COURSE INTRODUCTION:

This 13 week instructional television course draws on lectures, discussions, guest spots, interviews and films so we may reconsider how our modern culture relates to its environmental context. The ecological footprint left by our species on the planet has degradation and ecosystem collapse as the usual headline news. Different cultural adaptations are examined to see what leads to ecosystem limits being broached, and how this can be repaired - if at all. Basic processes of adaptation are examined as well as processes that have no regard for ecosystem balance.

Adaptations based on foraging, horticulture, pastoralism and feudalism are part of a global ecosystem with uneven penetration of the market economy. The advocacy role of modern ecological anthropology is discussed, and we play with the pieces of a vast jigsaw puzzle that makes up the global ecology. In the process there is a hard-hitting look at the consequences of our own civilization’s adaptive capabilities. Thich Nhat Hanh’s Five Mindfulness Trainings are introduced in Class 2, an Earth meditation in Class 11, UNESCO’s Manifesto 2000 in Class 12. Lots of interesting and provocative arguments in between.

This electronic publishing exercise consists of 13 programs that draw on original research and novel perspectives. Each program is 2.5 hours long with a break at the halfway point. It can be scheduled for one 3 hour class, with a 30 minute break, or for two 1.5 hour classes. The course can be adapted to a 13 or 26 week curriculum schedule.

There is a set of Class Notes that summarize the main points of each lecture. The Coursepack of class notes can be purchased from the Carleton University Book store. The course outline provides information about selected readings, expectations, assignments, evaluation, and directions to the course newsgroup on the Internet.

Ecology is a set of intersecting loops that includes everything. Gregory Bateson’s “Ecology of Ideas” ushers in the new science of Ecopsychology. To avoid global ecosystem collapse we need new ideas, and must ensure their survival in a viable circuit of ideas. The course structure, requirements and sequence of classes are carefully laid out with attention to grading, assignments, hopes and expectations for this thirteen week Odyssey.

Environmental degradation is at the root of the mystery of Easter Island. “Isla de Pascua” is the world writ small. Modern theories of environmental degradation and societal conflict are explored before different questions surface from Deep Ecology. Focus is on the Five Mindfulness Trainings of Thich Nhat Hanh as a set of environmental ethics.

The work of Barth, Sahlins, and Steward is set within the classical Nature/Nurture debate within Cultural Ecology. Bateson’s all encompassing notion of Ecology is ignored. This punctuation mark is out of step with modern processes, which I promise to address in Class Nine on Ecosystems.

BACK TO TOP

99% of our adaptation as a species on the planet is through this mode of existence. There may be some lessons to draw from subliminal memory as this adaptive mode generally maintained the resilience of the ecosystems occupied. Spiritual ideology, low energy budgets and the storage of time rather than products, make this adaptation an intriguing study.

The focus is on Traditional Ecological Knowledge as an effective ecosystem management strategy. The James Bay Cree and the land claims process that lead to the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement are examined in detail. The question of political linkage is raised.

The symbiosis of pastoralists with their herds, other societies, and their marginal physical environments, is examined. The story of Genghis Khan exposes the organizational limits of this mode of adaptation. Thank goodness he was an exception to the rule!

With the Neolithic Revolution and the emergence of States and Empires, ecosystem balance took a very definite back seat. Elite groups dominated through a politicization process, which initially had modest beginnings. The Amazon ecosystem is examined to show how it fares with different adaptations.

The uncertainties and instabilities of feudalism allowed the quiet development of the merchant class, who were able to control the technological changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution. The commercialization process usurped the former dominance of the political process and ushered in a 200 year old experiment of questionable cultural and environmental development.

The new ecological anthropology is introduced through the work of Rapaport. Ecology now replaces Cultural Ecology with a triune of Symbolic, Historical and Political Ecology. Case studies are drawn from the effective ritual regulation of ecosystems in Bali and New Guinea.

Corporate crime is directly linked to the structure of transnational corporatism. The dominant culture on the planet is corporate culture. Can political democracy re-assert dominance over financial processes? These are only cultural processes after all, and as culture bearers we have the capacity to change processes. Don’t you think so? The WTO is examined in some detail.

Business as usual is no longer possible. Activism from the basis of meditation is explored as the means to change consciousness and initiate new cultural processes, which includes new forms of leadership. I think about environmental issues at two levels - the Soft Edge exploration of consciousness and the Hard Edge reality of drastic earth changes.

Global Warming changes everything, not just Climate. Can our civilization take effective measures to change cultural processes in the face of the cynicism and raw power of corporate culture? A three point plan is suggested which begins with James Tobin’s tax on international financial transactions, proceeds to a dismantling of the WTO, and finishes with empowering the UN to regulate the terms of international trade. Is this too little, too late? We come full circle to the opening discussion of Class One - “Ecology of Mind.”

The Environmental Bill of Rights (EBR) is not well known. Yet in Ontario it is on the statute books. It is law. Furthermore it provides the means and avenues for civil society to monitor different government ministries keeping to their mandate of responsibility to the environment. It also provides means to register dissent at development that endangers the environment. This is a “How To” class. How to apply your knowledge of ecosystems and globalization to particular ecological issues.