The Weasels at Work
Weasels are in the news these days, especially the metaphorical ones who create chaos everywhere. Maybe it's time to look to gophers for inspiration on how to regenerate a future that works for all.
Making a Mess
It was a mystery. Someone was coming in at night and stealing the children’s shoes from a Japanese kindergarten. The theft made global news when a hidden camera revealed that the culprit was a weasel. A weasel? Detectives are guessing that the weasel was using the shoes to line its nest and stay warm. Fifteen shoes? It must be a large nest. As a crime-prevention measure, the kindergarten is now covering the cubbyholes at night to protect the remaining shoes.
Weasels are nocturnal animals known for creating chaos. Metaphorically, a weasel is a person who is considered deceitful or treacherous. Plenty of weasels seem to be busy at work these days, often in broad daylight.
We see weasels at work in the division and discontent coming out of the COP29 meeting in Baku, where governments have not yet been able to reach a fair agreement on climate finance for developing countries. This comes at a time when oil and gas profits are exorbitantly high, and when those who are lining their nests have no desire to forego or share their wealth, other than in symbolic and trivial ways.
The Guardian reported last week that “fossil fuel-linked lobbyists outnumber delegations of almost every country at climate talks in Baku.” This is a disaster for climate justice, especially for the countries and communities most vulnerable to climate-related risks. One climate negotiator at the COP29 meeting in Baku described the situation to a Reuters journalist as “a tragic spectacle, a clown show.”
Speaking of this, nominations for the next US government administration seem to be a spectacle as well. Whereas weasels, as furry creatures, play a vital role in maintaining ecological balance, the same cannot be said for the metaphorical weasels who show little regard for ecology and human wellbeing.
In a "weasel world," ethical action, the common good, and the welfare of future generations tend to be ignored. On the contrary, weasels often work to line their nests with lucre — as in money or profit that is usually accumulated illegally or immorally.
Climate change and biodiversity loss are moral and ethical issues. We live in a time when the world needs people to act with integrity and wisdom to halt climate change and biodiversity loss, regenerate ecosystems, and ensure the wellbeing of everyone. How do we avoid “weasel chaos” and lay the ground for this vision, right here and now?
Making a Difference
Maybe the gophers can tell us something about this. Yes, gophers. I recently read a story about how a small group of pocket gophers restored a landscape that was devastated by the Mount St. Helens volcanic eruption in 1980. The New Scientist article describes how individual gophers (Thomomys talpoides) were placed in enclosed sections of ash-laden landscape for 24 hours, two years after the eruption. One little gopher helped to regenerate soil and contributed to ecosystem recovery that is visible forty years later.
This gopher story grabbed my attention because it’s an inspiring one about the long-term and positive impacts that small actions and interventions can have on ecosystems, including in disastrous times.
As an antidote to weasel news, I’ve been enthusiastically reading more articles about these gophers. I know that gophers can destroy lawns, chew through wires, and so on, but it’s important to appreciate their ecological contributions as well.
A study published in 1988 describes how gophers dug down to pre-eruption soil and brought it to the surface, along with spores of mycorrhizal fungi and plant propagules. This created microsites where plants could reestablish after the eruption. Recent research describes the long-term positive impacts of the gophers on the microbial community. Mia Rose Maltz and her colleagues found that the study plots with historic gopher activity had more diverse bacterial and fungal communities than the surrounding old-growth forests:
Despite their small size, microbes may be key to understanding how communities respond to severe disturbances in novel ecosystems. Our investigation of these natural processes is germane for addressing contemporary climate crises and ecosystems recovering from anthropogenic activities.
In the same way that we need to limit or deter weasels from creating more chaos in the world, we need more gopher activity today to restore nutrients to the soils that nourish us and to propagate the seeds of transformative change.
“Gopher It”
We can learn a lot from nature, including weasels, gophers, and microbial fungi. A key takeaway for me is that we as individuals and groups can work individually and collectively to create a healthy foundation that support all of us, especially in times of crisis. Small changes make a big difference.
In You Matter More Than You Think, I talk about how every instant has the potential to contribute to sustainability, not just as a normative goal but as a way of being. I also consider why the very belief that we have the potential to transform ourselves and our systems is a critical starting point for social change.
Sure, the gophers on Mount St. Helens were probably not thinking that they were contributing to ecosystem succession through changes in the microbiome. And like gophers, we humans often do not know exactly what we are contributing to, or what the future holds. However, we do know very well where we are heading when we focus on hoarding (shoes or whatever) to enhance our personal nests, especially at the expense of people and nature. We know that our actions and decisions influence the future. There will always be weasels among us, and we all may have our weasel moments. Yet like gophers, we can help to nurture the soil to get us through disasters and enable us to thrive.
In the end, the article in The Guardian made me feel hopeful:
the musky scent of the Japanese weasel gave rise to the saying itachi no saigo-pei. That literally translates as ‘the weasel’s final fart’, but is used to refer to the last word or act of an unpopular or dislikable person.
Elaborating on this, ChatGPT tells me that the saying describes someone's desperate or spiteful final act before losing or leaving: “It's often associated with a last-ditch effort or a petty act of revenge, akin to a weasel's supposed behavior when cornered.”
The weasels are at work, but when enough people are ready to “gopher it,” we can make sure that this is their final act — and that their saigo-pe (final fart) does not destroy us all.
We are millions everywhere,
On seas and oceans and lands;
In air;
On water and all over this very earth.
We are millions working together.
We are building, creating, molding life.
We are shaping the shining structures of love.
We are everywhere, we are everywhere.
Thank you Karen, these gopher reflections remind me of the US moral philosopher and nature author Prof Emerita Kathleen Dean Moore who was with a scientist at what appeared to be a dead volcanic-ash affected site. He said to her, look closely- these small patches, perhaps lichens or moss? I can’t quite remember , are ‘refugia’ - in time they as small colonies will transform the area to support more life. I see Ecoversities, many eco creatives I work with, mindful sanghas, regenerative restorers and economists, and people promoting the ethical ecoliteracy/systems literacy twice-UNESCO endorsed framework of the Earth Charter- that combines all the principles of the UN Declaration of Human Rights with the knowledge and Indigenous science, as refugia. It’s tragic to learn how western education has failed in integrated comprehensive values education.
I often think of US Prof Emeritus of Ethics Ron Engels reflections too, who shared how values education drastically declined after WWII - perhaps other meta narratives - such as growth-at-all -costs economics took over and remains so dominant. The Earth Charter is a peace charter and promotes a ecological worldview in its vision and I’m thankful to hear at times IPCC Prof Brendan Mackey refer to it. So much more emphasis that intersecting environmental and social challenges are a moral problem are needed.
Thanks again for articulating these times as an holistic ethical challenge and I’m glad gopher science is offering a means to describe collective agency as a transformative power for a better world.