Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America最新文献

A review of Machlis, Gary E. Sustainability for the forgotten. 2024. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.

In this brief and highly readable book, Sociologist Gary Machlis grounds his understanding of sustainability in the 1987 United Nations Brundtland Report's articulation of a radical sustainability philosophy, one that demands the reordering of power and redistribution of resources around the globe. As Machlis makes clear, that radical philosophy is not guiding sustainability investments in the world today.

The book's introduction, “Freedom to Starve,” takes its name from the published diaries of Paul Gallet, a French priest whose experiences in Brazil in the 1960s had him pondering how it could be that such large populations of the poor could be so terribly forgotten. For Machlis, Gallet's work, and the broader religious movement called liberation theology, inspired the question that drives this work: “What of sustainability for the forgotten?” (p. 2) Machlis argues that sustainability policies have underplayed social justice. The goal of the book is to reframe sustainability, reset its aims and tactics.

Machlis begins by reasserting the Brundtland Report's emphasis on the needs of others, both future generations and the world's poor. He describes Brundtland as a response to the earlier Limits to Growth (1974) focus on natural resource exhaustion and population stresses. Brundtland's authors, on the contrary, integrated liberation theology ideals developed in Latin America in the 1960s. However, most sustainability policies, activism, and discourse since Brundtland have focused on future generations rather than current disempowered populations, a point Machlis drives home with a short description of the massive literature on sustainability, a description that emphasizes the flexibility of the concept. Much of the discourse leaves aside the “forgotten.” Machlis gives examples of authors who have intentionally left out the Brundtland Report's emphasis on the poor, a truncation that “reflects the strategic exclusion of the core moral concerns of the Brundtland Commission.” (p. 20).

Machlis is surely right that accounting for the poor and suffering will require new strategies and tactics among sustainability practitioners. The book makes this case clearly enough, but unfortunately, readers will find little guidance about how remembering the poor will change policy. The book remains largely focused on righteous philosophy rather than messy politics. Indeed, Machlis is not concerned with explaining why so many government officials and environmental activists removed the needs of the poor from primary consideration in the pursuit of sustainability to begin with.

Part I of the book offers a brief tour of global poverty, oppression, and injustice, spanning centuries and the globe. Machlis establishes a m

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President Naeem presiding; meeting called to order at 10:00 AM EST

A. Adopt Agenda

Motion: Motion to adopt meeting agenda. Motion moved by Sharon Collinge and motion seconded by Stephanie Hampton. All aye.

B. Acknowledge approval of November 2023 Governing Board Meeting Minutes

The Governing Board voted by email (all aye) on January 25, 2024, to approve the minutes from the November 2023 meeting.

A. Report of the President (Naeem)

Naeem reported on the letter sent to the NSF on the sunsetting of the Macrosystems Grant Program and the (formerly) CNH program. There have also been conversations about the closing of the Duke Herbarium, and with the ESA Council.

B. Report of the Executive Director and Staff (O'Riordan)

C. Report of February Council Meeting (Graves)

The most recent meeting of the Council was an effort to provide feedback on the strategic plan, with the council dividing into discussion groups to address individual parts. The major feedback was that there was support for webinars and other types of activities and early career scholars, stimulating connection and collaboration (including meetings with other societies), and discussion of revenue including the types of activities in which ESA can engage, including certifications. Finally, two new sections were approved: “Climate Adaptation” and “Coastal and Marine Ecology” and guidelines are being finalized for formalizing and standardizing section governance (e.g., term limits, officers, standards for continuity of governance, mandatory review of section purpose, and goals to allow for changes), and minimum activity guidelines to ensure a positive member experience, and procedures and standard for classifying sections as dormant or dissolved.

There are now 34 sections and 6 chapters.

A. Review and Adopt 2024–2027 Strategic Plan (Hampton)

The Working Group has been supported by consultant Elisa Pratt on the Strategic Planning process and has summarized the feedback from different groups and stakeholders to prepare a new strategic plan with three major priority areas. The proposal here is to develop and approve the strategic plan with high-level goals, then develop a plan for implementation that includes both methods and metrics to evaluation.

Motion: Motion to adopt 2024–2027 Strategic Plan. Motion moved by Carmen Cid and motion seconded by Sharon Collinge. All aye.

B. Consider Audit Committee Report (Bruna, Lennon, and Ramirez)

Bruna summarized the Auditor's Report and the Committee's recommendation to approve it. The GB expressed their gratitude to CFO Biggs and discussed the report and its recommendation.

Motion: Motion to approve the 2023 audit as recommended by the Audit Committee. Motion moved by Jeannine Cavender-Bares and motion second

In 2022, Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer (Potawatomi; State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry) was named a MacArthur Foundation Fellow for her work on Indigenous knowledge, ecology, and environmental stewardship. Her work is widely read and widely cited; the concept of “braiding” Indigenous and Western knowledge systems has led to the increasing validity and visibility of Indigenous worldviews and viewpoints in science and knowledge production. In this essay, we, two Indigenous scholars working in “Western” universities, speak on the ways in which Robin and her work has inspired us in our work, and share a bit on our hopes for future generations of Indigenous scholars.

I never believed I would see an Indigenous scholar win the MacArthur “Genius Grant.” Most certainly, not in this lifetime. It was not because there was a lack of deserving candidates; it is because I did not see Indigenous knowledges and perspectives valued in the academy.

I am an enrolled member of the Coeur d'Alene Tribe and grew up with a strong affinity for science. There was a time when I thought I would pursue a career in medicine. So, I gained ecological research experience at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, while majoring in Zoology and Environmental Studies, in order to diversify my application to medical school. I then sought summer internships and came across several research experience for undergraduates (REU) programs. I applied for/to many internships for the summer of 2000 and received two offers from vastly different REU programs. I chose the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL) summer REU program near Crested Butte, Colorado, USA. This experience had such a profound impact on my life that it changed the trajectory of my career. Instead of medicine, I knew I needed to research the impacts of climate change on ecosystem health and biodiversity. I also knew my research needed to focus on plants.

This awakening occurred 13 years prior to the publication of Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer's “Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teaching of Plants.” I often wonder how this transformative writing would have changed my perspectives on ecology. I knew about the Three Sisters (corn, squash, and beans) crops that are culturally significant for many Indigenous communities. But, my relationships with these crops did not include thinking about the stages of germination or how three human sisters could be an analogy to ecological concepts as eloquently described in Kimmerer's writing. The chapter, People of Corn, People of Light, Kimmerer asks “What if Western scientists saw plants as their teachers rather than their subjects? What if they told stories with that lens?” Surely, if I was well acquainted with these kinds of questions early in my education, they would have guided my work.

When I finished my REU experience at RMBL in 2000 I had the opportunity to attend the Ecologic

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Dear colleague,You have been on my mind. I worry that this relentlessly distracting world is impeding your journey toward becoming the productive ecologist you aim to be. The deep work that is needed to advance ecology requires time for reflection and reflection requires a mind that is clear, open, and eager. How do we make the most of each precious hour when time management is a zero-sum game? I still struggle to swat away the interruptions that define this age of acceleration, but after 20 years of navigating this rapidly shifting terrain, I have some words of advice. Spend your energy on three elements of ecology: natural history, quantitative reasoning, and communication.

Natural history is the core of ecological enquiry. Observing other species and recreating in their natural habitat is an important pastime for any human being who seeks to live an examined life and understand their place on this planet, but some of us love natural history so much that we have turned this pastime into a vocation. Observing the natural world is not just a perk of the job, it should be engraved in every ecologist's job description. Not everyone has deep connections to the rocks, soils, streams, and mountains in which moss, springtails, birds, and trees reside, but everyone should take time each day to witness something wild. Explore city parks, float meandering rivers, traverse mountain passes, and sit at the feet of ancient trees. Learning the names and behaviors of other species and playing in natural spaces grounds us, makes us grateful for what is freely provided to us, and humbles us as we struggle to learn how the world ticks at a time of unsettling change. What a rare gift that the very subject of study can also provide sanctuary in which to find strength, for “the land knows you, even when you are lost” (Kimmerer 2013). It is no coincidence that some of the most inspiring artists and scientists chose to wander on long walks to find their voice, so join the ranks of Austen, Brahms, Curie, and Darwin and take the natural world in strides. This simple practice will give you the mental capacity to engage in the other two elements of ecology.

Quantitative reasoning is our sharpest tool to “examine all things intensely and relentlessly” (Dillard 1989) while remaining intellectually honest. The marriage of mathematics and natural history gave birth to modern ecology because our ideas about the natural world must survive scrutiny when confronted with data. Healthy skepticism can guard against the fatal flaw of fooling yourself. Students who dread mathematics should not be deterred from ecology because a sense of curiosity is ultimately more important than mathematical aptitude (Wilson 2013). I barely passed calculus and my first research papers were unrepentant natural histories with little use for statistics, but I recognized my deficiency and reenrolled in calculus and linear algebra after defending my PhD

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