Ecosystemology and Coffee

Ecosystemology was a term coined by Arnold Schultz, my mentor/teacher/friend and now retired Professor Emeritus. To start this posting, I will quote some of Arnold's writing on "What is Ecosystemology?":

"What Haeckel might not have anticipated is how ecology would escape from the confines of his zoology field and become entwined with non-biological entities like the mind, politics, commerce, and fear."

"Today, ecology is the study of relationships, period."

"During these 27 years it(Ecosystemology) emphasized (openly and strongly) holistic, interdisciplinary, and systems thinking. It was also the spawning ground for two fields brand new to the campus; namely, agroforestry and landscape ecology, both of which I introduced in 1982 and 1987, respectively."

"When my advisees who took Ecosystemology filled out their green sheet, they would ask me in which breadth requirement to list the course. I would tell them, just flip a coin, it's only a form; the way I visualized the course, it could be listed anywhere -- or everywhere."

"Finally, let me return to the question that I posed at the beginning of this paper, does the coiner of a term own it? I said it involves the term ecosystemology. I was wrong to add '…. and its definition when it first was coined.' The truth is that I have never had a definition, at least not a concise, textbookish, one sentence one. There is no short answer to the titled question, What is Ecosystemology? The long, and I think the best, written answer is contained in the Ecosystemology Reader, all 250 pages of it. Of course, most of my students know the answer to the question but they find it difficult to explain when their parents and querulous roommates ask "What in the world is it?"

SO WHAT IS ECOSYSTEMOLOGY AND HOW DOES IT RELATE TO COFFEE?

Well Arnie, here you go..

At 1000faces we take a ecosystemological approach to coffee. This approach involves the fundmental goals of ecosystemology.

1. Have Fun.

2. Learn Something New.

3. Make friends.

1. Having Fun: We are coffee lovers. We play with coffee. We drink so much of it, we have to spit it out because we cannot stomach(mentally or physically) any more. We paint pictures about coffee, write slogans, suck on raw beans, challenge fellow employees to duels, call people in from the street to try a cup of our creative forces. Usually we are so hyped up on caffeine we start dancing. I would estimate that there is more dancing per work-place at 1000faces then anywhere in Athens or the greater Southeast(during daylight hours.)

2. Learning Something New: The field of coffee is an ever developing stampede of information and development. There is always some farmer or some tech off in a distant land, creating some new offering that the world of coffee needs exposure to. We invest countless hours researching and communicating about these developments. Though not only that, we are constantly being demanded to learn about Mountains ranges in Kenya, political situations in Latin America, the modern day landscape of commerce, farmers in Athens experiences with the the soil/websites, and the newest release from of course, RZA.

3. Make Friends: Oh we try. We open our hearts. We say "HELLO" when someone comes in the door. We stand there listening and jiving. We walk boldly in to establishments and lower our humble hearts to ask for forgiveness in this new model of needing to sell, but have you tried the 2009 EL INJERTO? We trust the UPS man loves us. Sometimes we even roam the streets at night with Trapeze filled bellies and hoot and hollar that we are HERE NOW. And yes, when the money is right we board the planes. We fly out into the jungles. To the mountains of far off realms.  We sit for meal with farmer and roam the fields with the men and the women whom are the true alchemists of this trade.

Now is this Ecology? It seems so abstract, right? Where is the scientific data to back these assertions? Where is the research and certifications behind this research? What have we to say other than fun, friends, and learning?? (Enough of these God Forsaken rhetorical questioning!!) You might press us, squeeze us, berate us, lambast us, hate on us, and even love on us..but we ain't gonna budge from these tenants of significance.  As Arnold and Ken Kesey said, "You can't explain it, because you can't explain it." 

We believe this. We believe that coffee is beyond explanation. We can find sign posts, we can draw maps, we can even create names, and sing these names with the gusto of Italian operatics. AND WE DO! But this is nothing more than water. Water we swim in, water we try forget is everywhere, water we drink and stay alive by, water we try to preserve, water we give away.

Though to end on a Socractic note, the investigations put forth by Arnold Schultz into the heart of a holistic, interdisciplinary, and systemic thought are words and concepts brought home by themes like reductionism, places to intervene in a system, and wicked problems. So let us take these three themes and put this subject to bed:

Reductionism and Coffee: Calling coffee just coffee is like calling your lover just a body. Try this out and you will experience first hand how the world responds to reducing complexity and nuance. The greater the complexity embraced in coffee, the more ecologically sound and culinary delicious the bean becomes. Name the place and cup with the sweet blessed boldness of tasting the moment and you shall be that great phenomenon that heavens set us forth to abide in.

Places to Intervene in a System and Coffee: Numbers, parts, relationships. If there are three area's I remember it is these three. This is the game-boy of life. Numbers, parts, and relationships. Carefully examine the numbers, what do they express? What is the language of numbers saying in respect to coffee and more importantly in our relationship to coffee. Right now: We pay on average 50 cents above fair trade price. We charge $10 for direct sales for one pound for this coffee. While the market is charging more on ratio of price paid to farmer and price charged to consumer, we are being berated by the coffee establishment for undervaluing the product we are part of by selling it too cheaply to the public. We fight back. Coffee is the drink of the people and by the people and should be priced so that the everyday people can consume great coffee. I will leave parts and relationships alone for now...

Wicked Problems and coffee: I bit off more then I could chew with this blog entry. I am done. I can say no more. We have ecological wicked problems: population, deforestation, thinking, reductionism, resource loss, culture loss, systems are being pulled apart.  Relationships are being replaced by the immediate (fast food sales are up since the economic downturn.)  We consider deeply these problems and try to address them with our manner of being in the world.  But I can say no more.  Say no more.  

Say no more.......

Do. 

Like Arnie Schultz might ask us to.