Showing posts with label Barry Commoner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Barry Commoner. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 8, 2021

Reframing the Crisis

 https://mahb.stanford.edu/blog/the-nature-and-overshoot-crisis-reframing-the-discussion-of-climate-change-and-biodiversity-loss/

While anthropogenic climate disruption is a massive problem requiring immediate attention, let's not marginalize other assaults on the ecosphere.  The article at the link above demonstrates that loss of biodiversity and other related disasters are interconnected to climate change, and every bit as important.

At the root, the ongoing crisis we're facing is as much a question of ethics as anything else.  The hubris of humans in relation to other species and the environment is (in general) beyond the pale.  We have to correct that if we expect to survive and thrive in the future.

We do have a model or two with which to work.  Indigenous societies around the world and certain Eastern religions have understood for thousands of years the importance of treating Nature as sacred.  It turns out they are on the mark.

As Barry Commoner said in 1971, "Nature knows best.".  Our technology has accomplished amazing things, but sorry to say, it also has egregiously damaged our global habitat.  As a species and overall, our attempts to improve human well-being have brought us to the beginning of our own extinction.  Unfortunately, that's true not only in the ecological sphere, but also in the social sphere.

It will take a paradigm shift in ethics if we are to survive and thrive.
Two books which point the way:  The Sacred Balance -Rediscovering Our Place in Nature, by David Suzuki; and The Web of Meaning - Integrating Science and Traditional Wisdom to Find Our Place in the Universe, by Jeremy Lent.
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Not only my opinion.  Be Well


Wednesday, November 18, 2020

Climate Damage, Ecosystems, Predators, Scavengers, & Laws of Ecology

 https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/otters-show-how-predators-can-blunt-climate-damage/

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/we-should-embrace-scavengers-and-predators/

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-017-0421-2

The above articles demonstrate the veracity of:
1.  Barry Commoner's 1971 book, The Closing Circle, especially his First Law of Ecology - "Everything is connected to everything else."; and,
2.  the complexity and value to humanity of ecosystems are equal to or greater than any complexity/value of the technological world.

[NOTE:  In the mid-1970's, I used The Closing Circle as the textbook for an Advanced Ecology course I taught at South Kitsap High School (one of the top high schools in the State of Washington at that time).  I found it then, and still do today, to be one of the most informative books ever written on Human Ecology in particular, and Ecology in general.  It was written for lay people, and in my opinion, should be required reading for every student everywhere.]

Professor Commoner's Four Laws of Ecology---
1.  Everything is connected to everything else.
2.  Everything must go somewhere.
3.  Nature knows best.
4.  There is no such thing as a free lunch.

Currently we are in a socio-eco-econ Crisis which threatens the very existence of organized human society.  Many researchers are working hard to find and broadcast solutions to said crisis.  Too many politicians are not doing enough to implement those solutions.  They talk about it a lot, but do little or nothing.  The same might be said of lay people.  That must change, and soon.
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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Monday, May 18, 2020

Corona, Climate Disruption, and Biodiversity - All Connected


Here's why ecosystems are important, biodiversity is crucial, and Climate Disruption must be addressed immediately.

https://www.propublica.org/article/climate-infectious-diseases
At the very least, read the first few paragraphs.
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Why BIODIVERSITY is crucial to the well-being of humanity---
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCH1Gre3Mg0
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For your ecological glossary---

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecosystem

Ecosystem Services and their value---
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6luBEJfi3s
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An important point to remember:  ecosystems are dynamic, always adjusting, always striving for a type of homeostasis (balance).  When we humans interfere with the functioning of them, we should do so with the least damage possible under the particular circumstances.  Why?  Because:  1) they all, directly or indirectly, contribute to our health, prosperity, & well-being; and 2) human existence is not possible without the functioning of natural cycles, and those cycles are found in ecosystems.  Even if you're in artificial surroundings all day and night, you still need clean air, clean water, decent food, shelter, protection from floods, disease, etc.  That all is provided by properly functioning ecosystems.  Everything is connected to everything else.  [Barry Commoner's first law of ecology.  https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/barry-commoner-scientist-activist-radical-ecologist ]
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Not only my opinion.  Be Well