Dec 2-4, 2005
Entering a New England forest can feel like walking into Eden, a place of peace and beauty. Yet ancient wisdom can be found in the forest. This wisdom can show us ways to develop and sustain vibrant lives, families, communities, and societies. Life on earth has been thriving for billions of years because of its ability to sustain itself. Three natural laws form the foundation for this sustainability: the law of limits to growth, the law of entropy, and the law of self-organization.
These laws apply in the natural world as well as in the sociological and political world. For example, an animal, a tree, a forest, a hurricane, even a mountain range can grow bigger, but at a certain point, growth stops. Our tallest redwoods and our most majestic mountains eventually stop growing. Growth has limits. A system that disobeys this law — cancer, for example — brings about its own demise.
Using mini-lectures, discussions, and explorations in the surrounding forests, we will learn the natural laws of sustainability and how they can be applied to create healthy human communities. Understanding these laws can lead us to wise choices for ourselves, our families, our towns and cities, and the larger human community. The laws of nature can lead us to a prosperity that will last.
Tom Wessels is a passionate and gifted teacher who can make you “feel like you’re discovering the secrets of the universe alongside him.” He has conducted workshops for more than 30 years and is Professor of Ecology at Antioch New England Graduate School, where he founded a masters degree program in Conservation Biology. Tom specializes in landscape interpretation and has written Reading the Forested Landscape: A Natural History of New England and The Granite Landscape: A Natural History of America’s Mountain Domes from Acadia to Yosemite. His forthcoming book, The Mythology of Progress, brings Tom’s lifetime of natural intelligence to bear on the larger problems facing humanity. Rowe is honored to present the fruition of that lifetime of brilliant work.