Environments of ecology holism reductionism climax community Organicism teleology deep ecology Gaia theory positive versus negative biotic interactions pristine myth

Films often portray organisms and ecological interactions in Earth’s environment or on those of other planets. In this unit, we examine how environmental scholars conceptualize how ecology happens – how nature functions and what defines the entities and phenomena in it. We examine the ecology of two planetary environments, those in James Cameron’s Avatar and those from Prometheus, a continuation of the Alien films that began in the 1970’s. The movies portray two contrasting ways in which organisms integrate with each other, with their environments, and with humans. Each film invokes a philosophical and methodological framework through which ecologists come to understand nature and how it works. What framework you take influences how you describe and judge the environmental impacts of humans.

The tension in the film is between the representation of life as deeply connected, and therefore we should be troubled these connections and fabric are frayed and destroyed.

Holism - the philosophical perspective that parts of a whole are in intimate interconnection, such that they cannot exist independently of the whole, which is regarded as greater than the sum of its parts.

Vast network of electrochemical communication – more neurons than the human brain. Pandora is alive.

Reductionism – the philosophical perspective that complex phenomenon can be represented and understood solely from smaller, more fundamental levels

Holism Frederic Clements, an ecological holist (1874-1945) Key terms associated with his ideas about ecological organization equilibrial organismal holistic superorganismal orderly integrated

Clement’s view on ecological organization and change was holistic Clement’s view on ecological organization and change was holistic. The members of an ecological community would interact and coordinate with each other to move in the direction of a final, mature, self-replicating end state Climax community

The climax ecological community

Home Tree

Reductionism Henry Allen Gleason, an ecological reductionist (1882-1975) Key terms associated his ideas about ecological organization individualistic reductionist random contingent non-equilibrial disorganized

Organicism Philosophical view that nature and human world evolve toward collective integration. The world and society are organisms evolving toward a common, beneficial good. Organicism' has also been used to characterize notions put forth by various late 19th-century social scientists who considered human society to be analogous to an organism, and individual humans to be analogous to the cells of an organism. Reflected a continuum of ideas, from monism (the only complete object is the whole universe) to forms allowing more independence of parts from the whole

Deep ecology An environmental movement and philosophy that regards human life as just one of many equal components of a global ecosystem. Prioritizes a balance in nature and experiencing ourselves as part of the living earth that we protect and nurture “...all energy is borrowed and then one day you have to give it back”

In this deep ecology view, the loss of nature is a disruption of balance and harmony that cannot be repaired.

Gaia theory Biotic and abiotic components of the Earth have co-evolved as a single living system that greatly affects the chemistry and conditions of Earth's surface. Life on earth generates and maintains the conditions for life on earth – it drives itself without outside control

Teleology The concept that there is an outside guiding force to development of a system The telos of nature has often been associated with religion, characterized by the propensity to see pervasive order and meaning, the clockwork of a god

Teleology John Muir, the founder of the Sierra Club, one of the first environmental organizations, saw nature as a cathedral, holy and timeless, without change, a reflection of religious handiwork, God was telos

Teleology No religious telos for Charles Darwin No external, god-like entity organizing nature Competition in nature contradicted the perfection of holy design Competition, natural selection drives change in nature

Biotic interactions Interactions categorized along a spectrum spanning negative (benefits are to one species of the interaction) to positive interactions (benefits are spread more evenly among the interacting species)

Positive interactions Facilitation and mutualism – organisms provide positive benefits to each other

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Prometheus No balance in nature Reductionist causality: DNA and genes are the essence of life Ecology operates individualistically, with no integration Disorder, no directional development toward a climax Myth of pristine nature is overturned There is telos – the engineers Negative biotic interactions like parasitism, predation predominate, far less mutualism and facilitation than Avatar