A paper arising from Nature Quotient

AISDL Team

April 14, 2025

We have worked for quite some time on ecological sustainability problems and come to believe in the need for something called Nature Quotient [1], or NQ.

To us, NQ is more than a measure; it certainly needs to accommodate human perceptions, reflections, and imagination, not just about nature but also the nature-human nexus in its deepest meaning. That’s why even satire and comics will have a role to play [2].

The concept has even been projected onto something seemingly more removed topic, such as artificial intelligence [3]. But, at the end of the day, intelligence whether coming from humans or machines will only be sustained in a sustainable environment.


Illustration: Kingfisher did meticulous planning for fishing just to go to bed hungry.

More artistically, the exploiting of nature, apparently involving killing wild animals for fur, was displayed in Hollywood’s 2015 movie The Revenant, starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Those who embarked on the journey of killing animals ended up killing other humans. Can it be a prided honor to ignore the rights of nature for some economic gains, which later on turned out to be all the more fatal?

The Revenant gave us an idea that has now been accepted in a publishable form, “Exploring the impacts of biodiversity loss perceptions on preferences and behaviors related to animal fur and skin product consumption”, to appear in Environmental Conservation (Cambridge University Press).



This study represents a long and challenging journey that proves both rewarding and self-actualizing.

References

[1] Vuong QH, Nguyen MH. (2025). On Nature Quotient. Working Papers CEB, 25. https://difusion.ulb.ac.be/vufind/Record/ULB-DIPOT:oai:dipot.ulb.ac.be:2013/390547/Details

[2] Nguyen MH. (2024). How can satirical fables offer us a vision for sustainability?. https://ojs.unito.it/index.php/visions/article/view/11267

[3] Ho MT, Nguyen DH. (2025). Of Kingfisher and Man. https://philarchive.org/rec/HOOKAW

[4] Vuong QH, Jones TE, Nguyen MH. (2025). Exploring the impacts of biodiversity loss perceptions on preferences and behaviors related to animal fur and skin product consumption. Environmental Conservation. (In press)