Reflections on Humans and Nature « Center for Humans and Nature

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Reflections on Humans and Nature

November 15th, 2009

When I first heard of the Center for Humans and Nature, I wondered about the name “Humans and Nature.” My first thought was, is this an organization that works on both pressing social justice and conservation issues? I remember thinking: That sounds like a lot to take on….

Moreover, as an ecosystem ecologist, my interest lies in the multifaceted feedback loops that circulate between and among human actions and ecosystem function. Therefore, the name “Humans and Nature” seemed paradoxical, suggesting the possibility of two distinct categories (like apples and oranges) while, to my mind, humans and nature are not separate. I raised my questions with the Center’s founder, philosopher and visionary, Strachan Donnelley. His response was classic Strachan, the philosopher, “It makes you think, doesn’t it?”

The irony of the paradoxical “and” between “Humans and Nature” is that it reflects one of the Center’s central goals. The Center works to explore worldviews that reflect the integrated, interdependent, complex, intimate relationships between and among humans and nature and to identify human pathways that make sense within that context. Thus, we are working toward a state of the world where the “and” does not represent a state of separation, but instead connotes relationship.

To that end, our programs seek to define and communicate renewed frameworks for humans and nature relationships that recognize ecological realities and the implications of evolutionary science. We do this work at multiple scales. At the local and regional levels, the Center seeks to build “cultures of conservation,” woven of biological and cultural diversity, human and ecosystem health, and resilient human and natural communities. We also seek to explore and promote new and renewed frameworks of ethical responsibility and ecological citizenship that cross local, regional, national, and global scales.

In this way, the Center does take on both pressing social justice and conservation issues. And it is a lot to take on…. But, as Strachan Donnelley wrote, “Is there really any other moral and civic alternative?”

—Brooke Hecht, Ph.D.
President, Center for Humans and Nature