What is Human Ecology?

For me, Human Ecology means, the study of the relationship between humans and their natural and social environments. Inspired by writers like Murray Bookchin, Paulo Friere, Wangari Maathai, and Winona LaDuke, who discuss that – more than ever, nearly all, ecological problems are social problems, and the relationship of society to nature, and how our communities affect the environment around us are important to consider thoughtfully…  “The problems which many people face today in "defining" themselves, in knowing ‘who we are’—problems that feed a vast self-identity—are by no means personal ones. These problems exist not only for private individuals; they exist for modern society as a whole.” – We suffer not only as individuals from alienation and confusion over our identities and goals; our entire society, conceived as a single entity, seems unclear about its own nature and sense of direction, and the greater issues of society politically, economically, and historically (US and World culture and what are we doing to our neighbors) … - “If earlier societies tried to foster a belief in the virtues of cooperation and caring, thereby giving an ethical meaning to social life, modern society fosters a belief in the virtues of competition and egotism, thereby divesting human association of all meaning—except, perhaps, as an instrument for gain and mindless consumption.” 

            Human Ecology is ‘Education for Critical Consciousness’. Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson, generally known as British anthropologists, She worked in communities separate from mainstream Western values and studied cultures such as the Samoa, searching to find universal values and finding vast differences in conduct.  … He contributed to human ecology in the realm of the ecology of mind. He was opposed to the way scientists try to reduce everything to matter; his goal was to re-introduce the mind into the equation. He emphasized the importance of looking at the world not just through reductionist logic but to understand the connections in the "pattern which connects" all of our minds through stories.

            I can relate to my own experience in Indonesia traveling to the famous Buddhist temple Borobudur, with two Muslim women. Vast differences and yet vast similarities; or when I was in Malawi, teaching students from various tribal backgrounds and realizing race is not merely black and white but each tribe was a race in itself, infinite varieties and variables, and they also had their own languages to match. Human Ecology brings together the living world with man’s genuine potential for responsibility to care for society and nature.