor people living in an unsustainable way can mean large families, huge pressure on the mother, who may have no way to keep her power over her fertility due to overbearing patriarchal attitudes.

Sustainability to many people is very intangible, for in so many ways we are unable to see it, as it carries through vast cycles that we only perceive a very small portion of this process, yet we need to embrace it if we are to survive as a civilisation.

Where is our breath coming from, our water, our food and where does our waste go? What is the process, is it a bio harmonic process, or is it pushed out somewhere into the environment as in out of sight out of mind?  Yet, knowing that on a small planet, it will eventually come back to bite us as we push up against the limits to growth.

Ubuntu from Southern Africa - I am what I am because of who we all are!

We are all connected the belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity is a word that links us all together as 21st century inhabitants of Spaceship Earth.

Closing the loop. The reason we are not getting sustainability embedded in the economic system is because our economic model is old paradigm, based on hard nosed manufacturing of consumer products, with planned obsolescence still driving the process where washing machines, fridges, vacuum cleaners and toasters are built only to last an exceptionally short lifetime, when once they lasted 3 times as long.

Today we are still wedded to the industrial revolution and production and now consumerism, and new economic ways have to be encouraged and thought through. The circular economy, or 'Cradle to Cradle' is one new way, but needs greater support and more adherents and champions.

When we call for change, we have a tendency to talk about something outside of us, like They, or the corporations, or the planet, the politicians, some third party, however we need to talk in the first person, because it is us, we, and ourselves and realise the changes that need to take place, our attitude, starts with us, 'inside' - in our home, in our community.

Greater education and learning is the key.

Working towards life, instead of profit is going to be the next step in sustainability.

This interview covers ethics, morality, the values that Julio finds in the NZ psyche and what this county can do, what it has stood for and that it can still be a global leader and trail blazer to more conscious ways of doing things. This is very important because the world is in need of new templates and living examples.

NZ still has the potential, evidently in South America, New Zealand is seen as a country that is ethical and having good values - having a particular energy that inspires one to become optimistic - its image of clean and green and even with its challenges is far superior to most countries. Note that the recent European migrants have only been here for around 200 years, and with a small population have not had the capacity to really plunder our natural resources, or over pollute during this time span.

Julio sees New Zealand as having a high concentration of positive deviants. That NZ can be a model for the rest of the world and that Waiheke Island is the microcosm of the NZ macrocosm. He would like to combine NZs systems such as something akin to the Resource Management Act into Brazil, and with many of our other social benefits as well.

With the recent invoking of Pachamama in Ecuador and Bolivia and giving the earth rights of nature this awareness is bringing our focus to that which sustains us, that is also being seen by the Kogi in Columbia. That our relationship and connection with the earth has to be acknowledged and coupled up with.

We are most definitely on the cusp of major change globally, as ecological, economic and societal disturbances ring alarm bells throughout spaceship earth. How will the 7 billion plus crew remember their collective call to action and take their stations to be the change we want to see.

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Tim Lynch

Tim Lynch, is a New Zealander, who is fortunate in that he has whakapapa, or a bloodline that connects him to the Aotearoan Maori. He has been involved as an activist for over 40 years - within the ecological, educational, holistic, metaphysical, spiritual & nuclear free movements. He sees the urgency of the full spectrum challenges that are coming to meet us, and is putting his whole life into being an advocate for todays and tomorrows children. 'To Mobilise Consciousness.'

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