Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 44: The relationship between life and environment. Note that the arrows in this and the
following figure denote relationships, not direct couplings.
When translated into the human realm, the diagram transforms into
Figure 45
.
Figure 45. The relationship between human lifestyles and climate.
It's quite a simple piece of wisdom which is worth repeating:
We are all accountable to
Gaia
. Any human lifestyle that destabilises a key aspect of the 'environment', such as
climate, will be limited by feedbacks curtailing that lifestyle. The beauty of this simple
scheme is that it is scientifically undeniable, and that people holding all sorts of philo-
sophical perspectives can accept it. A die-hard mechanist can take it on board just as
much as a radical animist, as a guide for action.
But how do we develop ecological wisdom? In my own interpretation of the deep
ecology approach pioneered by Arne Naess, each person must work out their own
eco-
sophy
(from
oikos
: household and
sophia
: wisdom) based on their own deep experience,
deep questioning and deep commitment. My friend the Norwegian philosopher and edu-
cator Per Ingvar Haukeland has developed a very useful modification of some of Arne
Naess's work, to describe how individual ecosophies relate to each other. The basic idea
is to represent the situation by means of an
Ecosophical Tree.
