THE ECOLOGY OF MAN—SEARS 397 
tice, as a basic value for responsible—that is, moral—human conduct. 
It is the only choice that justifies serious attention to the ecology of 
man and demands its skillful application to human affairs. It implies 
concern for mankind in the longest perspective of time. Unfortu- 
nately it still does not commit us to an equal concern for all men of all 
cultures everywhere. The mandate to survive has often been con- 
strued as warrant to eliminate or subordinate others. 
Here we find ourselves treading near an ancient pitfall, as dangerous 
today as ever. If we deny full humanity to others, we are in a poor 
position to claim it for ourselves, let alone for our remote descendants. 
There is the further and very practical consideration that as in evolu- 
tion no species of plant or animal has ever had its own way completely, 
so in history no culture has succeeded in doing so. Now that the world 
community is ever more tightly linked by new powers of travel, com- 
munication, and access to knowledge, it is less likely than ever that any 
group, ethnic or cultural, will ever have its way without mutual con- 
cession and, ultimately, mutual understanding and sympathy. 
Indeed the whole lesson of evolutionary history demonstrates that 
the power of life over nonlife lies not in uniformity, but in diversity 
within unity. Just so the richness of any human community lies in 
the diversity of personalities, capacities, and interests within the unity 
of community spirit. To live is to live and let live. 
Indeed it may be that in this old and battered saying we may find a 
clue to the effective use of what we can learn from ecology. If we de- 
sire to preserve our own kind throughout the long future, we must 
preserve a decent solicitude for life in all its manifestations, for the 
environment that makes life possible, and for those magnificent proc- 
esses within the environment that have made it what it is. 
Manifestly we cannot get the benefits of ecology merely by leaving 
matters to the specialist, as we do so largely with other sciences. 
Rather we must apply the knowledge of the specialist to matters of 
common consent to our patterns of living. This means that we must 
to some degree share the knowledge of the ecologist, not so much in 
details, as in its general aspects. To do this requires a new emphasis 
in much that we learn throughout the schools. It calls for no new 
subjects, but rather a reinterpretation of what is now taught, to make 
clear man’s place in nature and his responsibility to guide the new 
forces he has invoked. 
Meanwhile time speeds by. We need not wait for a new and en- 
lightened generation. Each of us can begin quite simply by learning 
to look about himself, wherever he may be. Let him learn to know his 
own environment, its history and its components, living and inorganic. 
Let him conceive of himself, not as a detached watcher, but as an 
inseparable part of what is around him. And then go on from there. 
