Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
a species, move toward a more reciprocal relation with the environment we live in and
pass on to the next generations (Kimmerer).
The “Its” quadrant represents the collective, structural components of reality—
social factors, economic patterns and trends, institutions, political dynamics, ecosys-
tem components and variables, and the like—and the relationships that bind them.
Nearly all conservation efforts are aware that they are part of this structural terrain, but
few, including ecological restoration and restoration ecology, are equipped or de-
signed to integrate them into their efforts. The chapters in this topic about collabora-
tion, eco-cultural restoration, ecological economics, environmental education, and
public policy attempt to move that much needed discussion forward.
It is important to remember that we live in a multiperspective world in which the
hiker, when looking at a stand of redwood trees, sees their majestic beauty; the logger
counts the number of board feet; the environmentalist sees the need for protection;
and the ecologist calculates the amount of carbon dioxide transpired. The world can
be engaged in a multiperspective manner by various means, including by asking and
contemplating this question: In what ways am I, the cultural values, and the sociopo-
litical structure enabling or inhibiting this restoration project? The answers will be in-
triguing, deep, and, hopefully, transformative.
Finally, the chapters in this volume make it clear that “ecological restoration” is a
multidimensional concept. The influences on individual and group perspectives
about what restoration entails—including the stories we tell about what ecological
degradation is, what and who is responsible, and what our current role is in the heal-
ing process—are multiple and complex. Cultural influences play a strong role (Kim-
merer, Newman, Rotherham). The learning process, either through formal educa-
tion, hands-on restoration experience, or confronting the experiences of others, also
affects the ways that restoration is conceived. Additionally, the power of particular in-
dividuals or groups to define restoration priorities and narratives can be an important
consideration. Scientists are not exempt from analyses of such restoration perspectives
because, despite their appeals to a more refined means of knowledge generation, sci-
entists—like other actors—construct and propagate their own narratives. Their narra-
tives and the narratives of nonscientists deserve to be critically analyzed (Bliss and
Fischer).
Conclusion
The authors in this topic, and untold others not included but doing similar work, have
pushed the boundaries of ecological restoration beyond what most would have imag-
ined when the Society for Ecological Restoration began in the late 1980s. Indeed, be-
cause of the Society's ongoing attempts at inclusivity and because restoration, in the
broad sense, is needed virtually everywhere, ecological restoration has emerged with
more potential than its early, biologically minded proponents had in mind. Today, a
more mature, participatory perspective of ecological restoration has developed—one
that recognizes the human engagement with it as a practice, a science, a performance,
and an experience.
