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Monday, 19 September 2011

Oh Ecology

The Concise Oxford Dictionary, Ninth Edition, first edited by H.W. Fowler and F.G. Fowler (I wonder if they were husband and wife, sitting up in bed debating the wording of the definition for marsh mallow [n. a shrubby herbaceous plant, Althaea officinalis, the roots of which were formerly used to make marshmallow].) Ninth edition edited by Della Thompson. Clarendon Press. Oxford. First edition 1911 (maybe they were brothers instead?), ninth edition 1995, reprinted with corrections 1998.

Ecology n. 1 the branch of biology dealing with the relations of organisms to one another and their physical surroundings. 2 (in full human ecology) the study of the interaction of people with the environment. (...) [German Ökologie, from Greek oikos 'house']  pp.429




Okay, so I know that Wikipedia is not a reliable source to be lauded in essays, BUT I have only the featheriest idea as to what ecology is and how I'm going to relate it to my book which has rather taken off themeless, and trying to avoid reference to Wikipedia is why I haven't finished (or even really started) this post sooner. So bare with me.


Because of what I have going on with my project at the moment, I'm planning to focus on human ecology, which studies the relationship between humans and their environments. 
Oooooo, this is interesting. There is a 'geological epoch' called Anthropocene, by the sounds of it this is an informal term, it's used in geological chronology to describe the creation of new ecosystems as a result of human activity. (No...this isn't really relevant.)


Okay, now I've reached something of an impasse because all the research I'm dredging up (Wiki wasn't even very helpful after all that) consists of definitions and history of human ecology, whereas I want come human ecology content instead. Must Try Harder.




More on this later.

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