What Ecology Can Tell Us About Us

Think of it this way; if you’ve been following the blog, you’ve no doubt heard me talk about connections and how diverse system with many connections tend to be more stable and more resilient. Let me explain what I mean.

A mycorrhizal fungi and a poplar tree pair together in mutually beneficial relationships (Note that an organism with 8 beneficial relationships is better off than another with only 3).

In the picture above, we have a fungi and a poplar tree… both of them are quite different but are connected; the fungi is mycorrhizal, meaning that it lives on and in the roots of the poplar tree, seeking out and finding minerals and water that it delivers to the tree in exchange for photosynthesized sugars. This relationship is mutually beneficial and, as a result, these two very different organisms are better off than they would be if they were alone; in fact, you could argue that it’s because of their differences that their partnership works so well. In this way, we can start talking about resiliency as the direct result of connections; when looking at systems we can conclude that the more connected something is, the more resilient it becomes. As social ecologist Peter Drucker wrote, coming together results in the “alignment of strengths, making [our] weaknesses irrelevant”. We can imagine how resiliency is further compounded by the addition of a third, fourth, and firth element; even more so, if these elements are diverse. Diversity creates more opportunity for connections and hence resiliency, for this reason, it is important to protect.

Above: A muir web is a map of an ecosystem’s relationships (From Mannahatta). Above Left: A map of a social network

What takes care of an ecosystem? Nothing… or more accurately, no one thing! Ecosystems are so interconnected and so rich in diversity that they are intrinsically resilient; they are self-assembling and in near constant dynamic equilibrium. As a result, they act as nets that capture and store energy, carbon, water, and nutrients. Imagine a drop of rain landing in an ecosystem; because of the number of connections and the amount of diversity, this one drop of water may take hundreds of years to leave and through its journey, benefits dozens or even hundreds of living organisms. The capacity for prolonging the journey allows for even more connections which, in turn, allow for even more capture and storage. In his book Seeing Nature, Paul Krafel refers to this as nature’s “upward spiral”. Permaculture shows us that we can, and should only, work with the upward spiral of nature; this looks beyond sustainability and actively seeks to increase ecological resiliency.

A Social Net?

People, in addition to being an integral part of ecological networks, are social beings and, and as such, belong to social networks. (It’s important to note that social networks aren’t only online; though, social media (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc) are tools for virtual extending traditional social networks). Because both ecology and social networks are systems we’re able to make some correlations between them; both consist of relationships and connections and thus follow similar patterns and principals. As an example, we can start thinking of a resilient person as someone who has many social supports (family member, friends, interests and hobbies, numerous skills ect.), resilient communities as diverse (bringing many people, groups, and organizations together), and resilient cities, as Richard Register writes in his book Ecocities, a place for “maximizing connections”. Social networks offer the exchange of thoughts, ideas, questions, answers, and the occasional flu virus. Not unlike the drop of water in an ecosystem, an idea flowing though a social network has the ability to cycle for hundreds of years and, in doing so, builds connections, links to other ideas, and becomes resilient. Applying permaculture principals to social systems would then say that we can, and should only, work to increase social connections and the capacity for social resiliency.

School As Ecosystem

As the ‘Social Permaculturalist’ at Jasper Place High School, it is clearly my job to pursue both ecological and social resilience; to date, much of this blog has been about the former. In the coming year, I hope to document my experience working to build, maintain and map the social network of a large educational institution. What is a resilient school? What do resilient staff members and students look like? How closely can we link what’s happening within our hallways to the outside community? In the coming month, I hope to answer these questions.