the ecology, economy and culture of the place where you live
are committed to making choices that enhance them. You
understand the soil, native and non-native trees and plants, the
animals, their water sources, the indigenous people and extinct
species.You view life through the lens of biology, not through
the lens of profit, convenience and mindless consumption, and
understand that human life is privileged only to the extent of
satisfying vital needs. The richness and diversity of life itself has
value and you work daily in your bioregion to help create a
sustainable society.
Sustainable means that the society does not consume more
natural resources than can be replenished by natural biological
and geophysical cycles, and does not produce waste faster than
can be dispersed by natural biological and geophysical cycles.
The only way to create a sustainable society is to live within
these limits. There's no other way!
It's interesting to ponder on the fact that homo sapiens lived
this way for thousands of years and that our current society is
actually an aberration, a mere blip on the radar screen of the
human continuum. For 200,000 years or possibly more,
prehistoric people existed as hunter-gatherers, living in harmony
and balance with all living things within small bioregions. In
North America, the archaelogy and ethnographic record reveals a
cultural continuity for thousands of years for several groups. The
people of the central coast of California lived in place here for
over eight thousand years, and the Athabaskans of Interior
Alaska lived in place in Alaska and Canada for six to eight
thousand years.
Now, before you start thinking the point of ecosophy is to
promote a return to loin cloths, primitivism and the
hunter-gatherer lifestyle, let me assure you that's not the case.
In fact, it's probably impossible for homo sap to return to such a
state, at least willfully. But we can learn things from these
societies, and gain some clues about how they were able to live
so successfully for so long. At least until the Spanish Missionaries
arrived.
My hope is that we'll relearn how to live in place, within
communities. The reality of Peak Oil is going to force the issue,
since the cost and availabilty of fossil fuel is going to force us to
develop systems of local production for local consumption.
Somehow, we must undo the ingrained and dominant
Judeo-Christian, philosophy of human speciesism that holds that
man is the center of all things. He most certainly is not! Man is
but one component of a highly complex system where all the
piece parts are dependent upon one another. All of these parts
deserve equal respect, from the salamander to the honeybee.
From the desert and red rock to the rivers and oceans, the soil
and the air. All biota and fauna has value in and of itself.
What are some things you can do? Live sufficiently. Ask yourself
"What is really necessary to live a full and satisfying life?" Do I
really need to drive a car two miles to the store, or can I walk or
ride a bike? Do I really need non-locally produced, exotic foods in
my everyday diet, or should I adjust my diet to include more
locally produced, organic food? Start supporting your local
cooperatives, and if you don't have a local food cooperative,
start one. Take your own bag to the grocery store. Grow your
own food. Use recycled materials available at community tables
and centers. And think seriously about ever buying a new car!
Maintain the car you have or recycle a used car. Everyone you
purchase and discard eventually ends up in a trash heap.
Think about where waste goes. Everything goes somewhere.
Think about each and every choice you make as a consumer and
just say no to the empty, consumer culture that's destroying our
home. That's something you can do today.
Resist. Recycle. Refuse.