I don't know about parasitologists, but the mycologists I know are more enthused about their subjects than any other group of biologists I've met! "Loving" something in nature has, for many scientists, nothing to do with conventional beauty. (Luckily for most of us, something similar applies to human relationships.) My work is in basic science, without immediate practical application, and I wouldn't be doing it if I didn't love forests and food webs.
However, I agree with your larger concern. While I'm all for getting people to experience nature, it makes me cringe to hear people say care for the environment depends on such experiences or love of nature. Do you love your water main, the farms that grow your food, penicillin? This is about life support, people! Jane Shevtsov On Tue, Jan 6, 2009 at 8:01 AM, William Silvert <[email protected]> wrote: > Although this sounds like a lovely book, I am not terribly comfortable with > the concept, at least not in connetion with an ecology mailing list. Part of > our work as scientists is promoting a rational, rather than romantic, > concern for our environment, and while some of us (like Ehrlich) may have > gotten involved with ecology because of an emotional attachment to beautiful > creatures, many of us are having difficulty defending the role of the ugly > and even disgusting organisms that are an essential part of ecosystems (such > as detritivores). > > I am curious to know how many parasitologists and mycologists feel that > their life's work was rooted in some "rapturous love affair" with tapeworms > or mildew. Who ever fell in love with nematodes and polychaetes? (Although > my late friend Peter Schwinghamer had a sign over his door saying "Worms can > teach us awe and wonder.") > > My concern has a practical side to it. There are seal species far more at > risk than harp seals, but mottled grey beasts with nasty teeth do not seem > to attract the support of anti-sealing campaigners. It is hard to argue that > the biodiversity of beautiful flowers in Costa Rica is more vital to our > survival than the worms crawling around in the mud of the North Sea, but > much of the emphasis on conservation of biodiversity focusses on tropical > hot spots rather than the low and dirty. > > I don't want to discourage anyone from enjoying the beauty of the natural > enviornment, but I also want to remind the scientific community that ecology > is not about beauty, it is about systems that often do not appeal to our > aesthetic sense. I like my work, but manage not to get too emotionally > involved! > > Bill Silvert > > > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jamie Reaser" > <[email protected]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Monday, January 05, 2009 10:44 PM > Subject: [ECOLOG-L] New Book for Nature Enthusiasts > > >> Dear Nature Enthusiasts - >> >> Hiraeth Press and Ecos Systems Institute are please to announce the >> publication of:Courting the Wild: Love Affairs with the Land, edited by >> Dr. Jamie K. Reaser and Ms. Susan Chernak McElroy. >> >> Do you remember the first time you fell in love? >> >> Within these pages will you find love stories, rapturous love affairs with >> the land, longings, shameless seductions, betrothals, vows exchanged, >> marriages of the soul, heartaches, partings, healings, and renewals. The >> authors are the courters and the courted.Their landscape paramours embrace >> them and they grow forth from within. >> >> "A stirring book.filled with transcendent and highly personal moments of >> revelation, of awe, reverence, and love for nature.the profound truth and >> magic of becoming one with life on Earth. This book is for anyone >> anywhere.from the camper's backpack to bedside tables." - Dr. Thomas >> Lovejoy, President, The H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics >> and the Environment >> >> "Like many ecologists, I had a love affair with nature (especially with >> butterflies) long before I became a scientist. The love affairs described >> here will either tell you what I mean, or remind you of your own affair. >> Either way, you'll enjoy them." - Dr. Paul Ehrlich, co-author of the >> Dominant Animal: Human Evolution and the Environment >> >> Available from: >> - Hiraeth Press: www.hiraethpress.com >> - www.amazon.com >> >> A limited number of signed copies are available, contact Dr. Jamie K. >> Reaser at [email protected]. If you'd like to help promote the book, >> please e-mail Jamie for a flyer. >> > -- ------------- Jane Shevtsov Ecology Ph.D. student, University of Georgia co-founder, <a href="http://www.worldbeyondborders.org";>World Beyond Borders</a> Check out my blog, <a href="http://perceivingwholes.blogspot.com";>Perceiving Wholes</a> "Political power comes out of the look in people's eyes." --Kim Stanley Robinson, _Blue Mars_
