It’s with a heavy heart that we remember SAND speaker and contributor, Elisabet Sahtouris (1936-2024).
Below are some quotes from Elisabet and memories of her from Zaya Benazzo:
“The perfect storm of crises we now face may well prove to be the challenge that drives us into our greatest evolutionary leap. Economy must be made subservient to ecology if we want to continue our life on Earth as a healthy, embedded global human society. Economy based on principles of a conscious universe’s mature ecosystems, including that of our bodies, becomes Ecosophy. We know deep in our hearts and souls that this must be done; all we need is the courage to lead the way for all!”
Dr. Elisabet Sahtouris, an evolution biologist, futurist, professor, author and consultant on Living Systems Design, departed her earthly life last month. She was a regular and well-loved speaker at SAND, always enthusiastic and ready for adventure. One time, at our conference in Holland, she arrived from Hawaii on a very long flight and in her tender 80’s, immediately joined us on the dance floor!
Her work on evolution as a process of cooperation rather than just competition helped bridge the gap between biology and human social systems, showing how nature’s principles can guide us toward more sustainable ways of living. She often pointed to our own bodies as an example: “We have a marvelous example in our own bodies of a highly evolved, decentralized, cooperative economy which communes as well as communicates. It uses direct transmission of information, and it is completely transparent.”
Her holistic vision of Earth as a living system inspired us to think differently about humanity’s role in the planetary ecosystem.
Thank you dear Elisabet, we are grateful for your contribution to humanity’s consciousness and maturation. We will always remember your joyful spirit and clear vision!
To read more about her work, please see her website now being maintained by her son Philip.
“There comes a point at which there seems to be a maturation process in which the species discover the advantages of cooperation. Cooperation is much less energy consumptive so that you have lots more energy to use in being creative in friendly ways with others.”
“We need not the hero’s journey myth that brought us to where we are now, the adventure story, but a story of cooperation; a story of the ecstasy of forming real community by recognizing our oneness; by focusing on love rather than fear; by making earth a sacred place again, where we live from its bounty but gently; where we get rid of junk; where we make things only that are useful and beautiful, where we live in elegant simplicity.”
Below is a SAND interview with Elisabet speaking about Indigenous Science:
