Rescogita’s vision and mission aims at applying the ‘eco’ principle to each and everyone of our support services, which we have renamed as eco-capacity building, eco-coaching, eco-consulting and eco-training. Meaning a combination of the holistic, experiential and people centred methodologies we apply in each of our fields of expertise, inspired by Ecopsychology, by integrating the principles of ecology to support, learning and empowerment. However, it is important to pause for a moment and understand what we mean when we say ‘ecology’ as nowadays this is a very trendy word, as well as an academic field of paramount importance to our future. Many people misplace the meaning of ecology by understanding it as environmentalism, linking it to movements such as Friday’s for Future, Greenpeace, WWF, Extinction Rebellion etc. Environmentalism is but a branch of ecology, therefore lets look at what it means. First of all language, Ecology comes from Greek meaning the Study of Our Home and in that simple sentence and definition is embedded all its meaning, Our Home! The place where we belong, our nurturing, protection, safety, life-sustainment and the stress here goes in the word ‘home’ not just house. Ecology has taken upon itself how to study and understand how our home works, creating empirical knowledge that we can use to improve it for all its inhabitants. ESA defines ecology as “ “Ecology is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment; it seeks to understand the vital connections between plants and animals and the world around them.”
As our ‘home’ is filled with life, and has developed until today since millions of years on the relationship between all the living creatures, evolving, cooperating, competing and each serving a purpose to the live of the next one in, as we recently discovering, very fragile balance between giving and taking in order to be alive and to perpetuate life.
It is our house, and as Greta Thunberg reminds us constantly, and apparently not enough “Our house is on fire”
It is a science, a branch of biology, evidence-based and a result of extensive academic research. Therefore, among its purposes ecology demonstrates the principles of life interconnectedness and interdependence within our biosphere (home) and to develop a generalised and widespread understanding of what is necessary to do ad how to act to keep, or rather, restore the balance upon which life depends. While plenty of environmental movements are focusing on promoting guilt and shame among humans for the catastrophe that we are currently living, we rather embrace Roszak’s attitude in addressing the underlying grief affecting the individual and society for the loss of biosphere as well as that of the sense of community, and to do our part. As educators, trainers, consultants and coaches we want to integrate ecology in the way we deliver trainings, capacity building, support measures and promote learnings in an interconnected fashion, fostering the principle that working on the self and on all that seemingly resides outside of the self, are actually one process that can benefit all.
