Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 26
Synthesis: Participation, Power, Perspective
DAVE EGAN, JESSE ABRAMS, AND EVAN E. HJERPE
In this topic, the authors have revealed aspects of their faith, hope, and love for nature
and the countless varieties of beings, including humans, who inhabit it. From our van-
tage point, the ideas of these authors suggest that there are three general fields restora-
tion practitioners must take seriously if they hope to foster success in the complex
realm of real-world restoration:
1. Embracing
participation
as integral in the process of moving our relationship
with the land and others forward.
2. Acknowledging, recognizing, and working within the
power
interactions inher-
ent in our relationships to the land and each other.
3. Recognizing the importance of creating respectful space for multiple
perspec-
tives
of restoration, nature, and people's roles in both.
In this concluding chapter, we examine each of these points as expressed by the
words “participation,” “power,” and “perspective.”
Participation
Participation is a metatheme that runs throughout the chapters and, indeed, through-
out the practice of ecological restoration. Nearly all the case studies, and a number of
the theoretical chapters, emphasize the role of participation for integrating ecological
restoration into the social fabric of communities and ecosystems. This participation
takes a multitude of forms: the setting of restoration goals and priorities through a col-
laborative process (Abrams, Bliss and Fischer, Christoffersen, Escalera Reyes, Har-
digg); local community ownership of restored land (Andre, Brunckhorst, Whitney);
volunteer participation in restoration projects (Fox, Lee and Hancock, Newman,
Westervelt); and place-based education, art, and eco-cultural actions (McCann, Whit-
ney, Ewing and Gold, Hall and Bauer-Armstrong, Kimmerer, Stevens, Rotherham,
Ball). In other words, there are a multitude of ways people can and do participate in
ecological restoration.
