Culture, Biology, and Saving the Planet

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Culture, Biology, and Saving the Planet Wade B.
Worthen Furman University
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A Disclaimer - the title.. The Earth is not
at risk it is 4.6 by old and will do fine for
another 5 by. (Saving the planet was
hyperbole.)
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A Disclaimer - the title.. However, the
conditions on the Earth that make it a great
place for humans to live ARE changing. (Saving
the ecological integrity of the planet to
preserve human and non-human life was too long.)
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• How can we preserve the biological integrity of
  our home? How can we convince people that nature
  matters?

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• data and charts??
• Yes, we need to measure stuff. But while this
  may change peoples minds, it may not change
  their hearts.
• (1999 temperature increase above century mean)

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- In addition, we need to demonstrate how and why
nature is important to each person, even at an
unconscious level.
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Overview of Our Lecture I. Why is nature
important to modern humans?
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Overview of Our Lecture I. Why is nature
important to modern humans? A. What is
Biophilia?
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Overview of Our Lecture I. Why is nature
important to modern humans? A. What is
Biophilia? B. Why is it relevant?
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Overview of Our Lecture I. Why is nature
important to modern humans? A. What is
Biophilia? B. Why is it relevant? C. What
evidence exists of Biophilia?
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Overview of Our Lecture I. Why is nature
important to modern humans? A. What is
Biophilia? B. Why is it relevant? C. What
evidence exists of Biophilia?
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A. What is Biophilia? E. O. Wilson (1984)
defined biophilia as an innate tendency of
humans to focus on life and lifelike processes
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A. What is Biophilia? - There are four
elements 1. Humans are interested in living
things
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A. What is Biophilia? - There are four
elements 1. Humans are interested in living
things 2. There is an adaptive benefit to this
interest that has been selected for over
hominid evolution
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A. What is Biophilia? - There are four
elements 1. Humans are interested in living
things 2. There is an adaptive benefit to this
interest that has been selected for over
hominid evolution 3. This relationship
influences how we learn
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A. What is Biophilia? - There are four
elements 1. Humans are interested in living
things 2. There is an adaptive benefit to this
interest that has been selected for over
hominid evolution 3. This relationship
influences how we learn 4. And who we are
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B. Why is biophilia relevant to modern humans? -
three elements 1. Pragmatic it works nature
IS relevant, and its contribution to culture is
interesting. Aztec God Quetzalcoatl,
as an Ouroborus
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B. Why is biophilia relevant to modern humans? -
three elements 1. Pragmatic it works nature
IS relevant, and its contribution to culture is
interesting. 2. Artistic Because it may help
us express our humanity more fully
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B. Why is biophilia relevant to modern humans? -
three elements 1. Pragmatic it works nature
IS relevant, and its contribution to culture is
interesting. 2. Artistic Because it may help
us express our humanity more fully
3. Ecological to the degree that we
come to understand other organisms, we
will place greater value on them, and on
ourselves (Wilson, 1984). To save biodiversity,
we must appreciate its relevance to our
mind and our cultures.
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B. Why is biophilia relevant to modern humans? 1.
Consider that the human mind and its products
have not arisen in a vacuum.

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NATURE AND EVOLUTION
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B. Why is biophilia relevant to modern humans?
agriculture
to chimps
burial
tools
art
1.75 mya
0.2 mya
5.0 mya
75,000
10,000
99.6 before art Pre-cultural Baggage
Understanding Human Evolution. 1999. Poirier and
McKee
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B. Why is biophilia relevant to modern humans? 2.
As such, our interaction with art, society, and
nature may have a biologically interesting
contribution. (NOT single factor biological
determinism, please!) Lets examine the Evidence
for Biophilia in our disciplines Humanities Soc
ial Sciences Natural Sciences
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C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities -
Language A first alphabet book.. A is for
_____________. B is for _____________. C is
for _____________. D is for _____________. E
is for _____________. F is for _____________.
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C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities -
Language A first alphabet book.. A is for
_____________. - antidisestablishmentarianism?
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C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities -
Language A first alphabet book.. A is for
_____________. - antidisestablishmentarianism?
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C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities -
Language A first alphabet book.. A is for
_____________. - Antidisestablishmentarianism?
- Apple?
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C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities -
Language A first alphabet book.. A is for
_____________. - Antidisestablishmentarianism?
- Apple? - Airplane?
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C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities -
Language A first alphabet book.. B is for
_____________. - Ball?
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C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities -
Language A first alphabet book.. B is for
_____________. - Ball? - Bee?
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C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities -
Language A first alphabet book.. C is for
_____________. - Cat?
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C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities -
Language A first alphabet book.. C is for
_____________. - Cat? - Car?
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C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities -
Language A first alphabet book.. D is for
_____________. - Dog?
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C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities -
Language A first alphabet book.. D is for
_____________. - Dog? - Duck?
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C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities -
Language A first alphabet book.. E is for
_____________. - Elephant?
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C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities -
Language A first alphabet book.. F is for
_____________. - Fox?
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C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities -
Language A first alphabet book.. F is for
_____________. - Fox? - Fish?
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C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities -
Language A first alphabet book.. A is for
apple or airplane. B is for ball, not bee
(ambiguous?) C is for cat or car. D is for
dog or duck. E is for elephant. F is for fox
or fish.
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C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities -
Language A first alphabet book.. A is for
apple or airplane. B is for ball, not
bee. Living or C is for cat or
car. life-like D is for dog. Even if they
are NOT E is for elephant. commonly
encountered - F is for fox or fish. Why
learn elephant?
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C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities -
Language Adjectives and similes.. Sly as
_________
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C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities -
Language Adjectives and similes.. Sly as
_________ an Enron executive?
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C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities -
Language Adjectives and similes.. Sly as
_________ an Enron executive? a fox
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C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities -
Language Adjectives and similes.. busy as
__________? Strong as ________ ? Weak as
_________ ?
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C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities
Language Verbs To cow To quail To clam
up To weasel To outfox To hound To
hog To grouse To fawn To buffalo
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C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities
Language
Trivial examples or basic, fundamental examples?
Summary Human intelligence is bound to the
presence of animals. They are the means by which
cognition takes shape and they are the
instruments for imagining abstract ideas and
qualitiesthey are basic to the development of
speech and thought. -Shepard 1978
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• C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities - Art
• Language and the arts are dependent on natural
  imagery to evoke a particular emotion..
• Autumn Landscape at Dusk Vincent Van Gogh

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• C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities - Art
• or misrepresents a natural view to spur our
  attention
• Tete dune femme Lisant
• Pablo Picasso

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C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities -
Religion Animals are our cultural icons, we use
them for tribal affiliation, both trivial. NFL
Football Team Mascots Cardinals Falcons
Ravens Bills Panthers Bears
Bengals Broncos Lions Colts
Jaguars Dolphins Eagles Seahawks
Rams 15 of 32 teams (not that it helps.)
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C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities -
Religion And significant
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C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities -
Religion Animals are central to the myths that
give our lives meaning and our culture context.
In particular, the serpent figures prominently
as an icon of power, knowledge, life, and
death. Egyptians the Earth as an Egg, grasped
by a serpent
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C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities -
Religion Middle East Judaism Eve and the
serpent
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C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities -
Religion Greeks Gaia (Earth) was protected by
her son, Python, who lived at the center of the
world and held it together (image from
Greek alchemist text, 15th century)
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C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities -
Religion Australian aboriginal culture the
rainbow serpent art dates from 6000 years ago
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C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities -
Religion Norse dragons and Jormungand, the world
serpent (an ouroborus).
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C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities -
Religion Aztecs Quetzalcoatl, the
bird-serpent or feathered serpent
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C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities
Cultural Summary "Animals are far more
fundamental to our thinking than we supposed.
They are not just a part of the fabric of
thought they are a part of the loom." (Peter
Steinhart, 1989). The loom from which we fashion
our cultures (Native American
ouroboric image)
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Navajo Dance

Silver tip fox cape with foot clasp
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C. Evidence of Biophilia in the Social Sciences -
Psychology - phobias are usually related to
natural environmental cues (snakes, spiders,
water, closed spaces, heights) (and other
primates that encounter snakes are ophidophobes)
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C. Evidence of Biophilia in the Social Sciences -
Psychology - even though cultures have produced
more deadly risks
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• C. Evidence of Biophilia in the Social Sciences -
  Sociology
• habitat selection humans with the resources
  build homes on promontories near water, with a
  view
• The Vanderbilt Estate, The Breakers, Newport, RI

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C. Evidence of Biophilia in the Social Sciences -
Sociology Societies construct gardens, parks,
and green spaces in urban environments like
Central Park, NYC.
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C. Evidence of Biophilia in the Social Sciences -
Sociology We need nature, and we take it with us
into man-made environments it is a part of what
we are, and it has shaped who we are and how we
identify ourselves, individually and
collectively. Rooftop Garden, Tokyo
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C. Evidence of Biophilia in the Natural Sciences
- Physiology - contact with people helps
development and healing - contact with animals
helps stress and healing, and gives us
someone who depends upon us..
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C. Evidence of Biophilia in the Natural Sciences
- Physiology - vistas - people with a natural
view are less stressed and are more
productive. - inner city children with a view of
a park are able to concentrate in school and are
better learners.
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What are the ramifications of biophilia? Humans
need nature as a reference to completely express
our humanity. It is at once the other and the
self. To lose it, or to simplify it,
will profoundly affect what we are.
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The purpose of Biology 340 - To increase your
appreciation for the value of the natural world
for both utilitarian and intrinsic reasons
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The purpose of Biology 340 - to appreciate the
extraordinary diversity, complexity, beauty, and
history of the natural world
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The purpose of Biology 340 - and now you
understand HOW we are related to this diversity,
and how we are still DEPENDENT UPON this
diversity for sustaining a reasonable quality of
life for ourselves and future generations.
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It is interesting to contemplate an entangled
bank, clothed with many plants of many kinds
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with birds singing on the bushes, with various
insects flitting about, and with worms crawling
through the damp earth
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and to reflect that these elaborately
constructed forms, so different from each other,
and dependent on each other in so complex a
manner.
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have all been produced by laws acting around
usThere is grandeur in this view of life, with
its several powers, having been originally
breathed into a few forms or one.
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and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on
according to the fixed law of gravity, from so
simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful
and most wonderful have been, and are being,
evolved. Charles Darwin, 1859, The Origin of
Species