When Arwinder Kaur set out to write her book, she did not plan on writing an autobiography.
Kaur is passionate about protecting the planet and wanted to publish what she calls the compass: maxims for living while human.
"I wanted to put these like actions, you know, these philosophical sayings and these are the blueprints for how we conduct ourselves as human beings on the planet, and then the rest of the book is really how we conduct ourselves as a fellow species on the planet," Kaur said.
Her publisher encouraged her, as an unknown author at the time, to include something about herself so readers could get to know her.
"It was actually a great idea because it laid the foundation down for my belief system, my experiences, the lessons I learned during my travels and how that shaped me later on in my life and the different perspectives I had, you know, as a Westerner, but also culturally, religiously," Kaur said.
Kaur shares with the reader her journey of immigrating to Canada from India at age four and what she learned in travelling along the way.
"Travelling the world in my youth was the best education I could have received. I learned many important life lessons about what it is to be human and how differently this is defined depending on where one happened to be born or raised," Kaur said.
Kaur's life was greatly impacted when she read Daniel Quinn's book Ishmael. The 1992 philosophical novel explores the underlying cultural biases shaping modern civilization, addressing themes of ethics, sustainability and global catastrophe.
"Since then, I was propelled into the ecological movement," Kaur said. 'I'd always been very much an activist, whether it would be, you know, just for my family members, or if I saw an injustice at the hospital when I was in a hospital, then I would write and try to say, this is wrong, you know, so, I've always been kind of that kind of a person," Kaur said.
As an activist, writing her book Living While Human was the natural choice for Kaur.
Kaur said she wanted to put her words into action and hopefully help spur change.
"I realize the importance of words and the importance of a book, and how it literally can change people's minds, it can change how we think and how we live and can call us to action," Kaur said. "If I could put that same kind of intention and hope into my book, that it may spin off into the similar sort of thing that Ishmael had for me, and actually many, many millions of other readers."
Kaur encourages the reader to look at nature and ask what about nature makes it sustainable.
It comes down to looking at what our needs are.
"Our needs are actually the same as what every other species on this planet needs. If it's something that our survival is dependent on, that's a need." Kaur said.
"So us protecting our own needs are also protecting the species, and that is what I call our biodiversity," Kaur said. "I refer to it in my book as our immune system ... Those are all the layers of protection that we have there, like our white blood cells. So the more we diminish our biodiversity, the weaker we become, the weaker our immune system becomes, and the more vulnerable and fragile we are to ecological conditions that happen."
"What are we doing that nature doesn't do? Everything that nature uses, produces and eliminates comes from the earth, and it goes back to the earth. There's no such thing as non-biodegradable products or waste by nature. Nature takes what it needs," Kaur said.
Nature does not have warehouses full of surplus supplies. "It doesn't outstrip its resources. It does not have more population than the environment can sustain," Kaur said.
"How can I not use this chance to speak about the most important cause to me, the one I am fiercely passionate about: protecting the planet and allowing nature to sustain life for generations to come? And how we help ourselves in the process?," Kaur said on page 260 of her book.
Kaur's book, which was released in September 2021, is available where books are sold. It has won various awards, including the 2023 Nautilus Book Award silver and the NYC Big Book Award in 2023.
To learn more about Kaur and her work, visit arwinderkaurauthor.com.
