The Biomonitoring Initiative of the Center for the Study of Nature and Society is based on the unifying principles of nature outlined by Alexander von Humbolt.
Alexander von Humbolt - Painting by Joseph Steiler (© Stiftung Preußische Schlösser und Gärten Berlin-Brandenburg, Potsdam)
http://www.humboldt-portal.de/cd/Portraes_AvH/AvH02.jpg
Unfortunately, Citizens of Northeast Ohio are fundamentally removed from the environment that supports them. Our food comes in supermarkets from sources around the world. Fresh produce is selected for qualities related to shipping rather than for qualities related to other human needs associated with the environment. We strongarm our way into environments that are hostile to us by using prodigious amounts of easily accessible energy. Citizens see preserving the environment more in terms of preserving natural areas than in terms of understanding the environment that surrounds them personally everyday. We fail to see how our own actions are connected to the quality of water downstream because we fail to realize the implication of our own decisions about how we affect our own local environments.
Dennis J. Taylor
taylordj at hiram.edu
last updated 1 June 2009
Banner Photo: David R. Anderson