User talk:Social Ecologist Trish

Social Ecology: Defined By Dr James A. Kent; The Center for Social Ecology and Public Policy

Social Ecology recognizes that people everywhere develop an attachment to a geographic place characterized by a set of natural boundaries created by physical, biological, social, cultural and economic systems (bio-social ecosystems).

Unique beliefs, traditions, and stories tie people to a specific place, to the land, and to social/kinship networks. Informal networks and caretaking systems form the social capital by which communities sustain themselves.

Since humans and nature rely on shared landscapes, social ecology seeks to understand the balance of the physical/social environments and then to create adaptive change through the cultural alignment of the formal systems with the informal networks.

Social ecology is thus not only a scientific enterprise (The Discovery Process) but an action methodology (Human Geographic Issue Management Systems) that builds citizen and institutional capacity for creating and enhancing healthy environments.