Ecology Dialogue | life-long-learning

Engaged Ecology Dialogues...Cultivating a Sustainable Future

Registration is required for room setup

Email lifelonglearningsm@gmail.com to register

When: Thursdays, Sept. 11, 25; Oct. 9, 23

Where: San Marcos Public Library

Time: 5:00-6:15pm

Fee: FREE… donations appreciated!

Description

Engaged Ecology isn’t about following a strict set of rules… it’s more like a thoughtful way of looking at the world. It invites us to ask deeper questions about how we live and how we relate to the natural world around us.

We will start these dialogues by looking at why we feel so out of balance, whether it’s in how we think, how we separate mind from body, or how we see ourselves as separate from nature. From there, we want to explore some big ideas: What does it mean to live ethically in an interconnected world? What role does consciousness play in our relationship with other living beings? How can we shift toward a more creative, cooperative way of being?

Bit by bit, Engaged Ecology will help us reimagine how we live—rooted in care, connection, and a deeper sense of purpose.

Sept. 25 -- The Great Unraveling: How Close Are We to Collapse?

An Engaged Ecology conversation about the crises shaking our world and what they mean for us now.
Through the lens of Engaged Ecology, we’ll explore how climate, social, and ecological crises are deeply interconnected and how interdependence, justice, and mutual care can help us reweave resilience and hope in a time of unraveling.

Oct. 9 -- More Than Human: Empathy as an Ecological Imperative

In our age of the “Great Unraveling,” empathy must extend beyond humanity. For centuries, Western thought has confined empathy to the realm of interpersonal ethics—feeling with and to other humans. But the Earth calls us to widen our circle of compassion. To survive and flourish, we must learn to sense and respond to the needs, struggles, and gifts of the more-than-human world. In our dialogue, we will discuss the need and the practice of ecological empathy as an imperative for human survival.

Oct. 23 -- The Human Handprint: Domestication, Wildness, and the Edges of Moral Responsibility

Based on philosopher Clare Palmer’s essay, “The Moral Relevance of the Distinction Between Domesticated and Wild Animals” (in The Oxford Handbook of Animal Ethics, 2012), we will explore how our moral responsibilities shift across the blurred boundary between the domesticated and the wild.

What drives moral consideration? What does it mean to be wild in a human-shaped world? And how might vulnerability, dependence, and ecological entanglement redefine our sense of ethical duty?

Drawing on Palmer’s relational ethics and Engaged Ecology, we will stress that moral responsibility arises not only from what animals are, but from what we do, our relationships, impacts, and histories of care. The “human handprint,” both creative and destructive, becomes a call to humility, reflection, and renewed kinship with the living world.

CLICK HERE for more details about the session content.

Dialogue Facilitators

Vince Lopes is a retired professor of Environmental Studies at Texas State University with a Ph.D. in watershed science and an M.S. in water resources engineering. A lifelong eco-centric theorist and environmental justice advocate, Vince’s interests focus on the interdependence of human and natural systems and are directed toward creating resilient communities capable of addressing today’s ecological challenges.

Ron Stockdreher is a Lecturer in the Dept. of Philosophy at Texas State with an M.A. in Applied Philosophy and Ethics. Ron teaches courses in ethics, applied philosophy, environmental ethics, and a developing field known as engaged ecology, focusing on insight to real-world challenges, with special attention to our ethical responsibilities to each other, to non-human life, and to the planet.