http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/LittonC/PDFs/301_EcologicalPrinciples.pdf

Ecological principles and processes, and critical thinking and appropriate actions?? …
Read “The Lorax”. And take heed.

But after this, continue to learn about the need to live in concert with Nature. Learn from her in all her simplicity and complexity.

First and foremost, always and everywhere study and view life through lens of:
• soil biology, hydrology, and energetics;
• food webs and ecological succession;
• the Second Law of Thermodynamics;
• net primary productivity;
• ecological hierarchy, population and ecological community dynamics, and carrying capacity;
• climatology; and
• biogeochemical cycling.

Then proceed to deepen this with knowledge of physics, animal behavior, psychology, human sociology, politics and community-organizing and activism. (And of course in order to begin and continue development of all of the above, we all have to develop communication skills in languages like English, Mandarin, Spanish, mathematics, and computer language(s).)

Without a strong foundation and continuing curiosity and learning about principles and processes of ecology, critical thinking and action are impossible. Moreover, without this ecological knowledge, creative thinking and action can be very dangerous! Ecology across curricula and campuses of schools, businesses and other social organization entities, and continuing learning of ways to realize Positively Ethical Applied Community Ecology is essential for quality life for as many as possible for as long as possible. It is needed for learning how to lower individual and collective ecological footprints of the haves of the world, and redistribution of power to the have nots (both human have nots and other species) and get on with the journey to quality life for all.

By the way, this ecological education should be:
• Hands on! Mostly outdoor in Nature!
• Participatory with robust interactions with other humans and other components of local community!
• “Slow!” and “Small!”/Holistic and global!
It should enhance sense of place, community, history, arts, culture, and spirituality.

“So Pávlos, you truly believe it is that simple? Just get consumption and power of the haves down to about 60,000 kilocalories per capita per day and an ecological footprint of two (2) hectares and transfer that power such that the have-nots attain that approximate amount. And you believe those levels will take enough pressure off of Nature in order for her to dynamically and continuously develop in beautiful biotic bliss.”

“Yes. But of course human population numbers have to be curbed also.

And truly, poet Wendell Berry’s simple essays and poetry often lay out the story of sustainability in an elegant manner. Here’s one of his salient quotes: ‘To live, we must daily break the body and shed the blood of Creation. When we do this knowingly, lovingly, skillfully, reverently, it is a sacrament. When we do it ignorantly, greedily, clumsily, destructively, it is a desecration. In such desecration we condemn ourselves to spiritual and moral loneliness, and others to want.’ Increasing human population numbers and daily consumption in excess of 60,000 kilocalories, is ignorant, greedy, and/or clumsy, and is destructive and a desecration.”

“But how, Pávlos? How?”

“Well that’s not so simple! Pero: Agua blanda en piedra dura, tanto cavadura continua gotera cava la piedra.

My answer is to begin to educate through ecology across curricula and campuses of all schools, governmental entities, businesses, non-profits, and religious and non-religious organizations. I am going to steal with some modification from David Orr’s classic essay, ‘What Is Education For?’, and strongly emphasize that in order to achieve quality life for all, including other species, for as long as possible, every citizen should have a basic comprehension of:
• the basic principles and processes of ecology, carrying capacity, and steady-state economics;
• the second law of thermodynamics, energetics, appropriate scale, and least-cost, end-use analysis;
• sustainable agriculture and forestry, limits of technology, and how to live well in a place; and
• ecological ethics.
You can find a plethora of associated ideas for pedagogical strategies and tactics, policy implementation, and carrots and sticks for routes toward regeneration, conservation and development of sustainable community on the internet/in the libraries of information in this world. Finally, the ‘straight forward answer’ is that we’ll just have to muddle through toward achieving a lighter individual and collective footprint on the Land which is very respectful of Nature and its lovely homeostasis.

I call this quest for local and global resilient, sustainable community … positively ethical applied community ecology. And though we may not achieve nirvana collectively or even individually, it is the work toward realizing the journey to nirvana which counts.”

………………………………………………………….

http://blog.spu.edu/sot/2011/02/16/book-review-the-art-of-the-commonplace/

What Is Education For?

I’ll work on doing a better job of communicating herein.  Plans are for very short stories of efforts toward quality life these past 71+ years, and to try to support development of what–in the “recent” past–I started calling positively ethical applied community ecology (or regeneration and conservation of resilient, sustainable community).  I’ll work at being succinct and intelligible herein through parables, dichos, and illustrations/photos.

In the meantime, I’ll also continue to post on Facebook ( https://www.facebook.com/paul.b.martin.54 ), Banned Books Cafe ( http://bannedbookscafe.blogspot.com/ ), and perhaps on some blogs of the organizations with which I volunteer.

 

Paul Martin (BS/MS-Texas A&M Univ., Ph.D.-Univ. Florida) was raised with 5 younger siblings (and worked with migrant labor crews) during the drought of the 1950s on a very small south Texas (hog) farm near Devine, Texas—a farm which always possessed a large garden, fruit trees, chickens and a milk cow. While in Florida during the “Energy Crisis of the 1970s”, Martin researched population dynamics of natural enemies of key lepidopteran pests in a “model north Florida agroecosystem” (involving vegetable crops and wild hosts, and including studies of Trichogramma and lacewings).

Martin was significantly influenced by ecologists like E.J. Dyksterhuis (TAMU), Archie Carr & H.T. Odum (Univ. Florida) and David Pimentel (Cornell). Moreover, a considerable amount of applied ecological knowledge was developed in sessions with Miguel Altieri (UC Berkeley) and during years as a pasture entomologist in Georgia and Brazil. Martin learned/manipulated to the best of his abilities as sustainable agriculture coordinator, in Jim Hightower’s Texas Department Agriculture, and later taught biology/ecology at St. Philip’s College.

Martin’s wife taught science at Seguin High School and they are currently involved with various organizations and efforts toward researching, developing and promoting Positively Ethical Applied Community Ecology, including volunteer work with Siempre Sustainable Network, Ogallala Commons, Kids On the Land & the Seguin Outdoor Learning Center, Teatro de Artes de Juan Seguin, Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church-Seguin, Dos Pueblos-NY/Tipitapa & Episcopalian Latin American projects, Generations Indigenous Ways-Pine Ridge Reservation and other international programs, & LULAC and local community gardens … and for/with their children and grandchildren on small “family farms” near Stockdale & Rio Medina, TX.

http://marikasculptures.com/tag/siempre-sustainable-network/

Commonwealth – Ogallala Commons

(20+) Watch | Facebook

http://tipitapa.org/2013/02/a-great-sense-of-community-in-tipitapa/

(20+) Seguin LULAC Community Garden | Facebook

Games We Play (kite.pub)