Ecology
Ecology: A Pocket Guide
Ecology: A Pocket Guide draws attention to the complex networks of life forms found within the natural world. By defining a vocabulary of natural systems, Callenbach aims to increase the reader’s ecological knowledge and consciousness to be better positioned to protect ecologies found on planet Earth and to defend against their degradation. While this book does less to propose a specific theory of change, it encourages us to change our way of thinking about the natural world, from a belief that humans and the natural world are made up of individual or separate parts, to understanding the “ceaselessly changing, interconnected, incredibly intricate flow of life in Earth’s ecological systems” that exist across planetary, bioregional, ecosystem, human, and microscopic scales. In this way, Callenbach posits ecological definitions for us to consider (1) our dependence upon the natural world for our survival; (2) our interconnection with the natural world and therefore, our accountability to it; and (3) the way in which ecological processes include human processes and therefore, how we must transition to more holistic views of ecology to solve the sustainability crises.
Callenbach, Ernest. 2008. Ecology: A Pocket Guide, Revised and Expanded. University of California Press.
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Soil to Soil Podcast Ep. 10: Why Regenerative Fiber Systems Are Rooted in Relationships with Place, with A-Dae Romero-Briones
Host Jess Daniels speaks with Rebecca Burges, founder of the Fibreshed non-profit, and A-Dae Romero-Briones, the Director of Programs for the First Nations Institute and an expert in Indigenous foodways, agriculture, and fibre history. Romero-Briones situates the project of healing our landscapes in ideas of connectedness and place, arguing a need to understand our relationships with place and ecology. She states that fulfilling our obligations to the Land is complicated by the impacts of dispossession. The pair discuss regenerative agriculture, traditional ecological knowledge, and “kincentric ecology.” She explains that in the United States, people have been separated from the natural world, and even the natural world has been divided up and separated; animals are seen as pests to agriculture, which must now be fenced off and protected, instead of part of a larger system. Regenerative agriculture is an attempt to create new systems that contribute to soil health. Burges and Romero-Jones also discuss economic design and its emphasis on competition; Romero-Briones argues that natural systems create balance and reciprocal relationships, and this can show us how to live with one another in more sustainable ways.
Daniels, Jess, host. 2020. “Why Regenerative Fiber Systems Are Rooted in Relationships with Place, with A-Dae Romero-Briones.” Soil to Soil, Ep. 10 (podcast), November 30, 2020. Accessed June 22, 2024. https://fibershed.org/podcast/soil-to-soil-podcast-ep-10-why-regenerative-fiber-systems-are-rooted-in-relationships-with-place-with-a-dae-romero-briones/.
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Kincentric Ecology: Indigenous Perceptions of the Human-Nature Relationship
Salmón explains the concept of kincentric ecology by drawing on examples from the Raramuri culture, to which he belongs. He explains that the term, ‘kincentric ecology’ would be “meaningless” to many Indigenous peoples, even if they live and express its values. He offers that kincentric ecology is “an awareness that life in any environment is viable only when humans view the life surrounding them as kin.” He argues that humans are part of nature and it is the kindred relationships between us and the rest of the natural world that can preserve the ecosystem, and thus human life as well. He illustrates the meaning of kincentric ecology through examples of the Raramuri forest management, harvesting, and otherwise caring for the land. For example, by harvesting plants only from places where they are offered in abundance. Salmón understands history not as a linear, or even as something relegated to the past, but as continuous, cultural, and connected to a land base, which in turn, is connected to the life forms that existed and continue to exist on it. The “cultural practices of living with a place” embody kincentric ecology (1332).
Salmón, Enrique. “Kincentric Ecology: Indigenous Perceptions of the Human-Nature Relationship.” Ecological Applications 10, no. 5 (2000): 1327–32. https://doi.org/10.2307/2641288.
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