10: Use and Value Diversity
Use and Value Diversity
“Diversity reduces vulnerability to a variety of threats and takes advantage of the unique nature of the environment in which it resides.”
🐦 About the Principle
A variety of plants and animals creates a system that is more adaptable, resilient, and responsive to change. If one crop fails due to disease or a natural event damages part of the system, a diverse ecosystem ensures that others can fill the gap and maintain the system’s balance. Diversity doesn’t just enhance survival—it fosters growth, innovation, and long-term sustainability.
This principle invites us to think about where we may be stuck in repetition—talking to the same people, engaging in the same habits, or maintaining a single mindset. It encourages us to seek out and value diverse perspectives, skills, and experiences in our lives and communities. By embracing diversity, we can enrich our own understanding, increase adaptability, and build stronger connections.
🌱 Diversity in Your Life
When was the last time I talked to someone who was different from me? Grew up in another city? Has a different diet to mine? Looks different than me? Knows a language I don’t? Is at least 20 years older or 10 years younger than me? Likes to do things I don’t know how to do?
Where might I build in small diversities in my day such as taking a different route home or wearing different clothing or listening to someone I’ve never talked to before?
🌐 Diversity in Your Community
Where do you not go in your city/town? What might you do to venture into new places in your community more often?
Is there a building, park, statue or space that you are curious about? How might you spend more time in that space?
How could you create spaces that welcome people who are not like you into them? What might you do to make a space more inviting for someone who is a different age than you, who has a different life experience or who is differently abled than you?
🌿 Examples in the Natural World
Rainforests - Places like rainforests can have thousands of plants and animal species that are interconnected and that work together to make a flourishing ecosystem.
Grasslands - Spaces like grasslands have diverse species that stabalize soils, retain water and support herbivores.
🌀Integrating this Principle
Try to expand your circle and meet people who are different from you. Find an event, a group or volunteer somewhere to meet people you wouldn’t otherwise interact with.
Consider actively asking questions of people who are different from you. Do your best to listen to their perspectives and refrain from explaining your own opinion.
Read books, articles and watch films made by people with a different culture, worldview, gender or age range than you. Explore art that challenges your perspectives.
Learn about the history of the community that you are in, learn more about why things are named what they are named, who has lived in this space before you and more about the significance of the place where you live.
📖 Resources for Further Exploration
Written by Beth M. Duckles. Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Contact me.