Most of us think food chains and food webs as ecology. Deep Ecology goes beyond that. It includes us. We are part of food chains and webs. Everything impacts other-than-human life as well as all forms of life.  It’s awareness. We are in the Earth, as well as on the Earth. We see ourselves as part of all the biological and physical cycles on the Planet.

A walk on a beach thinking about where you are as well as who we are transforms our relationship with the Universe. We are in the presence of the horizon, water, sky, clouds, footprints, dune, beach, and sand. We are capable of knowing where all this came from. As we watch gulls, feel a cool breeze and keep in mind all of us are subjects related, relevant, and intelligent. W are part of the sun, our shadow, shells, and seaweed, all relatives. This is Deep Ecology. It is seeing ourselves as a part not apart.

Recently, I stopped to admire flower clusters on and elderberry bush.  Tiny 1/8 inch flower, with five white petals, five anthers, and one pistol. Each cluster has about a hundred of these tiny flowers. Each will become a purplish-black fruit, used for jelly, wine, and pies. I remained still and saw tiny native bees flying fast and in angular patterns, landing, and pollinating. Many species of birds will descend upon these fruits and gobble them. Catbirds, robins, and a dozen other birds. Elderberry is part of the flow of energy known as a food chain. First people used elderberry stems to make blow pipes to invigorate their fires. Come fall, the eaves return to the ground and decompose, nourishing the bush for the following season.

Deep ecology is going deep to admire, be in awe, and connected to the whole of nature. Species has it’s own, unique biological and physical connection. Deep Ecologists try to design their living with the natural world in mind. They are aware of the consequences of the impacts humans have on the rest of nature and themselves.

To know something is to love it. To love it is to protect it. To protect it is to be involved in the web of all life on Planet Earth