Watch Out for the Baobabs!

In answer to a growing concern, approximately 2,500 seeds were delivered to the International Space Station this year. One goal of the seed banking experiment is to determine if plant seeds can be stored in space for an extended period of time in order to ensure that plants survive in case of a global disaster or environmental catastrophe. But does storing seeds in space, or anywhere else for that matter, really provide insurance against the loss of species in the wild?

According to the science of Kabbalah, the cause of the current environmental crisis lies in the rules that govern nature and how we, humanity, relate to them. As science now knows, nature maintains itself in constant harmony and balance. When this balance is threatened, nature utilizes mechanisms to restore it.

The Kabbalists tell us that the most fundamental principle of nature is interconnectedness and unity. This principle determines that all parts of nature work not to sustain themselves, but to sustain the system as a whole. In other words, each element in nature cares for all other parts of nature, not for itself.

While seed banks such the Millennium Seed Bank Project (MSBP) and the NASA experiment provide a controlled source of plant material for research, the seeds alone are not sufficient to provide for the potential recovery and restoration of threatened species. A good example of this is one seed close to the heart of the MSBP: the Baobab tree - considered to be a relic from the Gondwanan super-continent that once joined Australia and Africa.

In its indigenous environment the Baobab supports the life of countless creatures, from the largest of mammals to thousands of tiny creatures. Birds nest in its branches; baboons devour the fruit; lemurs, bush babies and fruit bats drink the nectar and pollinate the flowers, and elephants consume water stored in the trunk of the tree. The Baobab however, has difficulty reproducing in unnatural conditions. Humanity has changed the tree's environment by clearing deciduous forest for agricultural use, thus affecting the number of animals that can pollinate the tree. Scientists believe that the only surviving animal now capable of pollinating the Giant Baobab (Adansonia grandidieri ) in Madagascar is the lemur. Thus the Malagasy Baobab itself is now threatened with extinction.

The Kabbalists tell us that humanity is the sole reason for the current environmental crisis; humans are the only exception to the inherent rule in nature that maintains balance of the system. In other words, in the entire universe, humankind is the only disruptive element. Therefore, the answer to the escalating environmental crisis is the mending of human nature as this will automatically mend all other parts of nature. We must learn to work not only to sustain ourselves, but to sustain the system as a whole; operating like nature for system-gratification.

It is not too late! The beautiful Baobab tree stands to remind us of this fundamental principle of interconnectedness and unity in nature. As Antoine de Saint Exupéry, The Little Prince said: "Children," I say plainly, "watch out for the baobabs!"