Cultural Ecology

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Media and Politics

Important Quote

-"Everything that is normally described as an 'environmental' problem could be more accurately called and environmental symptom of a human problem."-

Quote stated in the Household Ecoteam Workbook

All of us must recognize that we have a political responsibility to protect the different cycles which we are bound to. Not just for our generation but for generations to come. Our nation has very large challenges to face and overcome. These are global warming, the ancient forests and wildernesses, wetlands, sustainable developments, population growth, creating efficient energy, clean air, water, and saving our endangered species.
We also need to make sure to:

Make sure that we attend to different problems before they turn into crises.
Besides being concerned about the conservation of individual species we should be concerned about broad areas of habitat.
We need to create business opportunities and have technology help us work towards our goals in conservation. Thus we don't have to pay the huge costs of cleaning up our environment.
Find a way to end poverty, which goes against environmentalism.

Important Quote

-"For better or for worse we humans have unlimited capacity and power to destroy other species. It is our collective knowledge, wisdom, and compassion that prevent us from doing so."-

Quote by Audubon conservationist Jane Lyons

We are all from the same planet

Our own hatred for one another through racism and discrimination pales in comparison to the peril the Earth faces through the disintegration of it's environment. There are over 5.5 billion people on this planet, and the only way we can save the earth is to unite and come together as one. We can't let the color of our skin or the boundaries that we are told we live in separate us.

When we lose biodiversity life itself is threatened. Within their environments, all plants and animals exchange gases, this maintains the atmosphere which all living things live in. As the Earth loses more species, climates will change and our agriculture will be put at risk. Forest destruction creates floods, and leads to the loss of freshwater sources. Also destroying the insect population like we are doing is in no way a good thing-they pollinate crops and keep the abnoxious pests under control.
Every environmental issue, which includes protecting marine mammals, migratory birds, rainforests, restricting the trade of wild animals as pets or for their skin, and slowing or stopping our own rapid population growth rate, will only happen through international partnerships.
To deal with global warming, the depletion of the ozone and the little amount of fresh water, food, minerals and fiber we have, we must form multinational treaties which are mutually binding.

The effects of our Art, Values, and Religion

Every human has a different opinion on conservation, based between the partnership of humans and nature. Peoples values range from "let nature be" to "let us go and get the most we can out of it". Many are beginning to believe that nature has rights also, just like other people. The following shows how the stage was set for nature's rights.

The ending of American slavery in 1863. This showed that humans understood that they could not treat one another like property, but as individuals.
Respecting animals followed, through the values of pioneers such as John Muir and Albert Schweitzer.
In 1973 the Endangered Species Act passed which gave legal protection to plants and animals.

Humans Religious Traditions

     Since Western culture has been shaped by Christianity and Judaism, it is assumed that man is the crowning glory of creation that rules over all nature. This belief arises from a passage Genesis "'...Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the Earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the Earth.'" However both Jews and Christians have a strong sense of caring towards the earth, illustrated when they formed numerous organizations to protect "God's sacred land" (this is when the environmental crisis mounted).
      The Eastern religions tend to stress a oneness of all beings. They mainly focus on trying to unite with all of the beings of creation, and getting rid of "ego's".
     There are many indigenous cultures, in them, shamans are wise, holy "doctors". By entering states of consciousness they can access the healing power that is found in nature, through envisioning animals, plants and other beings.
     American Indian's myths and ceremonies originally centered around the moon, sun, and different animals. In the wind, rain, and flowers dwelled the Great Spirit. They also believe that the earth was created on the back of a giant turtle, and it is a living thing that must be nurtured.
     Those who believe in gods and goddesses believe that some of the gods healed the wounds of the earth in the spirits of both men and women, therefore, the Earth and our physical bodies are one, and they require the same care. Would we really pollute and trash our body the way we do to our earth?

The Artistry Found in Nature

Nature provides us with many things, one of them is it's undeniable beauty. Whether it be the vivid colors from the changing of the seasons, the irredescant glow from the plumage of a flock of birds, the glory and the precision of a snowflake, or a single glistening flower- rising up from a crack in an arid wasteland.
One of the figures which plainly goes unnoticed in nature is the circular pattern which everything is somehow involved in. This quote by an American Indian shows that they discovered this pattern long before we did.

Important Quote

"Everything the Power of the World does is done in a circle. The sky is round, and I have heard that the Earth is round like a ball, and so are all the stars, The wind, in its greatest power, whirls. Birds make their nests in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours. The sun comes forth and goes down again in a circle. The moon does the same, and both are round, Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always come back again to where they were. The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves. Our tepees were round like the nests of birds, and these were always set in a circle, the nation's hoop, a nest of many nests, where the Great Spirit meant for us to have our children."

Quote by Black Elk Speaks

     Now, we know that the planets circle the sun, so do electrons around the nucleus of atoms. Our fingerprints are all in circular-yet unique patterns, and the cycle's of the elements of nature-water, carbon, and nitrogen, all go in a circle.
     Even the little things in nature such as the annoying barnacles we find attached to rocks or a common shell we find on the beach, each have distinct and fascinating patterns, designs and often colors.
     Artists constantly try to capture the beauty of nature, in sketches, paintings, sculptures or photographs. These artists effort have in many ways played an important role in the preservation of plants and wildlife, for through their art, scenes that many of us do not see are expressed and help us come to realize that this is what we are destroying through our irresponsibility. An example, is the efforts that were put forth by a great nature photographer named Ansel Adams. He has lead thousands of people to come and help to save our Earth.
     Not only do artists express their work through the sense of sight, but through sound. Vivaldi, a famous musician, created four different pieces called the four seasons, based on the sounds and the uniqueness of each of them. You can hear his composition of 'Spring' playing in the background while you are viewing this page. Others create music that describe canyons, rivers, rain, and forests. Even indigenous people have began to bring out their music and play it to the world.

Animal Riddle

Did you hear the story about the peacock?

Answer: Too bad, it's a beautiful tale (tail).

Further Reading:

Vivaldi's Spring (from the Four Seasons)