Bakampa Brian Baryaguma
1.
Introduction
Nature is, ‘the whole universe and every created thing,’[1] including humans, plants, water bodies, landscapes, airspace, etc.
Albert Einstein said
that, ‘Look deep into nature and you will understand everything better.’ This
essay does that: analyzing lessons from nature, and their usefulness in promoting
a culture of peace and sustainable development.
2.
Lessons from Nature and their Usefulness
A.
Change
is Good
Change is inevitable. Green leaves don’t resist turning red in autumn, and trees don’t resist leaves falling off in winter, in spite of apparent vulnerability.[2]
Resisting change can be detrimental to peace and sustainable development. If Muammar Gadhafi hadn’t resisted change in 2011, maybe he would be alive and Libya, more prosperous.
 |
| Libya before, and after the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings (copyright: Activist Post). |
Change should be allowed to prevail, once inevitable. Everything settles, gradually. As Tony Blair said, ‘If we have the courage to change, then we can.’
B.
Complementarity is Power
Each water particle is necessary for oceans, lakes and rivers to exist. Plants, and the human body, for all its acclaimed complexity, can’t exist without each cell. Every bit completes the whole.
 |
| Lake Victoria, Uganda (copyright: Bakampa Brian). |
Ants and bees always work in unison to accomplish big tasks easily, and quickly.
 |
| Black ants harvesting on aphids (copyright: Shutterstock). |
 |
| Bees in a beehive (copyright: Dr. John Anderson). |
Global cooperation in eliminating security threats is needed to curb rising insecurity. Stockpiling weapons of mass destruction, like nuclear arms, compromises peace. They should be destroyed.
 |
| Established nuclear powers have enough arsenals to obliterate the world, lacking moral authority to prevent other countries from getting them (copyright: BBC). |
Superpowers keep nuclear weapons on the pretext of ensuring security, contrary to the 1970 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.[3] This threatens weak countries, tempting them to also amass them, albeit illegally.[4] North Korea wants nuclear arms, for self-defence purposes, but is ironically opposed and threatened with war by nuclear-armed states. War impedes development.
 |
| North Korea test-firing missiles (copyright: BBC). |
 |
| US warships ready to strike North Korea, April 2017 (copyright: Kurtis Hatcher). |
C. Freedom Brings Prosperity
Animals roam the earth’s plains freely. Birds glide in the sky. Pets love freely. Preys live large, and prosper, undeterred by predators.
Peace in the Middle
East is possible if Arabs and Jews embrace freedom from the shackles of mutual
suspicion and hatred, under a two-state solution, recognizing Israel’s right to
exist, and an independent homeland for Palestinians along the 1967 borders.
Sustainable development is possible if people leave restrictive comfort zones, and like fishermen, sail into open waters, where unlimited possibilities to manifest their aspirations abound.
 |
| Carnage in the Israeli-Palestine conflict (copyright: UConn Today). |
Sustainable development is possible if people leave restrictive comfort zones, and like fishermen, sail into open waters, where unlimited possibilities to manifest their aspirations abound.
 |
| Fishermen on Lake Victoria, Uganda (copyright: Bakampa Brian). |
D.
Diversity is Unity – Not Adversity
Nature is incredibly diverse, yet it doesn’t destructively compete against itself. Consider flowers: they harness color differences to achieve aesthetic good, with natural curative remedy that elicits healing emotions and feelings.
 |
| A beautiful flower garden (copyright: Shutterstock). Each flower is contented, and aspires to be the best it can be, for common good. |
People’s failure to
emulate this has rendered peace, and sustainable development elusive. Racism
thrives, promoting conflicts and disunity. Physical differences should blend us
together like flowers, for peaceful co-existence, and sustainable development.
 |
| People of different races smiling together (copyright: Dolgachov). |
3.
Conclusion
Lao Tzu said that, ‘Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.’ Nature teaches us to have faith, patience, and persistence, just as when we cultivate gardens, and wait on them to produce food. Then a culture of peace, and sustainable development will be realized, ending conflicts, and bringing prosperity.
Notes and References
[1] A.S. Hornby, A.P. Cowie, and
A.C. Gimson, Oxford Advanced Learner’s
Dictionary of Current English (1983), at 570.
[3] Article 6 of the Treaty obliges
nuclear-states to disarm, and cease manufacture of nuclear weapons.
[4] Article 2 of the Treaty prohibits acquiring and manufacturing
nuclear weapons.
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