Nick May Talks About Conciliation
'Mapping The Worldwide Web'
Nick talks about 'conciliation', the ability to put all knowledge together into a form of 'world map' that explains how 'the world works'. To do this we need to approach education in an interdisciplinary way, combining the sciences into one project and that links to the social sciences as well. Only in this way will be able to understand the way everything is connected, how we are impacting on Earth systems and to act on the knowledge that each one of us has a finite amount of resources that we can utilize and that each one of us is responsible for at least 4 acres of land (1.6 hectares) of land that needs to be conserved for eco-agriculture, biodiversity or fresh water resources. We need to stop pointing fingers and blaming others and come up with a plan to fix our Earth. This will require choices regarding what we consume and what we put back, how our money is made and invested as well as rethinking the nature of corporate entities, so that we can balance our lifestyles and production and bring about ecological sustainability.
Nick May is originally from Devonshire and Somerset Farming areas in South West England (often referred to as "The West Country"). Nick was around eleven when his family moved to South Africa and he spent his childhood living in the bush and growing up picking up fossils, crystals and minerals.
Nick says that his keen interest in mineralogy began when he was around six when he started mining the school walls and dug all the crystals out, for which he was in big trouble.
Over the past thirty years mineralogy has kept him very busy going to places all over the world including, Madagascar, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Congo. Besides looking at rocks, the beautiful formations, nature, the people and situation are all facets of learning about these places that Nick developed.
Nick established his company, TopRock Gemstones & Minerals when he was twenty-one and over the last thirty years has lived in many places including Midrand, Pretoria, Hermanus, Pheonix Arizona and Madgascar.
When asked how he settled in the Lower Mpushini Valley, Nick says that in his travels he is always looking for beautiful places and ended up here because it is both natural and beautiful. Nick takes up the story: “The Valley is as natural as it’s supposed to be, which is a very rare thing now days, but that hasn’t come easily. We are continuously fighting development, poaching, pollution, quarries, more quarries, more trucks, more litter, more pollution, it doesn’t ever stop.” “
Actually the Conciliation that I am talking about is putting the known knowledge together into one manual, and that by understanding 'how the world works' we will be able to start understanding the impact that each one of us is having and make choices that lead to an ecologically sustainable Earth.
Contact Nick on 082 569 5338 or email nick@toprocks.com
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