Wild Resilience at NASA Biocene
Abstract
Aerial Photography of Tobago, Kevin Huggins
Around the world, island nations have developed not only a relentless sense of resilience, but an exquisite nature of antifragility; that is to say, in some ways island nations have developed strength from disorder. Countries such as islands in the Caribbean have navigated globalisation for almost two centuries, producing multi-cultural societies and cross-cultural learnings, which are only mirrored by the deep, ecological diversity and adaptability that they possess, as the biodiversity superpowers of the planet. During a time of global unpredictability and climate change, these nations potentially have learnings that can inform the complex navigation of changing economic, social and ecological paradigms.
Wild Resilience at NASA Biocene 2020
In October 2020, I was given the phenomenal opportunity to be a speaker and facilitator for NASA V.I.N.E. (Virtual Interchange for Nature- Inspired Exploration) Biocene 2020. NASA V.I.N.E focuses on nature-inspired exploration on Earth and in space for the benefit of all of life. The virtual workshop centered around bio-inspired design education and best practices, diversity and inclusion, as well as global networking. This was an incredible opportunity to share my individual perspective and bring a strong Caribbean presence into the global bio-inspired design community.
The topic that emerged for both my talk and workshop was island nations´ relentless sense of resilience, but furthermore, their exquisite nature of “antifragility”: our ability to become stronger from disorder. My talk, “Wild Resilience: Learnings from Islands for a World Navigating Disorder” (starting at 30:34 in the video above) was part of a track in the event featuring diverse perspectives, equity and inclusion, and was followed by a lively panel discussion alongside two brilliant men changing the world, Billy Almon and AJ Link, and subsequently a 90 minute Q&A session to continue exploring this topic with the audience of engineers, scientists, designers and educators from around the world on the second day of the event.
“Antifragility is beyond resilience or robustness. The resilient resists shocks and stays the same; the antifragile get better. ”
An Island That Carries Continental Memory
Trinidad & Tobago’s history includes repeated attempts of cultural erasure by colonial influences on Indigenous Caribbean Peoples like the Taino, Kalinago, and Ciboney Peoples, and later the African enslaved persons brought here through the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Despite this, both peoples have been able to retain, alter, and even revive their culture to keep it alive and flourishing. Navigating through the complexities of globalisation for over two centuries, embracing the influx of East Indian, Chinese, and Javanese labourers, along with diverse European nationals, has created a uniquely Trinbagonian identity. These cross cultural learnings have created a diversity that is only surpassed by the deep ecological biodiversity of the twin islands that I am privileged to call my home and country of birth.
Photography by Nadia Huggins
We carry the memory of vast continents, and are trying to find our own space in a fractured geographical and historical region. We face historical, economic, and environmental challenges that have built a beautiful nation with a rich culture.
Why the Caribbean Embodies Resilience
Our region has some of the richest biodiversity in the world, and Trinidad’s is even more so than most of the Caribbean because it has a recent geological history of being connected to South America. I did not have to look far to find extraordinary examples of resilience through biodiversity at home.
Aerial Photography of the La Brea Pitch Lake, by Kevin Huggins
The Pitch Lake located in Southern Trinidad - the largest naturally occurring asphalt lake in the world - is an anomaly existing at the intersection of two faults, and has managed to develop an active microbiological ecosystem and material communities which coexist in an environment inhospitable to life. The Aripo Savannas - a naturally occurring group of seven savanna grasslands located in Central Trinidad - has an impervious hardpan clay layer that restricts the growth of roots and magnifies both seasonal flooding and seasonal drought, making it a hostile environment for most plants and animals. Despite this, the Morishe Palm has become world renowned for its adaptation to these conditions by sinking its roots through the near impervious clay, and the Sundew plant has adapted to the lack of available nutrients by becoming carnivorous.
“Resilience is fundamentally what defines the Caribbean - we bounce back, however much we suffer. We’ve done this in our culture, in our ecosystems and our way of life. Beyond this is antifgragility - instead of resisting and staying the same, we have continued to get better. ”
At the other end of the spectrum, emergent trees in rainforest ecosystems such as the Tobago Northern Ridge have adapted to an abundance of opportunity to grow - so much so that they have “fight” for their place in the sun, and simultaneously provide safe habitat for a myriad of species that are endemic to the island.
When I consider these sociological and ecological challenges overcome, it becomes clear to me that Trinidad somehow gained strength and identity through disorder and difficulties - resilience and adaptability are a part of the DNA of the ground we walk upon.
Intrinsic Antifragility in the Caribbean
Resilience is fundamentally what makes the Caribbean unique - it doesn’t mitigate the issues but it helps us to bounce back, however much we suffer. This concept of resistance plays an integral part in our being; not only on a personal level in the Caribbean, but for other countries that have with a similar blueprint.
I knew that there was more, and I had to find it.
A few years ago, I met an engineering student by the name of Simon Neptune when I was a partner in Abovegroup. In researching our resilience, I remembered Simon, and that he decided to face Trinidad and Tobago’s fossil fuel dependency by inventing a potentially disruptive technology to provide alternative energy on a micro-level to households. Simon saw an issue with our energy consumption, and sought to rectify it. When I reflected on my first meeting with him, I realised that Simon unintentionally (and ingeniously), embodied a beautiful concept that I would later learn about at a design leadership retreat in Tokyo: antifragility.
Antifragility is based in the idea of becoming stronger through adversity. As Nassim Nicholas Taleb explains, resilient people, things and organisations are able to withstand harm without weakening. It lies beyond resilience. Instead of simply resisting shocks and staying the same, the antifragile get better. Hardship and turmoil can lead to strength and vitality (up to a point).
Although Simon's renewable energy projects have been paused due to COVID-19, the ingenuity of his disruptive model struck a chord within me. I did not have to look far before I came across other ingenious examples of innovation and antifragility in the Caribbean region.
In Barbados, the Walkers Institute for Regenerative Research, Education, and Design (WIRRED) has applied regenerative agriculture to turn a former quarry into a regenerative agricultural project that increases biodiversity, enriches soils, improves watersheds, and enhances ecosystem services, while engaging local and international community through education. By capturing carbon in soil and aboveground biomass, their regenerative agricultural model aims to reverse climate change. At the same time, it offers increased yields, resilience to climate instability, and higher health and vitality for farming communities. Walkers Institute chose to embrace an antifragile mindset by creating an area of positive agricultural growth alongside a model that could be shared and replicated.
As I journeyed on with this exploration, the most immense example of antifragility came from Dominica, one of the most enchanting places on Earth that I’ve visited. As one of the most climate vulnerable islands in the Caribbean, Dominica was devastated by Hurricane Maria a few years ago and took the incredibly brave stance to make themselves stronger in its wake.
The War on Nature, and How to Make Peace
Hurricane Maria directly affected almost 80% of the population (65,000 people) with an onslaught of torrential downpours, intense sea surges, overflowing rivers and unprecedented high winds across the island, not to mention 90% homes damaged or destroyed and same for crops and lost livestock. Tragically, 65 people died. The total impact of this disastrous event is estimated at XCS3.54 Billion, equivalent to US $1.3 Billion. That number is proportionate to 226% of Dominica's Gross Domestic Product.
Carrying the pain of his people, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit made an impassioned proclamation before the United Nations:
We as a country and as a region did not start this war against nature! We did not provoke it! The war has come to us… There is no more time for conversation! There is little time left for action. To deny climate change is to procrastinate while the earth sinks; it is to deny a truth we have just lived! It is to mock thousands of my compatriots who in a few hours without a roof over their heads will watch the night descend on Dominica in fear of sudden mudslides...and what the next hurricane may bring.
Most other nations would face this by orienting toward survival and repair. In the long run, it would mean sinking into a pattern of being subject to wanton destruction from the climate consistently and potentially sinking into socioeconomic decline. Instead, Dominica embodied the principles of antifragility and developed the Dominica Climate Resilience and Recovery Plan 2020-2030 with a radical but necessary goal: to become the first climate resilient nation in the world.
Fundamentally, this vision of building a climate resilient Dominica is focused on reducing the impact of, and time to recover from, climatic and other natural shocks, as well as boosting the overall socioeconomic development trajectory of the country. As a nation, they analysed its social, economic, infrastructural and environmental factors and built a 10 year roadmap to achieve climate resilience, and created a strategy toolkit for other nations in the world adapting to the growing climate crisis. They decided that instead of being a part of the “war on nature”, they would make peace with it and become stronger.
Learnings from Islands for a World in Disorder
In the context of NASA Biocene 2020 and Stardust Life-Centered Design, the question I confronted is this: How can we learn from the anti-fragility of these islands and apply it to bio-inspired design? In exploring these examples and collating learnings into an actionable model for developing bio-inspired design, I developed An Antifragile Model for Bio-Inspired Design, which is also Stardust Life-Centered Design’s business model, pictured here.
This model addresses one of the key issues that bio-inspired design faces, adoptability and market-readiness. It designs communication and amplification into the overall process of bio-inspired design. Over time, products, services and prototypes launched become educational and awareness pieces, feeding into a repetition of the process and building a larger awareness. Creating this synthesis reduces the education and awareness gap, while accelerating buy-in. It takes the fragility of market disruption out of the equation, and makes itself and others stronger as it goes along.
Anti-fragility is more than a socio-economic and corporate model, it’s a way life. How can we embody this in our personal lives? What can islands teach us?
Start anywhere and everywhere. Abundance is your friend.
One of the key strategies that Nassim Nicholas Taleb explains is that creating redundancies and variations reduces fragility. One of the observations I made about islands, particularly in the Caribbean, is the influence of African diasporic believe systems, which takes variations to another level - potentiality. “All things are wrapped in a bundle of potentiality, including the Earth itself.” - Sonny Batata, Bantu Cosmology
Photography by Nadia Huggins
Hold your centre of gravity lightly; let coming and going feel like waves, like breathing.
Another key trait of antifragile people is to embrace risk by betting conservatively in some areas and taking many small risks in others. On a personal level, it speaks to allowing risk and change to make you supple, indeed graceful, as Marlon James shares in the introduction to So Many Islands, “I wonder if it is because we island people are surrounded by sea, hemmed in and branching out at once, that we are always in a state of flux.”
Photography by Nadia Huggins
The currency
of joy is unstoppable, because it accrues exponentially.
Finally, get rid of things that make you antifragile - remove things from your life that make you overly vulnerable, without fearing adversity. In our Caribbean culture I would take this one step further, in that we find and celebrate joy. Ultimately the world needs this more than ever. “In your love and beauty you confirm the best of human possibility.” - Bruce Mau, MC24
Photography by Trinidad and Tobago Rocks
