Ecological Sociology

James Hansen, M. Sato and R. Ruedy (2011) Climate ...

2012-05-03T12:52:02.041-03:00

James Hansen, M. Sato and R. Ruedy (2011)
Climate Variability and Climate Change: The New Climate Dice
http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/mailings/2011/20111110_NewClimateDice.pdf

Sure, there is a limit. But humans are way better ...

2012-05-02T16:02:02.645-03:00

Sure, there is a limit. But humans are way better at bonding with larger numbers than any other primate. Indeed Robin Dunbar's social brain hypothesis marshals a variety of interesting data suggesting that language evolved as a mechanism to facilitate bonding among larger groups. Other social primates bond by touch -- picking nits out of each others hair, etc. -- which limits the group size because they have to spend time with each individual in the group one at a time. Language, Dunbar notes, allows humans to bond with multiple individuals at the same time and, hence, facilitates a larger group.

That said, the 150 limit on close relations corresponds well with evidence about the size of those early hominid groups.

Thanks for this post Shaun. Our new documentary b...

2012-04-29T15:46:37.538-03:00

Thanks for this post Shaun. Our new documentary begins where The END of SUBURBIA (2004) left off, with the question of suburban collapse looming. I agree with your "death by sprawl" analysis - What we're finding in Canada is the challenge in connecting our densifying suburbs (Toronto, Vancouver) as they grow into successful urban centres themselves. Similiar urbanism needs urgently to be adapted more in U.S. suburbs. It's one way we can start bringing people's ecological footprints down too. Our new doc DeepCITY will ask the question (and set our thesis) "what if cities could save the world?" . I will be subscribing to this blog, keep up the great work!
-Greg Greene

E.O. Wilson's thesis on the difference between...

2012-04-29T14:34:26.533-03:00

E.O. Wilson's thesis on the difference between individual and group selection is going to be a key theory for my next series of studies: Queers and Nature. After my dissertation is finished.

To preserve intimacy when you have 50 members in y...

2012-04-26T03:35:31.980-03:00

To preserve intimacy when you have 50 members in your organization can be really difficult. This problem arises in every scientific community or company. Recently I have read interesting research that said that any person can maintain close personal relations with no more than 150 people. Our brain is simply not capable to remember more.

The combination of physics and philosophy always b...

2012-04-26T03:22:29.623-03:00

The combination of physics and philosophy always brings remarkable results. I especially like its ability to find clear models in complex situations. If it is merged with sociology it becomes no less interesting. Although each individual is unique (this is at least what we like to think), it is possible to find clear patterns in society. I believe that if physics was used more often we would be able to create better theories and more realistic models.

The idea of "transformability" is what I...

2012-04-23T21:29:02.983-03:00

The idea of "transformability" is what I'm trying to incorporate into my dissertation. A society has to be willing to risk transformation--and there also have to be the conditions that make it possible. Sometimes 'resilience' is a 'good enough' goal; absorbing shocks to the system while maintaining essentially the same characteristics and functioning. But in some cases, especially in the case of a 'rigidity trap,' the system is too good at keeping it all together, until it collapses catastrophically. Social groups have to be willing to risk collapse and transformation to another state. I hope we talk some more about this tomorrow, Gary.

So we can also think of information/energy as acti...

2012-04-20T12:32:02.793-03:00

So we can also think of information/energy as active or potential energy, or stored energy. For example, the Federal Budget is thousands of pages of stored information/energy/power that will have active power when pieces of it are activated, that is when the Prime Minister issues a policy or Parliament passes a law that stored information/energy into an active form. Corporations and other large, complex organizations are nexuses of stored/potential and active information/energy/power, tightly woven into the fabric of its material systems. Information/energy/material systems are tightly integrated, and at the level of smaller particles, are inseparable.

Of course, the 'meaning' of any phenomena ...

2012-04-20T10:42:33.351-03:00

Of course, the 'meaning' of any phenomena in the universe is always 'meaning' from the point of view of the observer. Thus, meaning always involves 'reading' or symbolic interpretation or communication.

We can think of the various subsystems in Luhmann's schema as having a measurable "quanta" (amount) of information. Thus is also has a measurable quanta of energy and power. Subsystems differ in the amount of information/energy/power they contain. Power is the ability to have an effect on another object or system. Some kinds of information/energy have more power (effect) than others, and it varies over time, historically.

'Meaning' is particularly fascinating as a...

2012-04-20T09:39:29.260-03:00

'Meaning' is particularly fascinating as a concept in physics, as much as in sociology. The quantum physicist David Bohm linked together energy + matter + meaning. From the point of view of physics, the universe is essentially meaningful. I don't pretend to fully understand Bohm's theories. But since I started studying Luhmann--and physics--I have been struggling to understand the link between energy and information. We know from Einstein that E = mc2, that is, energy and matter are the same thing. Bohm says that energy/matter is information. Another physicist said that energy/matter is arranged in particular patterns--those patterns are information. Matter is energy in a certain formation. Matter/Energy is in formation. Energy = Information. We know from entaglement theory that particles "know" about each other; they communicate (somehow) across the vast expanse of the universe, at unimaginable speeds. Bohm said that energy/information takes shape (matter/information) in the most etherial forms, and evolves into denser, heavier, more solid masses. Luhmann said that society begins in a quite chaotic (by chance) etherial form as communication/meaning. Communications are then 'reduced to actions', physical actions requiring energy, and actions are executed on the material world, and thus the whole material structure of civilization comes into reality as solid mass. Furthermore, systems are always systems of energy, governed by entropy, the second law of thermodynamics. If there is information in Luhmann's social system, then there is also matter/energy. They cannot be separated.

The reason why I struggle to understand the link between energy and information is because I want to re-enter a quality into the analysis that Luhmann seems to have left out: power. Energy is power, and there are different sources and levels of power in a system. Human systems, in particular, are shaped by power relations and here I am invoking Foucault and other conflict theorists.

There is no end state. We are not going anywhere. ...

2012-04-20T09:12:50.264-03:00

There is no end state. We are not going anywhere. There is no place that we are arriving at. There is no Judeo-Christian-Marxist-Thoreauvian heaven or 'worker's paradise' or 'sustainable society'. We are in a process of constant and continuous evolution. Everything we experience, everything we do is part of the path of evolution. Sometimes evolution ends up badly for many species, including, possibly, homo sapiens. Conjecturing about the past and future are only important for understanding where we are in the present. And the present is a state of continuous adaptation and evolution, towards no particular end state, but the continuation of life in the present.

I like the way her presents Permaculture as a mode...

2012-04-18T23:37:05.410-03:00

I like the way her presents Permaculture as a mode of continuous adaptation. At this point, the term "permaculture" is almost a misnomer, implying that we can arrive at some permanent "steady state" that will enable us to survive declining conditions. The word "sustainability" has the same effect. "Resilience" almost has the same connotation, implying that we can assume a posture toward change that will enable us to survive anything and "continue normal functioning." In fact, we will have to be in a mode of continuous adaptation to cycles of decline, some gradual, some crisis-driven. Daily lives will focus on maintaining "necessities", as a lifestyle demanding more than that becomes unaffordable or unobtainable.

Very good video. It is always a risk to start watc...

2012-04-18T08:24:22.120-03:00

Very good video. It is always a risk to start watching lectures like this, because at the end it can be either very well spent time or badly spent time. But this is really worth watching. I especially find the concept of re-localization very interesting.

Fracking is a serious problem.If we do not address...

2012-04-12T11:25:31.876-03:00

Fracking is a serious problem.If we do not address it niw there won't be a future for anyone.what will it take to convince people that we need to make and be the change.It seems that global warming didn't do that.

An emerging consensus is that this current period ...

2012-04-08T11:10:01.007-03:00

An emerging consensus is that this current period of global warming began with the Industrial Revolution in the late 1600s. Some scientists say the Anthropocene started when Homo Sapiens began agriculture and thus exponentially increased its population and land use over the entire planet. If I remember correctly they said the Halocene climate period began with the introduction of human agriculture. I used to think that humans began impacting the climate when we started using tools and hunting--Homo Habilis. But I read recently that they now have evidence that Homo Erectus used fire, over one million years ago.

My emerging notion is that we humans have been impacting the earth's climate ever since we got here. I think instead of saying that we have to engineer the reduction of carbon emissions in order to slow down climate change (which is all we can do at this point), we need to understand that we have a direct and dynamic relationship with the climate of this planet. Everything we do affects the climate, air, land, water. We have to begin to respect this relationship. We have to realize that our very survival depends on tuning in keenly to our relationship with the climate, and altering our ways of life to create a climate that is beneficial to us and to all the species that live with us. This is a profoundly different way of understanding the Nature/Human relationship.

We are Nature. But we are Nature that is aware and intelligent and we have to use our awareness to create a climate that is supportive of the future survival of our species. We need to begin not with engineering, but with a finely-tuned sense of our relationship with the planet. We need to do AS LITTLE AS IS NECESSARY to create this climate, by tuning in, rather than by 'engineering out.'

Thus to assert that the current pattern of climate change is "not induced by human activity" is to deny the last one million years of the dynamic relationship between humans and the climate. We have been impacting the climate ever since we emerged as a human species. We need to respect this relationship, and apply our keen intelligence and awareness to creating a mutually beneficial climate.

2012-04-08T11:01:15.724-03:00

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Nice and informative post. I like the visualizatio...

2012-04-05T17:07:02.762-03:00

Nice and informative post. I like the visualizations and explanations that are around it. Not simplistic but in the same time easy to understand. The weakest part of all are probably the estimates. These projections are based on different models and I am afraid that we still do not have enough data to make reliable models. On the other hand I do not think that this should be any reason for discontinuing present ecological efforts. In the end of the day, every inch and feet of increase can be lethal for somebody.

Wow, nice post, there are many person searching ab...

2012-03-24T18:51:54.364-03:00

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what is scientific notation
Scientific Notation include in the mathematics course. In the world of science some time we deal with numbers which are very small and those which are very large. In some branches of science large numbers while in others very small numbers are used.

2012-02-23T06:30:05.505-04:00

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I love these stolen doc's. They show that clim...

2012-02-19T15:59:01.464-04:00

I love these stolen doc's. They show that climate denialism actually is rather poorly funded. Where are all of the billions of big oil sourced climate denial dollars anyway? Lol!

It's been 5 days since they were leaked and the so-called scandal has garnered no traction with the MSM or the public, even the blogosphere has already forgotten about it. This a non-starter.

I would not be surprised if Desmogblog issues an apology before the end of the month.

I love these stolen doc's.

Climate (heat) has always stepped up with increase...

2012-02-05T09:57:24.863-04:00

Climate (heat) has always stepped up with increase in mass of Atmosphere, just as the record from the last ice age shows us.

I had an Idea for an economic system where, idealy...

2011-12-31T02:53:28.099-04:00

I had an Idea for an economic system where, idealy, the most important Jobs in the countrie would recieve the most finacal backing. All the countries wealth would be collected then redistributed, where to the most important sectors would recive the most money. The most Important sectors would be decided by popular vote on an anual basis. Then perhaps each sector would have a commite to decide how to spread the money to each instatution,the institotions would present a case for funds and the commite would decided how to divy up the funds. The comitte would be voted in. The diving of funds and determining of the commite would also be done annually. I call it Importantism. Some examples of sectors are Educational, Agricultural, entertianment, arts, science and technology, military, transportation. You could even include sectors for dealing with global issues such as global warming and famine.

If the economy can't be predicted, why then do...

2011-12-22T14:36:43.195-04:00

If the economy can't be predicted, why then do governments keep trying?

Economy and a tossing coin can never be predicted....

2011-12-17T11:32:48.892-04:00

Economy and a tossing coin can never be predicted...