WEAL is an acronym for the features in a landscape characterized by water, energy, air and land that sustain wildlife or settlement.
Weal is the Middle English word for forest; the Weald was a forested portion of the English downs south of London. As this half-timbered house suggests forests were essential for construction, tools, fuel and aesthetic adornment.
WEAL as an acronym derives
its meaning, in part, from the letters:
• W stands for water,
• E stands for energy,
• A stands for atmosphere or air, and
• L stands for the landscape.
WEAL
is meaningful also because it is derived from the same root as our word wealth and in the Middle
Ages it was used as a reference to forested 
landscapes. The forests were sources
of wealth for commercially successful Englishmen before the coming of the industrial revolution in the 18th century.
The home or homestead is the English equivalent of the Greek word OIKOS, for household from which we drive the word ecology.
Woodlands such as these in the weald were literally sources of common and personal wealth because the forests provided water for all communities and the timber which individuals could use to shelter themselves, use for fuel to cook and warm their dwellings, and make artifacts, furnishings, utensils, and medicines. Forests were a renewable feature of the landscape that sustained civilization.
A lake in the weald countryside.
Forests and water are a necessary partnership; you can't have one without the other.
An example of weal as applied to the Columbia River.
Pictorial representation of Weal
|
|
|
