The word ecolocy is derived from the Greek oihos, meaning "household," and logos, meaning "study." Thus, the study of the environmental house includes all the organ-isms in it and all the functional processes that make the house habitable. Literally, then, ecology is the study of "life at home" with emphasis on "the totality or pat-tern of relations between organisms and their environment," to cite a standard dic-tionary definition of the word (Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 10th edition, sev. "ecology").
The word economics is also derived from the Greek root oikos. As nomics means **management," economics translates as "the management of the household" and, ac-cordingly, ecology and economics should be companion disciplines. Unfortunately, many people view ecologists and economists as adversaries with antithetical visions. Table 1-1 attempts to illustrate perceived differences between economics and ecol-v. Later. this book will consider the confrontation that results because each disci-pline takes a narrow view of iLs subject and, more important, the rapid development .7-Lew interface cliscipline, ecological economics, that is beginning to bridge the gap betv,-een ccoic'g _and economic
early in human history. In primitive society, all !-iee know th;= yyvironment —that is, to understand the forces of 3na z11: are. e -.)Js -.e,teciel them—to survive. The beginning of civi-lization. faei '!te use of fire and other tools to modify the enyiron-n-lent. BecaLtsc (-...tlievements, humans seem to depend less on the natural en'ered-F.-rient foe' chair daily needs; many of us forget our continuing depen-dence on nature for air, water, and indirectly, food, not to mention waste assimila-tion, recreation, and many other services supplied by nature. Also, economic systems, of whatever political ideology, value things made by human beings that primarily benefit the individual, but they place little monetary value on the goods and services of nature that benefit us as a society. Until there is a crisis, humans tend to take nat-
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