It happened with one significant event: AGRICULTURE. Agriculture 10,000 years ago brought with it settlement, food surpluses, division of labor, and mass consumerism. It also brought a dichotomy. Plants and animals that were cultivated and domesticated were "good" and those that were outside the area of settlement were "bad". The concept of "WILDERness" came into being because settlers isolated themselves from the world around them. This is were the great schism between humans and nature began.
On the naturalness continuum, that which is made/regulated/managed by man is "artificial" or "0" on the scale and those ecosystems which have not been significantly disturbed by HUMANS are close to a "10" on the naturalness scale. What is the fundamental difference? HUMAN systems are simplified, MANaged, and steered by a concsious, external entity whereas NATURAL systems are complex, autopoietic, and steered from within by an unconscious, collective wisdom encoded in the community's DNA. Gary On Oct 27, 2009, at 11:46 PM, Steve Galehouse wrote: > ENTS > > When did we humans decide to become separated from the natural > scheme of things?--we, or our predecessors, have been here as long > as there has been life on Earth, in a continuum.Perhaps as Pogo > said"We've met the enemy, and they is us", but we are as much a part > of nature as any other creature; plant, bacteria, fungus, etc. Earth > can't "recover' from us because we are as much part of Earth as > Earth is a part of us. Deep down I feel all these alien species > intrusions are just natural range expansions, optimizing whatever > method is available to the organism. > > Steve > > On Tue, Oct 27, 2009 at 10:12 PM, Barry Caselli <[email protected] > > wrote: > That's already been explained. > > --- On Sun, 10/25/09, [email protected] <[email protected] > > wrote: > > From: [email protected] <[email protected]> > > Subject: [ENTS] Re: Autopoietic Forests and Forest Patch Management > To: "ENTSTrees" <[email protected]> > Date: Sunday, October 25, 2009, 8:04 AM > > > > Ed, > > I don't mean to get too far off topic here, but is autopoiesis a term > that is being used often in the forestry and/or ecology literature? I > was introduced to the term a few years ago in studying cognitive > science through reading the work of Evan Thompson and Francisco > Varela... I didn't realize it had come to be used more broadly. Are > you using it to mean a self-sustaining, self-creating system, or just > simply a natural/undisturbed patch of forest? > > > Mike > > > > > On Oct 25, 11:32 am, "Edward Frank" <[email protected]> wrote: > > Gary, > > > > I wonder if when looking at these systems if there should not be a > distinction made between your autopoietic(natural) systems and > artificial (managed) and systems that have been impacted or > disturbed indirectly by outside human activities, but are not > actually being managed by humans. For example consider some of the > islands in the Allegheny River Islands Wilderness. Most are nearly > pristine in terms of development and timbering, but they are > otherwise severely disturbed in terms of the ecosystem. Instead of > the normal trajectory you are envisioning, this path has been > replaced by massive growths of invasive species. On Thompson Island > the southern end of the island in the ate summer of fall is a > impassable mass of Japanese knotweed, large areas are covered by > multiflora roses, former native grasslands have been replaced by > reed canary grass. I think these types of impacts are different in > character fro those found in actively managed lands and different > from natural systems that have not been so severely impacted and are > exhibiting an ecosystem dominated by native plants and animals. > Other examples of non-managed impacts can be cited. > > > > Edward Frank > > > > "Oh, I call myself a scientist. I wear a white coat and probe a > monkey every now and then, but if I put monetary gain ahead of > preserving nature...I couldn't live with myself." - Professor Hubert > Farnsworth > > By the way, I consider NATURE to be the collective genome of all > living systems and their environment. NATURE is self-creating and > self-regulating. We distinguish humans from nature because NATURE > is a complex, dynamic system controlled by unconscious processes, by > natural selection. We appreciate NATURE because it is NOT > controlled by us...it is "WILD". I wouldn't consider a ZOO to be an > expression of nature or a natural place since humans decide which > animal reproduces with which other and humans are controlling the > environment of these animals. All of us on this list intuitively > know the difference between a zoo and nature, a natural forest and > a managed plantation. The difficulty comes in placing each forest > on the NATURAL.............................ARTIFICIAL continuum. > > > > Gary A. Beluzo > > Professor of Environmental Science > > Division of Science, Engineering, and Mathematics > > Holyoke Community College > > 303 Homestead Avenue > > Holyoke, MA 01040 > > > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org Send email to [email protected] Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
