Week Nine: Ecosystems and Deep Ecology

1. What do you think about the "eight-point Deep Ecology Platform"?

I agree with it.

There are so many ways to say the same thing, however. What is the point of the message? To make change, presumably. And I think the best way to get the message across is to grab someone's heart. The Deep Ecology Platform principles makes me prickle a little. It's the tone and the bossiness of the thing. As I said, though, I agree with all the points, but the eight points make me feel glum, they are not inspiring, they speak mostly to that which has been done wrong instead of that which can be done right. My spirit does not ring true with them, though my mind does.

Here are some other words I found to express similar beliefs, which catch me in the spirit and heart:

From the Tao te Ching:

Man follows the earth.
Earth follows the universe.
The universe follows the Tao.
The Tao follows only itself.

Wendell Berry: The first thing we must begin to teach our children (and learn ourselves) is that we cannot spend and consume endlessly. We have got to learn to save and conserve. We do need a "new economy", but one that is founded on thrift and care, on saving and conserving, not on excess and waste. An economy based on waste is inherently and hopelessly violent, and war is its inevitable by-product. We need a peaceable economy.

Chief Seattle: What I do to you, I do to myself. What you give me, you give to the Universe. What the Universe gives, she gives to us. What I feel, you feel. What you become, I become. You are not alone, nor am I. You are forever with me and I with you. We are brothers and sisters on the Web of Life.

Manifest Mitakuye-Oyasin: Relate, connect to your sisters and brothers. See the similarities, not the differences. Recognize that water is ice, as well as vapor. Hear the one heartbeat and embody the awe of life. (mi-TAHK-wee-a-say) means we are all related - Ojibway language

Native American Elder:

Honor the sacred.
Honor the Earth, our Mother.
Honor the Elders.
Honor all with whom we
share the Earth:-
Four-leggeds, two-leggeds,
winged ones,
Swimmers, crawlers,
plant and rock people.
Walk in balance and beauty.

Ancient Indian Proverb:

Treat the earth well.
It was not given to you by your parents,
it was loaned to you by your children.
We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors,
we borrow it from our Children.

2. Can you explain why "Ecosystems are both strong and fragile"?

An ecosystem can withstand some abuse, some lean times, without collapsing. It can repair itself like when flesh recovers from a deep cut. After all that has been done to the earth and its many ecosystems, over six billion humans can still survive. But ecosystems also bear scars from abuse and since all parts are interconnected what is done to one part echoes out and impacts the others. There are 13,000 year old hunting camps in the Arctic that STILL retain the mark of change from the piles of whale bones that were lain on the shoreline by humans. The piles of whale bone changed the chemical make up of earth and water and this activity can still be detected. If something so low impact as piling up whale bones on a shoreline can leave its mark for 13,000 years, imagine what kind of mark we are leaving today, and for how long the scar will retain the memory of what we have done. Maybe instead of fragile, I would say "Ecosystems are both strong and sensitive." They don't necessarily break, but they are easily impacted.

3. How would you assess the "end goals" of Social Ecology?

I'm not sure I understand the question correctly, but if you mean:

"challenging those aspects of the political and economic order that prevent the fulfillment of basic human needs" and

"offering theories that explain the social causes of environmental problems and alternative ways to resolve them" and

"supporting social movements for removing the causes of environmental deterioration and raising the quality of life for people of every race, class, and sex"

... I say here here and also good luck.

Who wouldn't want to live more peacefully and in harmony? How do we solve all the problems that exist and get us all to that point? Certainly it is too much to move six billion people in the same direction without their consent. It can be hard to move even one small unwilling child out the door of the supermarket when he wants to consume sugar and sparkly prizes. But if we all want to walk via our own will together in the same direction, then it will be done! Hopefully we can wake up to the same dream one day.