Ecological Literacy – Got me thinking about what is literacy through the lens of Ecology. I first googled the term ‘Ecology’. I mean we all understand the term but I wanted to see what words exactly are used to define the term. Here’s a screenshot
Ah – ‘the relationship between living organisms and their physical environment’. This phrase got me thinking about what is this relationship that humans have or are supposed to have with nature. Is it a mother-offspring relation or a master-slave relation or are they just good friends – Humans and Nature? Who influences whom? and most importantly how and to what extent?
These flurry of questions made me step out to observe this relation. I Live in a co-housimg set up and thought it would be interesting to observe how people interact with and treat the ecology around them.
I thought it would be interesting to step out and observe how people have modeled their living systems around their immediate ecosystem. I live in a co-op and my immediate ecology is extremely choreographed and synchronized. But not in the way nature would do it. I observed how the choreography of nature happened on the front to increase the face value of the human facades. But the scene behind the facades were stark opposite. Nature was discarded with all the other garbage. This made me question how humans treat nature in general.
Some questions I thought of were
Why is nature treated like an ornament that’s discarded after use rather than something we should truly preserve?
Is this a problem in the context of India or is it a global pattern?
Can sensitizing people towards this problem be a chapter in the defining ‘ecological literacy’?
I clicked a walked around for a good hour and clicked a few more pictures of such opposing scenarios – unkempt ecology and choreographed beauty.
As I was walking around I picked up bits and pieces of the ‘discarded’ nature and decided to explore making a new ecosystem out of those small pieces. My eureka moment was to make a light bulb terrarium and try and generate life out of the natural objects I found lying around. I got really fascinated with how this we can create a mini amlost sel sustaining ecosystem out of ‘waste’. I began thinking about how interesting it would be to scale up this concept. I imagined a world where everyone starts making these ecosystems at home and use it as a tool to learn and observe how these systems work. Here’s a little attempt of my light bulb terrarium.
It was my first ever attempt and got a bit messy. But I am onto making many more and see them thrive and grow for now. The interesting takeaway is how you can recyce discarded soil, fallen flower seeds, twigs, pebbles and a little spray of water.