The Tao of Small World  

Sustainability can be the collective result of a myriad holistic actions.

The idea of a myriad holistic actions would be an intertwinement of macro and micro actions.

A ‘bottom meets up and vice a versa’ approach.

The film “Six Degrees of Separation” popularized the idea that we can all be interconnected just via six optimal introductions on average.

Far from being far fetched there is substantial empirical and mathematical evidence to support the notion that we are all relatively a few steps away from each other.

This has major significance in terms of the circulation of ideas.

‘Word of mouth’ is powerful probably because it is our unconscious use of a ‘six degree of separation’.

According to this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_degrees_of_separation the users of Twitter are only about four or five steps away from each other.

This statistic is based on an evaluation of more than five billion Twitter interactions.

Perhaps as significant is the Erdos-Bacon number which is a mathematical formula that predicts:

“average path length between two nodes in a random network is equal to log N / log K, where N = total nodes and K = acquaintances per node.”

“Thus if N = 300,000,000 (90% of the US population) and K = 30 then Degrees of Separation = 19.5 / 3.4 = 5.7 and if N = 6,000,000,000 (90% of the World population) and K = 30 then Degrees of Separation = 22.5 / 3.4 = 6.6. (Assume 10% of population is too young to participate.)”

The fact that the ‘six degrees’ is not an integer but a cluster of numbers around six does not negate the ‘small world’ we potentially live in.

GreenIt’s reformulation of the Erdos-Bacon formula could be as follows:

For a given municipality, M, with X indigent households comprising of Y members per household, and 30 acquaintances per person, the Erdos-Bacon number would be:

Log (X times Y) / Log (30) equals only 3 (rounded off as an integer).

Thus the perpetuation of a grassroots idea such as the use of an Ukuvuya Kit item is only three steps away from going viral.

Of course, this assumes no ‘resistors’ (normally in the form of mindset).

Nonetheless, for those who have seen and experienced the ‘conversational buzz’ in township streets as employees stream home and are greeted by neighbours and friends it is encouraging evidence for a journey of a myriad actions towards Sustainability.

Footnote: Since writing this article we experienced an extraordinary example of this idea.

We are great admirers of George Clooney's activism. In the article below he describes a 'spiritual blessing' he received from the grandmother of a friend of his in South Sudan:

http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2010/10/12/george_clooney_blessed_with_spit_in_th

Remarkably, we met the friend in Cape Town yesterday, through the sheerest of accidental coincidences (August 15, 2012).

From George Clooney to a grandmother in South Sudan to her grandson visiting Cape Town seems a few parallel universes apart - yet!