Cornell Notes : Ecological Literacy

TOPIC NAME: Mary Ann V. Lerum

The Web of Life: A New Scientific
Understanding of life
DATE: December 1, 2021

KEY TERMS NOTES / DRAWINGS

Main Ideas: Main Points
A New Scientific Understanding of Part I
life by Fritjof Capra The main idea of A New Scientific Understanding of life and the role
his work is that people defined of ecological literacy in building and nurturing
sustainable development as development sustainable communities
that meets the needs of the present Part II
without compromising the ability of How school gardens can reconnect children to the
future generations to meet their own fundamental patterns and processes of nature that
needs. They speak only of human needs, sustain life
without credit to the natural world. They Part III
do remind us of our responsibility to Six (6) Principles of Ecology
pass on to our descendants a world with
as many opportunities as we inherited, Bullet Points
but they do not tell us anything about Part I.
how to actually build a sustainable a. Sustainability means sustained in the sustainable
society. community is not economic growth competitive
advantage but the entire web of life on which long
Question/s Answered term survival depends.
How does nature sustain life? b. Schooling for Sustainability is special education for
What is the difference between a rock teaching the knowledge, skills, values, and attitude
and a plant, animal, or that are necessary to build and nurture sustainable
microorganism? communities in schools. An educational approach
that aims to develop students, schools, and
Many biologists will tell you that the communities to get hold for sustainability not just in
essence of life lies in the their personal lives but also within their community
macromolecules the DNA, proteins, now and in the future.
enzymes, and other material structures c. Ecological Sustainability is designed in such a way
in living cells. In fact, this is sometimes that its way of life, businesses, economy, physical
narrowed to the definition that a living structures, and technologies do not interfere with
system is a chemical system that natures ability to sustain life.
contains DNA d. Metabolism - “The Breath of Life” The difference
between a living organism and a dead organism lies
What is life? “His thesis has been that in the basic process of life “breath of life”. In
“a theory of living systems consistent modern scientific language, this process is called
with the philosophical framework of “metabolism” It is the ceaseless flow of energy and
deep ecology, including an appropriate matter through a network of chemical reactions that
mathematical language and implying a enables a living organism to continually generate,
no mechanistic, post-Cartesian repair, and perpetuate itself.
understanding of life, is now emerging. Part II
”Patterns of organization” has been a a. Multicellular Organism- Classified into different
crucial element in the development of kingdoms while the kingdom is the manner of taking
this new thinking. Understanding pattern in food defines living organisms as a member of one
is crucial to understanding living form. of three kingdoms plant, fungi, and animals
b. Food and Life- Reconnecting the children to the
Terminologies fundamentals of food, nowadays children are loss
awareness to the food context to where did it come
Ecology – From the Greek word from and how far the sources are they would think it
“oikos” meaning household. This is the usually came from the supermarkets and forget the
study of the relationships that interlink context of nature and that’s what we are doing in the
all members of the Earth Household. ideal way of schooling of sustainability it reconnects
Term was first coined in 1866 by children to food and the nature of life, explore the
German biologist Ernst Haeckel. environment and teach them about the culture.
Defines as the science of relations Metabolism includes two basic aspects:
between the organism and the 1. Continuous flow of energy and matter
surrounding outer world. because we all know in order to live we must
Deep Ecology – acknowledges the need energy and food to sustain life and all
intrinsic value of all beings/life. living systems produce waste and that’s part
Acknowledges the world as a network. of life
Feedback Loop – a circular 2. Network of chemical reactions that processes
arrangement of causally connected food and forms the biochemical basis of all
elements, in which an initial cause biological structures’ functions and behavior.
propagates around the links of the loop c. Living Networks- Are the basic pattern of
so that each element has an effect on the organization of all living systems. Ecosystems are
next, until the last “feeds back” the understood in terms of food webs organisms are
effect into the first element of the cycle networks of cells, organs, and organ systems, and
cells are networks of molecules. The network is a
pattern that is common to all life wherever we see
the life we see networks. It is continually created or
recreate itself by transforming or replacing their
components
Part III
a. Ecological Cycles- In ecosystems, energy flows
through the network, while water, oxygen, carbon,
and all other nutrients move in these well-known
ecological cycles similarly the blood cycles in our
body, and so does the oxygen (air) through our body
 and fluid and so on
b. Growing School Garden and using a resource for
cooking meals is an ideal way of experiencing this
concept the web of life, the flows of energy, and the
cycle of nature
 Gardening reminds children to reconnect to the
fundamentals of food at the same time implementing
hands-on activities that will take place in the school
 Examples of Cyclical Works are gardening, cooking,
and washing plates
 In the garden we learn about food cycles and
integrate natural food cycles into our cycles of
planting, growing, harvesting, composting, and
recycling
 We learn also the nature of living soil that we need
to preserve the integrity of ecological cycles in our
practices and also a profound lesson to respect our
life.
 Ecology in nature gives place to become aware of
how we are embedded in an ecosystem for instance
children being in the garden create a magical
childhood place in that way surround them by such a
place will make them remember and important to
them
c. Ecological Literacy- the ability to understand the
basic principles of ecology and to live accordingly.
Principles of Ecology
1. Networks- Ecological communities are
interconnected in a vast and intricate network of
relationships, the web of life. They derive their
essential properties and, in fact, their very existence
from these relationships.
2. Nested System- Throughout nature we find multi-
leveled structures of systems nesting within systems.
3. Cycles- The interactions among the members of an
ecological community involve the exchange of
energy and resources in continual cycles.
4. Flows- All organisms are open systems, which
means that they need to feed on a continual flow of
energy and resources to stay alive.
5. Development- manifesting as development and
learning at the individual level and as evolution at
the species level, involves an interplay of creativity
and mutual adaptation
6. Dynamic balance- All ecological cycles act as
feedback loops, so that the ecological community
 regulates and organizes itself, maintaining a state of
dynamic balance characterized by continual
fluctuations.

Outline
Deep ecological awareness recognizes the fundamental
interdependence of all phenomena and the fact that, as
individuals and societies, we are all embedded in (and
ultimately dependent on) the cyclical processes of nature.”
Important dates, People, and Places
Ritjof Capra is a deep ecologist in 1995, A new scientific
understanding of life (web of life) was originally published
in 1996 he became a founding director of the Center for Eco
literacy in Berkeley, California.

Charts/Diagrams

1.
Networks

Dynamic 2. Nested
Balance System

Principles of
Ecology

Development Cycles

Flows

SUMMARY
The book is basically about “a new scientific understanding of life at all levels of living systems –
organisms, social systems, and ecosystems.” Capra argues that we need to become ecologically literate
(i.e. understand the principles of organization of ecological communities and use those principles to
create sustainable human communities) so that we may reconnect with the web of life. This book is a
conceptual bridge between ecological communities and human communities.