We do have significant knowledge and scientific acceptance of “Natural Law,” i.e. physical and biological principles like: entropy, biogeochemical cycles and photosynthesis, evolution via natural selection, etc., community succession and trophic levels, carrying capacity, territoriality, effective local community communication and having real ecologically-sound fun, etc., etc.. Therefore, it seems almost impossible that there are folk who don’t realize the serious local and global problems of rampant conversions of Nature (e.g., somewhat it was like 10,000 years ago or even 150 years ago) to very artificial systems.
Nevertheless, there is a prevalence of: 1) ignorance about ecological principles; 2) superstition, traditions, imbedded cultural mores; and 3) technological fix mindsets which continue to facilitate the polluting, scorching and paving of earth (resulting in dead zones in estuaries, desertification, global climate change) —and contribute to continuing global poverty and war, … . Moreover there is the continued mantra that “technology will fix all the nasty socio-political/economic--ECOLOGICAL damage we’ve done”. [Many pseudo or wantabe conservationists/conservatives are technological fixers and are guilty of masking the continued energetic burn of the Natural World—and/or they are serving as catalysts for this burn through the promotion of processes of conventional/industrial organic agriculture, inappropriate biotechnology, and development of various energy sources such as fuel cells, nuclear fission/and even fusion?, and various “renewable” alternatives other than reliance on solar energy capture that is local and ethical.]
When we consider these social complexities, I would hope that ecologically literate folk (and I believe there are many of these folk—and many more who’d like to be) won’t become frustrated and cynical, and throw up their arms and give up. We must continue to support a conserving and sustaining process that includes 1) faith in the Natural World, 2) hope that as a community we can stave off the Seven Deadly Sins, 3) charity and love for all of humanity and the Natural World.
And it is of utmost importance that we must work hard (but with pleasure and celebration) locally to: 1) conserve topsoil, 2) maintain watersheds in a healthy and sustainable/Natural state, 3) protect and enhance biological diversity, 4) slow down our economic engine to the point that it runs sustainably on daily ethical use of the sun, 5) emphasize sufficiency more than efficiency, 6) utilize the appropriate technologies we already have in a sustainable way, vs. always searching for more appropriate technologies, and 7) recognize that health, education and welfare are all ecological concerns.
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