What is ecology? Although we come across this word many times during our day and it is extremely popular when it comes to the environment, the fight against climate change and so on, it may be time to go back and to concretely explain what “ecology” is.
A science
Before all its media coverage and frenzied use, ecology was first and foremost a science. It is a science that essentially focuses on the relationship that a species has with the specimens and the environment that surrounds it. This term was first used in the 1960s by an environmentalist named Ernst Haeckel. However, it was not really this man who made this discipline take on its full meaning. Considered vague for many years, it was the research of scientists over the decades that refined it and finally made it what it is today.
Nevertheless, it remains true that this branch of science uses the knowledge of a host of its colleagues such as geology, climatology and even genetics to try to explain various phenomena. For example, an ecologist could try to study the impact that the extermination of bees would have in a specific region to try to anticipate which other species, animal or plant, would be affected by this disappearance. Although these questions seem far from impacting humans, it is quite the opposite.
A scenario where a region finds itself without pollinators overnight could see its fauna and flora decline rapidly, which could lead to famines due to reduced harvests or environmental problems such as droughts for example. This type of problem is extremely complex to analyze and predict, but their work is vital since in an era where these phenomena and these problems are becoming more and more widespread, it is specialists like these who can provide real solutions.
A social movement
Having gone beyond the simple stage of scientific discipline, ecology has, since the second half of the 20th century, taken off in the form of a political and societal demand and ideology. This union of the people and their need for truth and change took root after the disasters caused by the various uses of the atomic bomb which created real environmental nightmares in the regions affected by radiation and other fallout. The trend gained momentum during the Vietnam War where the use of chemical weapons and soil contamination techniques was largely normalized. The peak of the “ecological movement”, however, lies at the turn of the 21st century, indeed, our era!
For several years, scientists, environmental associations and aware populations have come together to express themselves on the same issue: the climate crisis. A real concern for the current and future generations, increasingly common natural disasters and the risk of exceeding an environmental point of no return have led the “ecological movement” to surpass the scientific initiative. Ecology is today part of the electoral programs of political parties, of reports broadcast on the biggest news channels in the world and is a subject democratized and discussed by the elderly throughout the world.
Ecology
Able to be considered the “problem of the century”, the climate crisis and its share of problems are the ordeal of modern ecologists (scientists) who have the mission to find solutions. Fortunately, their theories, their advances and their reports are no longer simple pieces of paper lost in an obscure magazine but are now brought to the public square by the millions of ecologists (non-scientists) demanding greater listening to the statements of specialists, and thereby, greater changes than those already promised by those in power. So, science, social movement, or both?