Fox on relationships between organisms and their external conditions

"A note on terminology is warranted at this point....First, the term environment refers to the external conditions or surroundings of organisms, whereas ecology refers to the relationships between organisms and their external conditions or surroundings, that is, their environment.

The prefix eco- (for ecology) is therefore more appropriate for my purposes than the adjective environmental because the kind of approach I will bedeveloping herein is one that attempts to break down the rigid distinctions that we tend to draw between ourselves and the environment.... this approach attempts to foster a greater awareness of the intimate and manifold relationships that exist between what we conventionally designate as self and what we conventionally designate as environment.

It attempts,... to foster the development of an ecological rather than environmental consciousness."

(8)

The photograph of these thatchers from the Netherlands reveals the use of marsh land grasses to cover the roof of the building to protect inhabitants from the external conditions of wind, rain, sun and snow. Such dwellings reinforce our notions that the inside and the outside are different conditions of existence. Instead they may be two sides of the same coin. That coin by analogy is the ecological milieu. The milieu is more than surroundings. It is the entire table of ingredients within , around and through us that ties life to its surroundings and binds all living things together.

Consider what is worth preserving.

§§§

Questions to answer from the readings:

What does the author think is the main difference between environment and ecology?
Why is it, in his opinion, important to make this distinction?
What examples can you give from the readings where such a distinction was made?
What examples can you give from the readings where such a distinction was not made?

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