Civilization ecology
Civilization ecology is the interdisciplinary science of environmental protection . In English-speaking countries, the terms roughly correspond to "ecology of civilization" and "social ecology".
history
After the first report on The Limits of Growth (1972) by the Club of Rome , political books were published in Germany such as “A Planet is Plundered” by Herbert Gruhl and “Life and Survival / Introduction to the Ecology of Civilization” by Harald Stumpf - the latter with partly scientific ones Claim. Approaches to civilization ecology were then mainly used in the geosciences and life sciences, e.g. B. by Hartmut Leser and D. Panzer at the University of Basel and at the Tübingen University Institute for Plant Physiology, among others by Helmut Metzner .
In the first work, the negative starting point of the ecology of civilization came to light very clearly: the environmental pollution on the one hand and the finite nature of available nature in the form of raw materials , cheap energy and free space. The environmental movement that arose in Germany since the 1970s, initially in the form of local citizens' initiatives , was increasingly organized in environmental associations that were also active at regional level and made a major contribution to raising public awareness of environmental protection. Private research institutes such as the Öko-Institut e. V. founded. Other publicly funded research institutions set up such as B. the Wuppertal Institute GmbH followed.
The 1980 report to the US President entitled "Global 2000" confirmed many of the fears on a global scale. The sometimes vehement public debates made the scientific debate more difficult. With the increasingly differentiated knowledge of environmental pollution, its causes and corresponding avoidance strategies, civilization ecology with its targeted contributions to environmental planning has developed into a multitude of applied branches of science. According to its subject, it is today the cross-sectional science of environmental protection.
Environmental technology was and is often in the foreground as an aid that can be used in the market economy, although it has been found in the last two decades of the 20th century that the mere use of environmental technology mainly shifted problems (e.g. from flue gas filters to the greenhouse effect , from car catalytic converters to the traffic dilemma , from waste incineration to global resource depletion ). The problems that this system has with its natural environment cannot be solved with the element of technology alone, which is only inherent in the civilization system. Rather, ethically justified corrections must be made to the basic civilization attitude of modern societies, as proposed by Hans Jonas or Klaus Michael Meyer-Abich .
Challenges of the present
The natural potentials, which are often forgotten, can be far more powerful than technical potentials, especially since the latter are all completely dependent on natural potentials. Essential for reducing environmental pollution are the natural regeneration potentials of ecosystems as virtually free compensation payments for environmental pollution. However, the so-called sinks are not unlimited either. And the reduction (e.g. the concentration of a greenhouse gas) is not without effects, which in turn are reflected in the economic system as costs. In direct observation, this multifunctionality of nature does not appear recognizable. Ie in the ecotopes raw material potentials, z. Sometimes information potentials (e.g. in genetics) can also be recognized. However, recognizing (and recognizing the significance) of the regeneration potential usually requires recourse to the overall functional context in the civilization ecosystem model:
An environmentally friendly form of civilization makes use of the existing natural potential according to the "Jiu-Jitsu principle" (Vester, 1980) instead of wanting to replace it with technical crutches. The long-term goal is to avoid environmental pollution and to get by without fossil fuels and without the mass exploitation of mineral raw materials. Suitable transition technologies, the expansion of civil society and the practice of behavioral changes are currently necessary for the transition . On the one hand, it can be seen that environmental damage that has already occurred has and will continue to have negative effects (e.g. CFCs in the atmosphere, climate changes, species decline), on the other hand, there are necessities and opportunities for positive sustainable development on ' Spaceship Earth ' and explore the time horizons for action and transition technologies. Changes in awareness and behavior, higher technology efficiency and process optimization, increased prosperity while at the same time minimizing the flow of materials are just a few of the challenges ahead - especially for environmental policy advice, the environmental market and pragmatic environmental advice for consumers . The previous United 's consumption behavior to a Ge consumption behavior to further develop the individual as seen in the in the user position within a service system and deliberately behave. The knowledge required for this is made available through research in the field of civilization.
Methodology and delimitation
Methodically civilization ecology takes social and cultural sciences , natural sciences and humanities theoretical foundations on to regarding the protection of civilization changes and to make further changing environment scientific contributions civilized human with the aim of optimizing existence on earth.
In addition to the predominantly scientific disciplines of geoecology and bioecology , in which natural subsystems are examined, civilization ecology, as the third specialized sub-discipline of ecology, is based on the actions of people and the technically-related potential for change and includes the associated environmental pollution in its investigations. The methodological focus is on specifically ecological methods with a network character , in particular the systematic recording of functional relationships or processes in organizational charts. This is based on a comprehensive basic model of the global ecosystem of civilization.
In contrast to human ecology , which has a predominantly human medical and thus system-immanent perspective, in civilization ecology cybernetic models are formed from an external perspective in order to grasp the complexity of interrelationships. Reductions to abstract "human-environment relationships" as v. a. are often found in human ecology in English-speaking countries are not sufficient for this purpose.
Civilization ecology as applied science
On the basis of established environmental pollution and conflict constellations, the applied civilization ecology proceeds almost therapeutically. Your concern is to find solutions to environmental problems . This requires a polycausal methodology to find the causal connections via the suggestion of ethically justifiable solutions and politically feasible procedures up to pragmatic enforcement strategies for the economic avoidance or reduction of environmental pollution.
The agricultural ecology is defined as the study of the energetic material and informational interactions between agriculture (agriculture, livestock, crops, food logistics, food industry), the other animals of agricultural landscape and the compartments of the Geosystems a branch of civilization ecology. Further sub-disciplines are settlement ecology , landscape ecology and urban ecology . They deal with the interactions between human dwellings, settlements, businesses and plants or industrial conurbations and their environment.
literature
- GH Schwabe: High civilization from an ecological point of view (attempt at criticism from outside). From the Hydrobiological Institute of the Max Planck Society. Plön, September 1958.
- H. Stumpf: Life and Survival. Introduction to civilization ecology. Seewald 1977, ISBN 3-512-00456-3
- Ch. Hannß: Civilization Ecology. Script for the lecture at the Geographical Institute of the University of Tübingen, 1986.
- L. Bölkow, S. Hartmann: Ecology and its biological foundations: civilization ecology I-IV. Ed .: European Academy for Environmental Issues, Tübingen, 1985 ff.
- H. Readers, B. Streit, H.-D. Haas: Diercke dictionary of ecology and environment. Stuttgart, DTV Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, 1993, ISBN 3-423-03419-X
- D. Meadows et al. (1972): The Limits to Growth. Stuttgart.
- D. Meadows, D. Meadows: The New Frontiers to Growth. Stuttgart, 1992.
- T. Schäfer: Basic building block ecology. VHS Tübingen, 2001.
- Global 2000 Report to the President of the United States, 1980.
- F. Vester: New territory of thinking. From the technocratic to the cybernetic age. Stuttgart, DVA, 1980. (12th edition, dtv, Munich, 2002, ISBN 3-423-33001-5 )
- R. Schneider-Sliwa, D. Schaub, G. Gerold (Eds.): Applied Landscape Ecology: Basics and Methods (= Festschrift for Professor Dr. Hartmut Leser on his 60th birthday) with an introduction by Klaus Töpfer. Berlin et al., Springer, 1999, ISBN 3-540-65938-2
- W. Günzl: Political ethics and knowledge of nature. Cuvillier 2006. ISBN 3-86537-980-X
Individual evidence
- ↑ Harald Stumpf: Life and Survival. Introduction to civilization ecology. Seewald-Verlag, Stuttgart, 1976 ISBN 3-5120045-6-3 on the publisher cf. Heinrich Seewald .
Web links
- Heiner Mühlmann : " The Ecology of Cultures ( Memento from May 29, 2008 in the Internet Archive )".