Human ecogenetics
This page, more infused with scientific formalism, include a certain number of specialized terms. You just have to click on keywords to have its definition or see them commented in the perspective of HEG.
Human ecogenetics the study of interaction between men and their physical and cultural environment, at the crossroad of ecology, genetics and human sciences.
What is at stake, is to trace back the original causes of ecological, psycho-physiological and sociological imbalances our civilization is marred with, so as to define a « pro-genetic culture » able to assure a long-lasting coexistence between mankind and the planetary ecosystem.
Uniting classical ecology and ecopsychology, human ecogenetics consider the material environment as well as the cutural, psychological and social one. It however makes the difference with a radical questioning of the psychic functioning specific to Mankind, to identify more accurately the cognitive or affective dysfunctions prone to induce environmental disorders, or be induced by these disorders.
First track of research :
Is our way of life conform to our genetic potentialities ?
Men modifies its cultural and natural environment throughout the millenia and still continue to, through several artifices : how much then, are those artifices abiding by Man’s innate characteristics, or on the contrary go beyond the pale of Its limits of adaptabilities ? In which measures might they exceed also other biological actors which are part of the ecosystem ?
Each one of our activities must be scrutinized regards to the knowledge we have today in genetics, ecology and psychology, as for their purpose and long term consequences. Human ecogenetics, reconciling cultural determinism and genetics, relies on the notion of limited adaptability, validated by genetics and the recent advent of epigenetics and theories on auto-organized systems.
Deciphering the first causes that lead to the currents situation is essential if one wants to understand in depth the mechanisms of ecological degradations and define efficient solutions, relevant and long-lasting. The aim is notably, to get a deeper grasp at the psycho-pathological factors behind demographic explosion, and also in the wide-spread dependency to multiples artifacts involved in consumerism and economic growth, or yet, in the staggering indifference to the ecological drawbacks of our actions.
Those are not litters, but barils of 150L !
Nothings assures us indeed, that the ecological disaster threatening life on earth can be halted by simple advances in technoloies, meant to limit depredations. These might probably only push over some limits in time, trigger unexpected retroactive effects, or new vicious circles. Nothing assure either, that the currently happening social awakening will end up taking over the majority of humans world-wide, effectively reducing nuisance. We have to look for the origins of harmful artifices and the psychic factors that make us addict of them.
Such an approach requires thorough theoretical and empirical researches that human ecogenetics is the first to undertake. In short : Men are able to invent all kinds of artifices becoming in due time, a whole culture (rituals, tools, techniques, weapons, arts, religions, etc.). These artifices can have perverse effects, which means exceeding the limits of adaptability of involved species, including ours. It is thus possible to define a « bundle of pro-genetic cultures », congruent with the genetic data accumulated during evolution, opposed to kinds of culture deemed « anti-genetic », disturbing life on every aspect.
Western culture obviously belongs to the second set of cultures…