"Pass the point of no return, no backward glances: ... the bridge is crossed, so stand and watch it burn ..." (The Phantom of the Opera)
Robert E. Ricklefs reviewed William Cronon's perspective in the "Introduction" Chapter of "The Economy of Nature" (5e). Cronon challenged two cliche ideas:
1. Natural ecosystems have tendencies to restoration.
2. Nature would be purified if human was excluded.
Ricklefs' idea is that ecology's proceedings support Cronon, and I deeply agree with him. On the first theme, the largest tendency lies in the largest temporal scale: Evolution, although I don't know how the idea of restoration arose and maintained in the evolutionary progress. Movements in evolution showed more tendencies of acceleration, tendencies of complexity and tendencies of uncertainty, caused by lots of non-linear mechanisms and by-products, rather than tendencies of restoration.
On the second theme, I personally think that Homo Sapiens, if not other intelligent species, is what the arrow of time point to. Evolution enabled, or even "demanded" emergence of such an intelligent species. Given enough time, a living planet without an intelligent species ever is not an evolutionary stable system. As to the mechanism, researches on entropies in evolutionary dynamics may be illuminating.
It's said that many ecologists are conservative, one proof is their adoption of computer program and web services. I don't know whether this is because of conservation ecology's influences. Danger of biodiversity's loss and global environment's degeneration is pressing, but that doesn't mean it's human's original sin who brought the danger. We are tied to the chariot of evolution, and the better way is not trying to return to the past, but spend more on researches revealing rules behind. After all, as Hubbell said, there is not still a workable theory of biodiversity, to guide our ecological protection practice.
More attentions should be paid to theoretical researches in ecology, while in a large scale, an open attitude to potential change may be needed. The world may never restore a state as we thought, because "the heaven will never return, neither has it been." It may be more wise to be obedient to evolutionary rules, so I love ecology but I'm not conservative.
Harrison
2:03 2008-1-13
I Love Ecology, but I'm not Conservative
Robert E. Ricklefs reviewed William Cronon's perspective in the "Introduction" Chapter of "The Economy of Nature" (5e). Cronon challenged two cliche ideas:
1. Natural ecosystems have tendencies to restoration.
2. Nature would be purified if human was excluded.
Ricklefs' idea is that ecology's proceedings support Cronon, and I deeply agree with him. On the first theme, the largest tendency lies in the largest temporal scale: Evolution, although I don't know how the idea of restoration arose and maintained in the evolutionary progress. Movements in evolution showed more tendencies of acceleration, tendencies of complexity and tendencies of uncertainty, caused by lots of non-linear mechanisms and by-products, rather than tendencies of restoration.
On the second theme, I personally think that Homo Sapiens, if not other intelligent species, is what the arrow of time point to. Evolution enabled, or even "demanded" emergence of such an intelligent species. Given enough time, a living planet without an intelligent species ever is not an evolutionary stable system. As to the mechanism, researches on entropies in evolutionary dynamics may be illuminating.
It's said that many ecologists are conservative, one proof is their adoption of computer program and web services. I don't know whether this is because of conservation ecology's influences. Danger of biodiversity's loss and global environment's degeneration is pressing, but that doesn't mean it's human's original sin who brought the danger. We are tied to the chariot of evolution, and the better way is not trying to return to the past, but spend more on researches revealing rules behind. After all, as Hubbell said, there is not still a workable theory of biodiversity, to guide our ecological protection practice.
More attentions should be paid to theoretical researches in ecology, while in a large scale, an open attitude to potential change may be needed. The world may never restore a state as we thought, because "the heaven will never return, neither has it been." It may be more wise to be obedient to evolutionary rules, so I love ecology but I'm not conservative.
Harrison
2:03 2008-1-13
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