Learning From Nature

In chapter 23 of The Ecology of Eden there is a section titled "Learning From Nature" that was particularly intriguing.  In this section it relates learning and listening to music, like jazz, to learning from nature.  In order to learn from something you must listen.  However, when listening to nature it can lead to find a lesson in just about anything.  Most of the time when we learn from nature it is to find an ends to a mean that we have decided is important to us in that moment.  We often learn from living nature because as stated by Eisenberg, "Living nature has the advantage of built-in technology: natural selection compels certain ends..."(pg. 302).  Since most of the time we are aiming to find a mean to an end learning from living nature helps to shorten that process.

Everything humans do has been learned from nature really.  Our technology is based on lesson learned from nature.  The technology itself learns from nature as it evolves.  Unfortunately humans also tend to believe that because we are learning from nature that means we fully understand it.  This is not the case as Eisenberg simply puts it, "But the copy was too crude.  It was a line drawing, a cartoon."  Humans have not been around long enough to fully understand nature, we are a blip in the timeline in this environment.  While we should continue to learn from nature we must also recognize that we do not understand it.  We are just students and we must truly listen and process what we are being told by nature if we ever hope to begin to actually understand it.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Language and Myth

In the discussion of religion, ecology, and the synergy between the two, a primary focal point to be considered is that of language. This is especially relevant with regards to the intersecting point of origin between religion and ecology: creation myths. It is possible to split language into two definitive and binary categories: prozaic language and poetic language. Prose refers to the language of definitions and explanations. It is often a mechanical arrangement of facts, figures and results. This is the language of the scientific method, the ‘APA’ format. Poetry, on the other hand, is an artistic use of language. It is more open-ended, often having a cadence or a rhyme scheme. This artistic use of language can be attributed to the origin of myth. Myths are a form of art. While creation myths are often cited as  an explanation for creation.  However, it has been argued that myths cannot actually be called an explanation because of the most common interpretations of the wor...
Read more

Antartica

Chapter 27 of Ecology of Eden talks about places that we have not touched on this Earth. We discussed this in class, and someone brought up the point that even in places that we have not developed on, they still face the destruction from human activity. For example, Antarctica is hardly inhabited by humans, but is facing extreme threats to its environment because of climate change and global warming. Antarctica is covered by ice that stretches about seven million cubic miles. Within the past fifty years, the west coast of the Antarctica Peninsula has been one of the most rapidly warming places on the entire planet. It has warmed by three degrees Celsius. The temperature of the Southern Ocean that surrounds the continent has increased by more than one degree Celsius in fifty years. This warming causes the wildlife that live there to suffer. Some ice caps have completely collapsed. Penguins have had a decline in their populations, or they have had to relocate their colonies to more st...
Read more

The Most Successful Species

Based off Chapter 6 (pt 1) of Humans in the Landscape Humans and the Food Web Photosynthesizing organisms are the most common in the general food pyramid, followed by herbivores, then omnivores, with carnivores being the most rare at the top of the food chain. However, humans have become the exception. They are an omnivorous species that has used evolution to its advantage. The products of evolution that allowed for bigger brains, bipedalism, tool usage and fire mastering has allowed us to climb to the top of the food chain. This fact puts a far greater stress on environmental resources. Controlling Resources Technical advances and the shaping of modern society have allowed us to “enlarge the carrying capacity” of environments to suit our needs relating to sustenance. However, these “advancements” have come at a cost. Things such as pesticides, GMOs, the Industrial Revolution, and artificial selection have caused general environmental issues like pollution, climate change, tro...
Read more