Care as human Being: Introducing a new field of study and practice

This paper serves to introduce a new field of theory and practice called an Ecology of Care. In briefly describing its history of formation, present status and projected activities, the process of establishing an Ecology of Care (EoC) can be seen as laying the groundwork for a robust and complex new field with real and relevant value to many of the most profound issues confronting modern human life. The author proposes that in establishing and promoting an ecology which is based on Care, change can begin to take place in some of the destructive thinking currently shaping a less than optimistic future. An ecology based on Care offers the possibility of a positive and generative mindset that will enable people and organisations to rebuild some of the ecological stewardship that has been eroded by rationalist thinking since the industrial revolution. With stewardship or social and personal responsibility as a core systemic value, it is proposed that this field and the many industrious forms it might take, offers a real panacea for the increasingly moribund institutions of capitalism and other antiquated belief systems that are now negatively impacting on human life. These ponderous institutions, themselves shaped by unrealistic aspirations for growth and greed, combined with ecological short sightedness can by their nature, offer no viable answers. An Ecology of Care or a Care-based ecology provides a sound, logical and realistic philosophical/theoretical basis for developing many practical solutions across any field of human endeavour; assuming there is the strength of commitment necessary to apply it. The role of this paper is to provide a record of the formation of this meta-theoretical perspective in terms of its early development as a platform or framework for change; a non-partisan movement designed to provide a focus for the collective efforts of many groups of people with many different interests. This story of the brief history of an Ecology of Care, serves to establish a credible foundation for a movement whose future development and application will attempt to address a multitude of challenges facing human beings as a species.