Here is an excerpt and link to the full text of my most recent Earth Meanders personal essay: Ecology is the study of how organisms interact with each other and their physical environment. Sounds deceptively simple and non-threatening to the status quo, but I contend that growing ecological knowledg
Here is an excerpt and link to the full text of my most recent personal essay:
Ecology is the study of how organisms interact with each other and their physical environment. Sounds deceptively simple and non-threatening to the status quo, but I contend that growing ecological knowledge and re-understanding of humanity’s place within the web of life is one of the most radical and potentially transformative notions ever. Awareness of humanity’s utter dependence upon ecosystems and the biosphere, found in the relatively new discipline of modern ecology, has coincided with a period of unprecedented ecological destruction. Ecology may provide the only truthful answers regarding how to save the Earth and ourselves.
Ecology is a radical science that calls into question the meaning of life and the manner with which we live. We largely know how the Earth works, enough to know that it provides humanity and other creatures with their only known habitat. It is understood that the Earth System, or Gaia, can be conceptualized accurately as a self-regulating organism; and that various sub-systems such as climate and forests are in perilous decline threatening global cycling of energy and nutrients upon which all life depends. It is known with startling detail that humanity is dismantling terrestrial ecosystems, pumping too much waste into the atmosphere, and seriously stressing aquatic and marine environments. []