EcoRes Forum

[Administrator]

<i>You've just registered, checked the agenda, noting your preferred sessions, and wandered down the Forum's virtual hallway to the coffee shop in the back. After you fill your cup (the one you brought with you, of course), pouring the coffee in after the sugar so you don't need a disposable stir stick, you settle down at a corner table and take a look around. The table next to yours is crowded with fellow participants, easily identifiable by their little, green, eco-friendly name tags sporting the familiar EcoRes Forum logo. They invite you to join them, saying: "Tell us about yourself!"</i>

Now what?

Take advantage of this ice-breaker session to share a bit about yourself and your interests. What brings you to this forum? What do you hope to take away from it? [POST YOUR INTRODUCTION]
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<i>Thank you for being part of this forum! -- The EcoRes Forum Team</i>

[MLeyser]

Hello everyone,

First off, I’ll take my coffee with a touch of cream and sugar, thanks. A bit about me: I’m with the EcoRes Forum – it’s my baby, one could say. I’ve been working with environmental issues in one form or another for several years, during which time my interests have progressed in what may seem a reverse continuum – from the global scale to a local focus, from society-wide to the individual aspects of climate change.

Something that has really drawn my interest in the past year is the “Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream” Symposium series initiated by the Pachamama Alliance and produced by trained volunteers around the world. Check out their site if you have a chance – you won’t regret it! (www.awakeningthedreamer.org) If time allows, I plan to share some of their ideas via a side discussion later in the econf.

Now: Who’s next? (-:
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Mary Leyser, EcoRes Forum (www.eco-res.org)

[W Lee]

Good morning Mary and everyone,

I'm Wendy Lynne Lee, and I am very excited to see what interesting discussion we have during this year's incarnation of EcoRes. I have encouraged my students in Philosophy of Ecology to register for the conference, and hope to "see" them here soon. A coffee toast then to excellent discussion and a renewal of our commitment to the environment!

w

[J Bendik-Keymer]

Hi everyone,

While I'm here, I'd like to learn from others about two issues.

1. The ethics, politics, and economics of the sixth mass extinction. I've started working on the ethical dimensions of this extinction event, which stretches back 13,000 years to the extinction of mega-fauna through hunting with lethal technology (bows, arrows, javelins, etc.), and which has reached an all new scale and rate of extinction under climate change. In the articles I've written so far, I have tried to push ethical thinking to the point where it must turn to politics and economics. And I'd like to learn from others about how to conceptualize why we maintain the extinction event. I don't think the diagnosis is easy to grasp.

2. Imagining a new form of life that sits within climate change. I think that a lot of environmental problems stem not from mistaken moral beliefs (although in some cases they do) but from failed ones. As I've suggested above, the reasons for failure are complex. One way to unwork them is to help people to imagine our form of life adapting to climate change and mitigating it. I am interested in all the concrete ways people might contribute to such an effort in imagining. What would the key points of imagination be? What customs and concepts would have to be re-imagined?

With best wishes,

Jeremy Bendik-Keymer
Le Moyne College
Syracuse, N.Y.

[B Sima]

Hello Everyone,

I am here as a concerned citizen (not an expert) but someone who is interested in listening and learning and who knows, maybe I have an "out of the box" idea!


Peace,
Bob Sima

[G Dalla Casa]

Hello!
I am very interested in phylosophical questions about man-Nature relation, deep ecology and, as a consequence, anthropogenic climate changes.
I think we are in a bad transient period, but we must not forget also hope and utopia.
All the best.

[T Knight]

Hi everyone,

I'm basically an ex-capitalist-pig who gained a conscience several years ago when I left the US to return to Europe. I've since 'gone back to school' to educate myself in environmental anthropology, although some friends prefer to think of me as a human (and multi-species) geographer because of my interests in landscapes. To me a landscape is the total interaction and interrelationship between human animals, nonhuman animals, plants and all other entities, by which I mean anything imbued with the rather non-Western concept of 'spirit' - thus stones and rocks, rivers, lakes, seas, the wind, mountains...

It is exploration of this melange which I see as integral to finding a future path which avoids continued destruction of the biosphere and our climate. I too am very concerned by the mass extinction of life forms which is currently underway - note that the rate of extinctions is 1,000 times greater than under non-anthropocentrically dominated epochs.

I fear that we have clearly quit the Holocene and are now in the Anthropocene - and believe me, I wish we weren't. The Holocene lasted approximately 12,000 years. How long will the Anthropocene last? Not to be negative or pessimistic, but I believe that the Anthropocene will probably not outlast this century. I say that this is not negativism, because on the one hand, if we 'self-destruct' and cause the 'end of human civilisation', then so be it: the Earth will continue and hopefully the biosphere will recover soon enough. If on the other hand, we reach the end of this phase of civilisation, dominated by big money, big military, big oil... then we might just see a world population decline, and a return from the global to the local, and therefore have a better chance for a healthy survival and relationship with the environment. Think about it for a second, if we screw things up globally, well, that the negative side I suppose. But if we screw things up locally, there is far more hope for all involved!

I think that's enough about me and my ideas for the moment, so I look forward to hearing what you all have to say, and to perhaps begin to see different ways of assuring a successful transition to a more harmonised existence for all sentient beings.

Peace,
Tony

[AA Thompson]

Opps - learning how to do this....
I mistakenly posted my introduction in the Coffee Shop as a new topic, under the title "Greetings..." I meant to put it here. (Mary, can you move it?) thanks, Allen
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Hello all,

In a strange turn for me, I'm more optimisitic now than in a long time about our response to anthropogenic cliamte change - my own state senator (Rep. SC Graham) is reaching out to develop bipartisan support for the cap-and-trade legislation! Also, the majority of people in England say they are willing to undertake lifestyle changes to fight global warming! Wow.

I have been trying to focus my attention on what it means to believe that human beings are morally responsible for global cliamte change. If this is true, how does it bear on us as individuals and as various colletives (e.g. citizens of the US, or of developed nations, or as humanity as a whole).

While many conceptions of responsiblity are oriented to assign guilt or fault for harm, there is another use of the term by which we praise some people as more responsible than others. In this sense "being responsible" is a trait of character. I'm inerested in thinking about being responsible as a character trait of individuals and how this is connected with our collective human moral responsbility (in the sense of guilt or fault) for global climate change.

Looking forward to the discussions!
-Allen

[MLeyser]

Hello everyone: Ready for a coffee refill? (Re moving posts: That’s what I’m here for!)

So nice to see some familiar faces: Wendy, Jeremy, Allen, Guido and Tony have each taken part in previous discussions: welcome back! And Bob: welcome to the Forum – it’s great to have you with us.

Wendy, thanks for spreading the word – hope your students can join us. Would love to keep our conversation transgenerational.

Jeremy, I like the idea of thinking about a new form of life. I’ve been rereading some “classic” texts; last night I found myself engrossed in “Beyond the Limits: Confronting Global Collapse, Envisioning a Sustainable Future” (Meadows et al 1992). There’s a section on the crossover role of visioning. Not that visioning will ever replace action – as they say: “Vision without action is useless. But action without vision does not know where to go or why to go there. Vision is absolutely necessary to guide and motivate action. More than that, vision, when widely shared and firmly kept in sight, brings into being new systems.” New systems of customs/concepts? Hmm… an exciting thought… perhaps we can explore these ideas further in the plenary?

Guido – I agree – there’s always a place and purpose for hope and the idea of utopia. Perhaps it’s this idea that inspires us develop these new concepts, the new systems. Maybe this is the only true way we’ll ever be able to “change the dream.” Thoughts, anyone?

Tony – Kind of gives a whole new meaning to the label “landscape artist,” doesn’t it? *laugh Time to get out your oils! Here’s to our discussion contributing in some small way to smoothing this transition.

Allen – All optimism is welcome: bring it on! Interesting thoughts on character traits. I just posted some related thoughts in the plenary – the idea that the success of “the environmental movement” will depend not on external locus of control elements (including policies, laws, or societal rules and norms of all shapes) but on individual growth – one's personal, internal evolution. Let’s discuss!

Again, great to see everyone here. When you have a chance, come on over to the group discussion! (Post to: econf@list.eco-res.org)
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Mary Leyser, EcoRes Forum (www.eco-res.org)

[L Boot]

I'm participating in the Forum in order to continue to help awaken the understanding that at the heart of the troubled relationship between humans and the rest of the planet are deep-seated aspects of our minds and brains that make us who we are. In order to move forward with eco-justice around the globe we have to change what we do, but because our behaviors spring from these deeper places, this is very heavy lifting. Humans don't act, for example on information. That species is fiction or living on another planet. In fact people will often--no usually, strengthen beliefs that are proven false in order to firm up their world views and identities. The Enlightenment, while entertaining in so many ways, has changed almost nothing. I find this hard to get across in many settings--maybe because it's so scary (and very troubling for most academics) but we have to start here if any progress is going to made. And it can be made--for sure. Anyway, my interest is in using media and art to get into the "heart and nervous system" of what makes us human in order to affect change way upstream of topical issues. I'm asking what can be done to unearth the mind/body or spirit/body split that lies at the heart of our separation from nature? Or, how can we quiet easily-awoken fears of nature's power enough to have empathy for the planet? Stuff like that. Let me know if this thread would interest you.

Lee

[MLeyser]

I'd be very interested in digging into this topic, Lee. To me, this fits perfectly with our focus on the individual and the necessity of developing one's consciousness, not only to be fully aware of the issues, but also in order to most effectively respond to them - and/or proactively prevent them.

The Garrison Institute in New York initiates projects, talks, and so on, along this line. Might be a helpful connection for the future.

Let's open a side thread or take this to the plenary - I'd love to get more people involved in the discussion.

Great stuff!
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Mary Leyser, EcoRes Forum (www.eco-res.org)