Human Ecology and Environment–Maritza
M. Mejia - ©2020
Humanity has had an evolution throughout its history. First, it was all
about survival, cultivating its land, pastoring its
flocks, and multiplying. Slowly, humans have matured, restored and adapt to their surroundings. The twentieth century’s industrialization
and globalization have expanded the scope of the continual evolution of
humanity. Now, it is not about a single family or a single tribe or community but it is
about the global societies. The
interconnection still exist since the beginning of creation; ironically, it continuous to be about survival. However, human ecology
takes precedence over the natural environment and both need to be safeguarded
to reach a balance in the community, in the ecosystem to obtain an authentic human ecology.
The environment is our
collective good and it is a challenge for the whole humanity to protect it. “It
is a matter of a common and universal
duty that of respecting common good, destined for all.” To understand the original
divine mission to “work and care” for the home we live in (Genesis 2: 15), we
need to be aware of our interconnection with each other, the planet and the
environment. Moreover, we need an extraordinary force and virtue to understand
it: love. “If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is
honored, all rejoice together” (1 Corinthians 12:26). Furthermore, we must not
disregard the “human environment. ”
In the book, Ten Green Commandments of Laudato Si ‘by Father Joshtrom Isaac
Kureethadam, he introduces fervent insights of the encyclical based on the
principles of “Seeing-Judging-Acting” to reach ecological awareness and protect
not only the environment, but also to care for humanity. [4]
The Ten Green Commandments are:
1.
Take
care of our common home.
2. Listen to the cry of the poor.
3. Rediscover a theological vision of
the Natural world.
4. Recognize that the abuse of creation
is ecological sin.
5. Acknowledge the human roots of the
crisis of our common home.
6. Develop an integral ecology.
7. Learn a new way of dwelling in our
common home.
8. Educate towards ecological
citizenship.
9. Embrace an ecological Spirituality.
10. Cultivate ecological virtues.
The Ten
Green Commandments might be the beginning path for an ecological conversion.
As I mention before, first we need to recognize there is an ecological problem
and observe with a new vision. Then we can distinguish our wrong habits and
change it with good practices, like the 3Rs: reduce, reuse and recycle. Ultimate,
we can act and reach an ecological consciousness that lead us to an ecological
conversion.
What is
ecology? To begin with this analysis,
first take a close look of the word “ecology.” It is derived from the
ancient Greek words of “oikos” and “logos,” meaning “household,” or a “place to
live.” The first person who uses this term was a German zoologist Ernst Haeckel
in 1866. He applied the term as “oekologie”
in the relation of the animal both to its
organic as well as its inorganic environment.
Ecology is a science that deals with the
interrelationships between the organism and its “environment.”According to Professor
Robert Leo Smith, ecology is also called “bioecology, bionomics, or environmental biology.”Ecology studies the sociological and
political problems in human affairs, such as, pollution, global
warming, food scarcities, extinctions of plants and animals.
What is environment? The Online Encyclopaedia Britannica,
on the other hand, refers environment as the
complex of physical, chemical, and biotic factors that act upon an organism or
an ecological community and ultimately determine its form and survival.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines
it as the circumstances, objects, or conditions by which one is surrounded.
Roderick
J. Lawrence’s article “Human Ecology and
Its Applications” explains that since the late 19th century the term
“ecology” has been interpreted in diverse ways. In the natural sciences, for
instance, botanists and zoologists often use the term “general ecology” to
refer to the “interrelations between animals, plants and their direct
surroundings.” Human ecology sociologists suggest that it is the study of the “dynamic
interrelationships between human populations and the physical, biotic, cultural
and social characteristics of their environment and the biosphere.”Human ecology can also be considered the environment relations which have a
history in several scientific disciplines and professions. One aspect that is
not considered in human ecology is the “anthropological dimensions of human
customs, knowledge and values, as well as communication and information.” Lawrence concludes that the term still remains divided between the “social and
natural sciences,” as well as between the “theoretical and applied approaches”
in each of these sciences.
In the book, “The
Theological and Ecological Vision of Laudato Si’: Everything is Connected” by Vincent J. Miller we read one
of the clearest vision regarding “human ecology.” First, Miller clarifies that
is important to understand that integral ecology involves a belief based of the nature of the world
that all things are interrelated. Second, it is important to have a special
vision of integral ecology that requires a specific lens that allow us to perceive this “connectedness” with the Triune
God. Third, an integral ecology beckons us to follow moral principles to preserve these interconnections.”Dr. Miller concludes, in order to obtain a
comprehensive ecology as a guide to action and moral principle, we need to
trust, have the special vision and see the signs to reach consciousness to
protect "our common home", as Pope Francis refers to planet Earth
in the encyclical Laudato Si'.
Human ecology is
complemented by cultural development and integration. The individual is a being
who nourishes within a family, develops in the community, evolves in society and is
restored as the ecosystem does when it is altered. As the study has mentioned, human ecology takes precedence over the natural
environment and both need to be safeguarded to reach a balance in
the community, in the ecosystem to obtain an authentic human ecology.
Kureethadam, Joshtrom Isaac, Ten Green Commandments of
Laudato Si’, Saint John’s Abbey, Collegeville, Minnesota, Liturgical
Press, February 18, 2019, 19-201
Lawrence, Roderick J, Human ecology
and its applications, Centre for Human Ecology and Environmental Sciences,
Elsevier Science Geneva, Switzerland, 2013, accessed September 11, 2020, 31 http://ssu.ac.ir/cms/fileadmin/user_upload/Daneshkadaha/dbehdasht/eko/pazoohesh/article_human_ecology/lawrence2003.pdf, 31-33
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