Science on deep ecology

I'd look for life on Mars in the composition of its atmosphere, not by crawling around looking for bugs

Sun, 06 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I’d look for life on Mars in the composition of its atmosphere, not by crawling around looking for bugs.

"the major problems in the world.." - Gregory Bateson

Thu, 02 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

“the major problems in the world are the result of the difference between how nature works, and how people think” - Gregory Bateson

quote-we-are-the-universe-becoming-conscious-brian-swimme

Mon, 29 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

“We are the universe becoming conscious of itself” - Brian Swimme

Profile: Brian Swimme

Sun, 28 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Brian Swimme is a mathematical cosmologist and cultural historian who examines the implications of modern cosmology for human meaning and purpose. Trained as a mathematician at the University of Oregon and in gravitational dynamics at the University of California, Swimme shifted from technical research to communicating how scientific understanding of the universe relates to human consciousness and culture.

Swimme collaborated with cultural historian Thomas Berry to write The Universe Story (1992), a synthesis of scientific cosmology and cultural wisdom. The work presents the 13.8-billion-year evolution of the universe as a narrative framework for examining human place within cosmic processes.

Profile: E.O. Wilson

Sun, 28 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Edward Osborne Wilson (1929-2021) was one of the world’s leading biologists whose groundbreaking research on biodiversity, evolution, and human nature profoundly influenced both scientific understanding and environmental consciousness. Through concepts like the “biophilia hypothesis,” Wilson demonstrated how deep evolutionary time shapes contemporary human relationships with the natural world, providing essential foundations for deep ecological thinking.

Wilson’s early career studying ants led to revolutionary insights about social behavior, chemical communication, and evolutionary strategies that transformed understanding of complex ecological relationships. His meticulous fieldwork revealed how intricate networks of relationship and cooperation have evolved over millions of years, challenging simplistic competitive models while demonstrating the profound intelligence embedded in natural systems.

Profile: Francisco Varela

Sun, 28 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Francisco Varela (1946-2001) was a Chilean biologist, philosopher, and cognitive scientist who developed theories of autopoiesis and enactive cognition. His work integrated biological research with contemplative traditions to examine the nature of life and consciousness.

Working with Humberto Maturana, Varela developed the theory of autopoiesis - the process by which living systems continuously create and maintain themselves through recursive interactions with their environments. They proposed that life involves co-creation of organism and world through ongoing structural coupling rather than simple adaptation to pre-existing conditions.

Profile: Gregory Bateson

Sun, 28 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Gregory Bateson (1904-1980) was an anthropologist, biologist, and cyberneticist whose groundbreaking work on systems thinking, learning theory, and the “ecology of mind” provided essential foundations for deep ecological understanding of consciousness and communication. His interdisciplinary approach revealed fundamental patterns connecting psychological, biological, and ecological systems.

Bateson’s early anthropological work led him to recognize that culture, mind, and nature operate according to similar systemic principles. His studies of communication patterns in humans and other animals revealed that information, not energy or matter, is the fundamental organizing principle of living systems - directly paralleling deep ecology’s understanding that all beings participate in networks of relationship and communication.

A temperature rise of more than two degrees C risks altering the Earth system irreversibly.