To Capra, the definition of life is to be self-organizing. How self-organization is achieved is through
networks (Capra 1994). This is as true
at the cellular level as it is at the level of an entire regional
ecosystem.
If Capra is to be believed, it is also true at the community
level, or put another way, at the social level.
Often, those studying the network interconnections at this level refer
to it as social ecology. This is not to
say that social ecology deals only with personal networks. It does, but only as a small piece of a much
more complex puzzle. More to the point,
community culture, interactions and decisions are grounded within the functionality
of the ecosystem as a whole.
Two recently read “social ecology” articles offer Capra’s
concepts some empirical support.
The first is a case study of the small, rural, Mediterranean
village of Ain, Spain by UT’s resident geoarcheologist Dr. Karl Butzer. Through combined archeological and sociological
methods, Dr. Butzer was able to show how the community itself was able to self-organize,
make critical decisions in times of change and adapt to their surroundings
whatever the disturbance ie. Spanish civil
war, prolonged drought, vineyard phlloxera, or most recently, the loss of its
younger generation to larger cities. Each disturbance and each reaction were, in
essence, cycles of feedback loops (Butzer 2005).
The second study is set within a rural catchment basin in
England and focuses on local governance and public participation in
ecologically significant community decisions.
Above all else, what this study demonstrates is Capra’s notion of
sustainability through interdependence.
Community decisions were both effected by and had an effect on the
regional watershed ecosystem (Southern et al 2011).
In sum, societal networks are inextricably tied to the
ecological systems they inhabit. One
cannot be studied without the other.
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Your are on target... A community (as system) is more than the sum of its parts (i.e., more than an aggregation of individuals and institutions).
ReplyDeleteThis notion of a systems-level characteristic clashes with the core belief embedded in our dominant economic and political narrative – individual and individualism as key agent (catalyst) of change. 'Something else' must account for change. Sustainability is a feature of the system (the community as an eco-system) to self-organize or self-regulate.