Keywords: culture; biodiversity; ecology; sustainability
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People
who think about the affairs of humankind have always had plenty of troubles
to occupy their thoughts. War, famine and pestilence have never been far
from sight. The errors, and overbearing behaviour of the rich, the sufferings
of the poor, and the certain prospect of human decay, have always been
evident and deplorable. But at the present time, the things that trouble
us are of a new kind. History, from about the early 1960s has taken a
new turn.
What upsets us now is people in relation to the sustainability of natural resources needed for long-term survival. It is not simply a matter of numbers. These people are of many kinds, and they don't all love one another. They don't even all understand one another. Yet they are all involved with one another on a global scale in having to face the problems of numbers, of differences in lifestyles and beliefs, and above all the problem of getting on together to share diminishing supplies of natural resources. The mission of OTOHYDRA is to help individuals and communities to become involved with management for sustainability. The practical aim is to reach local and global balances between the exploitation and conservation of nature. This is the the modern hydra, the source of persistent trouble and evil. An important part of our difficulties in finding solutions is that we have to function in educational compartments when the solutions require looking, and moving, across entrenched academic boundaries. A fundamental problem is that environmental management is at the centre of any balancing act, but is at the periphery of general education, and community skills..
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