The field of ecological research and reporting is a part of the basic human urge to engage the world through reason and a quest for understanding. It is not about seizing control of society’s urges and services and limiting the freedom of anyone, but rather about making sure we have the information we need to make the best choices, then advocating for those choices, when inertia and custom stand in the way of better health — for individuals and in the manner in which human individuals respond to their social and natural environments.

Ecology is the study of what surrounds, what encompasses our everyday activities, it is economics that looks to a broader picture that includes all of the resources and services on which the more limited “economy” depends for its very existence. There is a mischaracterization of ecological science as a vague and ideologically motivated quest to control or rein in corporate enterprise or human behavior generally, and that unjust mischaracterization is a distortion promoted by interests that seek to avoid having to acknowledge or live up to any greater responsibility to the social or natural environment — even where those responsibilities are already written into existing law.

In short, ecology is a study of the balance that might or might not exist among natural systems, and so by definition it must take into account human behavior. Efforts to impede the expansion and the dissemination of the facts brought to light through ecological science are attempts to work against the human interest inherent in finding ways to interact sustainably with the natural systems that provide humanity with a climate and a landscape favorable to civilization, and in concert with which civilization has been built.

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