Think like nature
Navigating tourism and business, by thinking more like nature
What would happen, if we thought more like nature?
Considering nature in decision-making, we can inspire a shift towards more regenerative ways of existing, and, ultimately, long-term survival.
While any human attempt to ‘think’ like nature carries inherent bias, it can help reframe nature not as a resource, but as a collaborator and help to challenge existing extractive brand systems.
“Think Like Nature, in Tourism and Business” is a report co-created by Jess Jorgensen (founder, Sporesight) and Catherine Baldwin (founder, Catanna Studio). We are cultural researchers, strategists and futurists specialising in applied nature-based insight thinking.
The short report is an inquiry into how enterprises, policymakers and tourists are shaping new travel practices by embracing principles of nature.
It outlines three key shifts in perspective for the tourism sector, offering provocations and practical ways for brands and organisations to embed more-than-human thinking into their strategies, products and experiences.
The shifts:
Extraction > Regeneration: from tourism being destructive to local ecosystems and extractive of community cultures, to showing care and guardianship.
Economy > Ecosystem: from tourism policy and leadership focused purely on safeguarding financial growth, to safeguarding economy and the environment.
Observation > Conservation: from tourists being passive observers of local environments and cultures, to being active conservationists.
These shifts are important in considering how to anticipate shifting human expectations and climate limitations.
What do we mean by ‘more-than-human’?
You might have seen the term ‘more-than-human’ weaving its way into our shared global lexicon. Integrating more-than-human viewpoints means that we move away from seeing ourselves as the ‘only’ intelligent beings (where humans are top-of-the-pyramid dominators, conquerors and colonists), towards acknowledging that we live alongside other intelligent entities – albeit forms of intelligence we’re only scraping the surface of understanding.
While ‘more-than-human’ is also flawed (being broad and open to subjective interpretation), sporulating it is a start in humans considering our impact on beings beyond ourselves.
In this report, we highlight examples of an intersection of human x nature intelligence: specifically, the inherent intelligence of mutualistic ecosystems which are natural to a geographic location and its peoples. This way of thinking signals an acknowledgment of our role to play, shifting from ego- to eco-system existence.
Grounded in case study analysis, systems thinking and trend analysis, these shifts serve as invitations to experiment, adapt and evolve.
Here’s the report: DOWNLOAD REPORT
Feel free to share it!
ARRANGE A‘THINK LIKE NATURE’ SESSION:
We’ve created a fun, provocative, interactive 2-hour working/walking session, designed to introduce nature-based thinking in how brands approach their products, initiatives and experiences.
If you’d like to know more and integrate nature’s more-than-human intelligence into your brand, let’s work together.
Email Jess and Catherine: hello@sporesight.co
SNEAK PEAK INTO THE REPORT:
