The Sacred Balance

Combining science and spirituality, in his non-fiction book The Sacred Balance: Rediscovering Our Place in Nature (1997), Canadian author and environmentalist David Suzuki examines the ways in which humanity threatens the Earth's elemental gifts, on which it relies in order to survive. The book was re-released in 2007 with more up-to-date scientific figures.

With The Sacred Balance, Suzuki's goal is to combine a spiritual appreciation of nature, one that is influenced by and indebted to indigenous people, with increasingly precise scientific measurements of the natural world. He recognizes the work of Rachel Carson, author of 1962's Silent Spring, for giving birth to modern environmentalism and positioning the future of our planet as a policy issue, as much as a spiritual or scientific one. The author also credits Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs with providing him with the structure of the book. On this note, Suzuki proceeds to discuss the four natural elements humans need to survive.

First, there is air. "Breathing," Suzuki writes, "is controlled in the oldest part of the brain, the respiratory center of the brain stem, a relic that originated before the dawn of consciousness." Having established the primacy of air in humanity's own hierarchy of needs, Suzuki explores the delicate balance of oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere. He writes that the Earth's atmosphere is made up of 21 percent oxygen, a carefully calibrated number. For instance, if that percentage were to grow to 25 percent, the atmosphere would likely combust into flames. Meanwhile, an oxygen rate as low as 15 percent is not enough for humans to survive. Therefore, humanity should think much more carefully about the pollutants it releases into the air, as well as the effects of climate change on our atmosphere.



Next, he discusses water. Like air, the element of water is essential to life on Earth. We ourselves are 60 percent water in terms of weight, our temperature stabilized by its presence. Moreover, the temperature of the Earth itself is stabilized by water, meaning that both droughts and rising sea levels caused by melting ice caps can have outsized effects on our global ecological balance. Suzuki notes that while water is a requirement for life, various species have adapted themselves to all manner of conditions when it comes to a scarcity or abundance of water. Unfortunately, humans are not one of those species, having forever been exceedingly reliant on freshwater to build our civilizations, which now threaten its supply.

The next element is earth. Soil, rich in nutrients and microorganisms, provides the source of all our food, whether directly through plants or indirectly through predators eating animals that in turn eat plants. The scale and technological advancement of modern agricultural processes, however, are quickly depleting the Earth's topsoil along with its forests. Moreover, food shortages, the author adds, are not a phenomenon unique to the agricultural age. Early prehistoric humans faced their own food shortages after hunting various animals to local extinction. As a guide forward, Suzuki looks to smaller communities that tend to farm the land with conservation in mind, as opposed to large-scale agricultural apparatuses.

The fourth element is fire, represented here by the sun and the light it emits. The sun is energy and, without it, the universe devolves into chaos and entropy. The sense of order preserved by the sun at a molecular and subatomic level is what allows our bodies to operate at a stable metabolic hum. Suzuki writes that the sun comprises over 99 percent of the matter found in our solar system. Yet, the light from the sun is not enough for us. We use the earth's natural resources to ensure that light is available virtually everywhere people exist on the planet, twenty-four hours a day. This creates pollution and CO2 emissions that can heavily alter the balance of the three elements mentioned previously.



After detailing both the power and precariousness of the four natural elements, Suzuki moves on to spiritual elements that fulfill our more ephemeral—yet no less critical—needs for humanity. Things like love and affection are needs that can and must be fulfilled, but only if humanity keeps the four natural elements in balance. In this way, environmentalism is an ethic from which all other religious, philosophical, and spiritual movements must grow.

Though The Sacred Balance may lack the scientific rigor and policy ingenuity of other, more recent books of conservation, the author does an admirable job of applying a spiritual and psychological component to environmentalism that may sway those who are still unconvinced of the importance of "green" initiatives.