HEC 101
Intro to Human Ecology
Wolf Thandoy
1 December, 1984
Flow Chart / Outline
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Status Quo
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State of the Art Humanity
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Curtains - Evolution
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Armageddon
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Blinders
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Judgement
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Winds of Change
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Look / Leap - Vicious Cycles
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Luck - Chance
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Mexican Stand Off
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Turn on your Love Light
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Metamorphosis
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Scam
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Sponge Cat Alert - Vampirism
Evolution began with the physical, then rose through the behavioural to merge with the mental realm. As anthropolist Gerry Reid points out, the last fifty thousand years have seen very little about our bodies change. The 'human as animal' long ago abandoned biological mutation as its primary adaptive device.
Foundations of our institutions were laid down in the dawn of history. Only recently has the curtain been drawn back on our minds. Today the 'human as cultural creature' often breaks ties with sinking ships of state, favouring small scale, individually growth oriented organisational forms. It seems that if we would truly change the world, we must first rebuild us each ourselves.
As the self-proclaimed most intelligent race in the solar system strolls blithely down the path toward Armageddon, and in the face of such an apparently unavoidable end, it becomes simpler to ignore or downplay the the importance of forces like conquest, war, famine and death. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse plague our footsteps, as the Pied Pipers of doom, for our failure to make good on our indebtedness for the loan of life. So we hasten to Judgement; slaves to the symptoms of demise, blind to the catalysts.
Ever since our distant relatives came down from the trees, a revolution in consciousness has been gathering momentum. But as they set about to improve their lot on Earth the seeds of our most pervasive present distress were sown. The emergence and immediate success of tool use led to the progression of procurement strategies and equivalent social structures that has thus far culminated in the military-industrial complex. Now, this headlog rush to the top of the heap, accompanied by the sudden realisation of the precipitiousness of this action, is causing the framework, so hopelessly top heavy, to totter. Barry Commoner's observation that "everything is connected to everything else", along with Davis' treatise on industrialism where he examines the role of self-reinforcing cycles, suggest that the limits of subsidisation possible while sucking off stored reserves of energy demand that imbalances occur when growth is permitted to attain runaway proportions. In a feverish search for the pot of gold we have eroded the rainbow.
Staring at a sort of racial mid-life crisis, it's no wonder the 'ostrich syndrome' is so widespread. Unfortunately, it is the very lack of perspective that binds us tothe vicious cycle of self-defeating activities outlined, as related to the economic concept 'balance of trade', in Avory Lovins' article on "soft energy paths". The duty then falls to those with a more circumspect attitude to fire the 'emoton torpedoes' that might shake loose minds locked into ruts of acquisitive oppression, in the desperate hope of breaking a fateful chain successive approximations to planetary destruction. We must look, hard, before we leap.
There is still a ghost of a chance that we'll transform our oasis in space into something other than a charred, poisoned relic. We have to believe that, or surrender to the notion of divine holocaust that flies in the face of Nature that, as revealed in Ricklef's "Order of the Natural World", abhors waste.
Yet with each freshening gust of Karmic wind it becomes more difficult for that ghost to materialise. We need a genuine breakthrough in the 'Mexican stand-off' between belligerent and swaggering super-powers to relieve tensions. The 'prestige points' of nuclear and chemical arms fuel a political 'wind-up game' that only entrenches the same untenable stances that got us in this mess. Self-interest is still very much the motive, all we must do is adopt an all-encompassing definition of self.
Meanwhile, what's the scam? What sort of activities can we identify that may be safely pursued in a sustainable fashion, and which others can be isolated as problematic and slated for planned obsolescence? Experience tempers our reality with the knowledge and undeniable persistence of errors and excesses, past and present. In the field of energy provision, where the half-lives of atomic clinkers equal no future for sane lifestyles, do we have the temerity to, as the Erlichs declare, grasp an "immortal tiger" by the tail? Can we learn from our dearly bought lessons on the indiscriminant dumping of toxic chemicals, to face what Michael Brown, while commenting on the tragedy of 'Love Canals' states that he fears is the "sleeping giant" of our times? How long can we afford to ignore the broader aspects and implications of declining health before embracing a holistic approach like that so thoroughly discussed by Fritjof Capra? When will the powers-that-be cease neglecting a detailed examination of our goals, aims and directions with respect to dire projections like the "State of the Planet Report", based on prevalent policies? And even with a total re-thinking of our actions, even assuming an immediate decision to initiate an about-face on all fronts, how many lifetimes must we consider represent an effective temporal turning radius, looking at themes of planetary stress and carrying capacity as does Robert Smith when viewing population trends, and given our present course?
We must be wary of reactionary protectionist withdrawal, because we are all in the same boat. This means rejecting outright any hint of socially darwinistic 'lifeboat ethics'. More fortunate souls are ultimately responsible for those who suffer in want. We must recognise and back a system that strives above all to defuse the warning signs created in the wake of multi-national vampirism, and dismantle the bridge on the road to ruin.