Social Ecology

Note that the heading says Social Ecology not ‘Ecology’ as in the banner. This is because the very nature of the site is ecological. Ecology explores how plants and animals fit into their habitats and the word means… ‘the study of the home place’ or where the organism lives and plays a role in its society. We use the term to discuss how we interact with our environment and how we care for it and lowliest of creatures within it. We all use and benefit from ‘the outdoors’. But the outdoors won’t always be the same unless we respect it, its other users, and the delicate elements within it that need protection and some degree of conservation. All these features may sometimes limit our freedom to do what we want. A bit like an ‘environmental speed limit’.

‘Beau’

Slieve League, Co. Donegal

We will start to flesh out ideas for this section of WildWest.ie in due course but we would love to share ideas and work with like minded people. On the other hand, we are not campaigners or complainers and prefer to contribute and construct better solutions. So please feel free to write to us with suggestions, advice, or your concerns about the way our environment is affecting your lives (for better or worse) and do include ways you would see a better world. And remember our motto: We like to work in the Near and Now and not fret about the past or the future or faraway causes that we can only help by supporting Social Ecologists from those faraway lands! Local people are the best people to run their own places…

Home Habitats Curious Plants Wildlife Ecology The BLOG Contact Us

An exploration of wild & interesting places in Ireland and their western European/American flora and fauna…

Because of pressure to get this new Site up and running and to share some wonderful ecology, it is not possible at this time to put up any substantive studies. Instead we just make a few fairly obvious comments and suggest areas we all need to think about.

Tearing around…

Busy lives… rushing all the time… no time for family… driving too fast. We feel it is a shame that the present generation of productive contributors have to be under so much pressure to generate the wealth society needs and at the same time care for a family as befits young adults. As pensioners (who worked and raised kids in gentler times) the hard working present generation must only be respected and admired. Making life easier… well we have one suggestion but are NOT going to mention it here!

Playing together…

Social Ecology requires that the strong help the weak and their is a balance between what we take and what we give back. Ireland is not the worst country in this regard and by and large it is a fair society with a slightly growing tendency to seek rights rather than ‘make sacrifices’. Demand makers should, perhaps, look to themselves and see what service they provide to their communities? What way do you feel we can be better players particularly in regard to caring for our country… it’s the only one we have and, as a poster outside a local school says, ‘Good Planets are hard to find!’

Protecting our Water

Our research and photography often takes us out on the water. With many lakes in Ireland it is the most effective way to get around and surprise some interesting wildlife. Unfortunately many of our lakes are becoming significantly polluted and an outboard engine is quite an effective way to observe this pollution and to determine how widespread it is. We believe it is worth paying a fair bit for good water services simply (but not only) to ensure that waste is not poured into our waterways. Kids, dogs, cats, whatever… should all be free to safely enjoy our natural assets as previous generations have done. DO YOU KNOW OF ANY ENTIRELY CLEAN LAKE?

Funding the Environment.

Our work is voluntary and we try and make a contribution. But let’s consider the balance between demanding free or cheap services and the inevitable cost of rubbish on our bogs and mountains and dangerous pollution traps waiting for our children!

This is just a fun table of likes and dislikes. Unlike real life, where minorities are respected, lets just take a black and white view of some environmental issues facing us today? We have listed random topics below and either left a Tick or an X or an empty box, partially reflecting our views. A Tick means that we think that such an item is a good idea or we feel the pros outweigh the cons; in other words we are at least 51% in favour of something. It’s like Brexit and we did say this was a game — NOT the real world!

