Trying to find your way around this place? Like most expositions, we offer a map: 
"We can recognize a thousand, two thousand corporate logos, it is said, but typically fewer than 10 plants and animals native to our region..."
(David Orr, January 13th, 2006, University of British Columbia.)
Or for that matter, not only is there a gap in ecological literacy, but also in scientific literacy. In that respect, I gave a talk recently where I explored this aspect a bit, and came up with an interesting way to tweak the Nike swoosh.
This is a quicktime file (one of the cool features of using Keynote - click on the movie to go through the four or so slides)
Note that powerpoint slides can be downloaded at the FILTER.
Comments
Oh, I remember that sentence - I heard Orr speak a few years aog at our school. Fascinating.
Posted by: coturnix | November 22, 2006 4:11 PM
But my "native region" is not rural. The region I inhabit is highly urban; what animals and plants are growing out beyond the suburbs are just as relevant to me and my daily existence as the plants and animals in, say, West Africa. Interesting, fascinating and I intend to visit one day, but meanwhile it's just not a category of objects that I have any reason do devote perceptual and cognitive capacity to discriminate.
I'm not being out of touch with my environment - on the contrary, it's the hypothetical inner-city dweller that knows all about plant and animal life in some distant spot but does not recognize the features in the place he inhabits everyday that is the one out of touch.
Posted by: Janne | November 23, 2006 12:19 AM