On the same day that I recorded my recent conversation with Alpha Lo about Rehydrating Los Angeles, I also recorded a quieter but very intriguing conversation about fire with Ali Bin Shahid. Ali worked in the oil and gas industry as an engineer, then studied natural medicine and permaculture, and is now a prolific writer on topics near and dear to those of us who are working to bring the “Living Climate” (or “Biotic Climate,” “Hydrological Climate,” or “Two Legged Climate”) understanding back into public discourse: how life regulates the climate, how important biological work and biological water cycling are in climate resiliency and climate/temperature/rainfall regulation, and how soil’s structural and functional integrity (the soil sponge) is foundational infrastructure for other processes of life.
I had written Ali to ask about his workflow, and whether he uses Artificial Intelligence as part of his workflow.
He replied “Didi, I changed my workflow again - And I wanted to send you all of it, but because I am constantly changing it - I cannot give a tech stack. But here's how I start off: To understand my workflow, understand that I am a Muslim, and a creationist, so for me there are universal laws and rules set by divine, we just need to find them. Hence more often than not, it starts with Qur'an - a parallel from it, then it will depend on what discipline I am looking at - but if it is natural systems, Greek Medicine pretty much covers a lot of aspects in the sense of philosophical basis, then I form a hunch or a hypothesis - search research papers, (use google scholar) - find the relevant details and then combine them together in my hypothesis - theory. Once I have a theory, I discuss with someone or if I cannot find an expert - I look into more research papers and talk with AI: that's about it.”
I was fascinated. What an interesting web of influences! What a unique workflow! I was also intrigued because I had been wondering how and whether to share the aspects of my own work that are influenced by wisdom traditions (and my own uncategorizable Earth-based version of Christianity) without compromising people’s trust in my scientific integrity. I live in one of the most atheist states (Vermont) in an increasingly secular country, where some groups are utterly determined that they—and only they—know what real science is and that spirituality has no business in science. It’s part of a larger power struggle of who controls the truth about life on Earth.
While there are plenty of questionable theories circulating on the internet about pretty much everything, climate science and policy have been particularly hard-hit victims of this patronizing, in-group “don’t-bother-us-with-the-details-because-we-know-what-real-science-is-and-you-are-obviously-too-ignorant-to-even-understand (and we know that you are obviously ignorant because you are religious)” mindset.
When mainstream science determined that greenhouse gasses were the only relevant driver of global warming, the climate community left a lot of really solid, key research by the wayside. This bio-hydrological and whole-systems understanding is precisely what people like Walter Jehne, Millan Millan, Anastassia Makarieva, Michal Kravcik, me, Rob Lewis, Alpha Lo, Judith Schwartz (and groups like Biodiversity for a Livable Climate, Ecosystem Restoration Alliance, Regenerate Earth, Land and Leadership Initiative) and many others have been trying to bring back into the conversation.
Our work appears to be gaining traction, though nowhere near fast enough to prevent the recent fires in LA; the continuing fires, floods, droughts, and heatwaves around the world; or the continued destruction of soils, forests, and ecosystems we depend on. The good news is we are finding each other and starting to interweave our work (oddly here on Substack and on Linked In.)
Ali’s voice is a very interesting addition to our conversation, and I took the opportunity to dialogue with him from a different place than usual: looking at the idea that being observant of living systems is a way of studying not just science, but also studying spirit.
Here is Ali’s recent post that we are discussing: What are we missing before the flames?
There were places in our conversation where we diverged—which perhaps made both of us somewhat tentative—but I believe that learning to cross pollinate, to listen through the frameworks of other traditions, and to find common ground and common goals are all going to be key if we want regeneration to spread throughout the world.
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