Welcome to Bod Library’s ECO-WING, where reflections on the relationship between humans & the rest of nature take form & flight, sowing seeds of insight & understanding along the way (if only in the sower). From deep roots to sunward branching stretch, nature’s dance reflects our own, & vice versa, being in large part of the same cloth: ground, water, air &…charge.*
* See “Climate Charge,” below.
[photo:
a Mannequin/ Mirror Challenge,
from/by Gita B.]
Welcome to ECO-WING.NET–home of Bod Library’s
ecological ABC’s, seeds of thought, adventures in understanding…
The ECO-WING website itself includes: the ABC’s of Conservation (Aldo Zone, Basics, Conservation+); Seeds of Thought (2003-2017);
# New Rambles (2023- )…
~~~Climate Charge (language & nature, as below)
~~~ In One Era, Out Another…. (new page soon)
# ABC’s of Conservation (1999- ):
~~~Aldo Zone (on Aldo Leopold’s life & lessons, in progress)* [All pages are potentially in progress, though some (like the Aldo Zone now) are temporarily ‘closed for renovation’ If you’d like access, drop a note c/o bodlibrary2020@gmail.com];
~~~Basics (a look at life & living systems);
~~~Conservation Foundations & Implications (e.g., wild capital).
# Seeds of Thought (2003-2017):
~~~short adventures in eco-logy, originally published in la Voz del refugio quarterly (Friends of Las Vegas National Wildlife Refuge), each with
~~~illustrations** [Pages with older Seeds have lost their illustrations for now, some being key parts of their articles, so may see about renewing as soon as convenient–though newer adventures tend to take precedence in drawing available fresh attention];
~~~subsequent follow-ups to expand the explored territory in various directions.
YOU ARE HERE NOW. From here you can:
a) Click to other pages on site from menu at top;
b) Click to other sites in the Bod Library Complex, e.g.
www.bod-library.net, Info, Exhibits, Audio, Galleries, Poetry…;
www.bod-library.xyz, for Game Theory, Strategic Thinking…;
www.virginiabodner.net, celebrating her poetry, art & person….
c) Scroll on down for a new ramble over an old idea few have yet picked up on (then join the effort to see & tell more truly).
~~~~~~~~~~~~CLIMATE CHARGE~~~~~~~~~~~~ (a New Ramble sample)
Charge itself takes many forms & operates across all known scales, from the delicate & sensitive life-form to cosmic web & galactic heart. All systems & organisms have their own ranges & limits. Consider what is usually now called CLIMATE CHANGE–a rather meaningless concept, since climate’s always changing, along with everything else.
It should clearly be called something far more accurate, precise & meaningful, namely
~~~~~~~~~~~~CLIMATE CHARGE~~~~~~~~~~~~.
People can actually feel CHARGE, as well as conceptually grasp its effects in terms of temperature, wind speeds, ocean dynamics, amplitude of waves & degree of swings in drought, flood, heat & cold. Let’s face it. Terms like change & warming might even secretly suggest a semi-tropical paradise, especially in winter. The actual effects of planetary CHARGING (accurately predicted & widely observed) seem to represent something else entirely. Throw in any serious potential for a thermal runaway & over-charging c;learly represents an existential threat on planetary scale.
Language does make a difference. Or can…could…might…, however unlikely it may seem at this point. Nevertheless, we are language creatures, as well as creations of nature, shaped by both. Language mediates all our relations, with each other, with our cultures at large & with the natural world. It’s often said that language is what makes us human, but it’s human language that does so, not language per se, since all living organisms seem to have language.
We might conclude that having language means being alive, and even conscious, aware of meaning (at least its possibility). But then our smart devices, like clay tablets themselves, show that having a language (& even the ability to execute seemingly intelligent operations) doesn’t mean the language vehicles themselves are necessarily alive, let alone conscious or aware. Apparently, using language no longer requires live selves with self-awareness; some prior contact with a generative source, however indirect, may be all that’s needed to get it going….
And there’s the rub–no one knows just where it goes, let alone the differences that going might make for humanity in particular. Not that what we know now about human-directed differences provides much solid ground for optimism. It’s a mixed history to be sure. On the one hand, glorious progress & magical achievements; on the other…well, we won’t go there right now, being all too clear. Forces have relative momentums of their own, whether for better or worse. The planetary scale of human influence requires a corresponding increase in the “for the better” side of that equation.
Many, if not most, of the best examples of efforts “for the better” over the last 80 years or so have been part of the so-called “environmental movement,” self-organized communities responding to visible threats. People care enough to organize, to become more aware, & then to translate awareness into action, usually to prevent actions driven by other motives &/or momentums. Effective translation starts with awareness of what’s happening, including the implied trajectories &, less visible, knock-on effects, within an increasingly holistic understanding.
As living language(s), DNA/ RNA go through many translations en route to functional expression in organisms, populations, & ecosystems (local & trans-local ecologies). To the degree that’s all we are, the future of humanity & of much kindred life does not look especially bright. To what degree can we reshape not just the outer, natural world, but ourselves & our social, cultural, economic, scientific & technological realities? We’ve just had a hint of what can happen to “supply chains” when “business as usual” gets a bit disrupted–while also encouraging changes to the usual.
One of the simplest changes to the usual can be made in our language use–calling things by what they are, no more, no less, if for no other reason than our own clarity, awareness, understanding. In a talk in the early 1970s in Reno, Buckminster Fuller recounted his own early efforts to understand more clearly by bringing his language in synch with his actual knowledge–dawn & dusk might still work to designate the spatiotemporal phenomena generated by earth’s rotation & point-of-view, for example, but not sunrise & sunset. In many cases, language creates not just the sense of reality, however, but the reality itself, with no clear line between world truly imagined & the truly imaginary, or between the observer & observed….
The least we can do at the moment may be to call the current global crisis what it is:
~~~~~~~~~~~~CLIMATE CHARGE~~~~~~~~~~~~
Not only will others know what you mean, but understand the situation more clearly. Given familiarity with the charge card, an added benefit of the suggested usage is the aptness of that metaphor–where all that goes on charging climatic systems adds to the debt at compounding cost…. [10/29/2023]
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[Bod Library Complex: A network of symptoms, causes & effects linked to the psychological delusion of being a library.]
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