Himalayan Eco-Philosophy

What is 'eco' or 'ecological?'

The German Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919) coined the word 'ecology' in 1866 which related to what Darwin in 'Origin of Species' had called 'the economy of nature'. Haeckel wrote: "By 'ecology' we mean the body of knowledge concerning the economy of nature - the investigation of the total relations of the animal both to its inorganic and its organic environment; including above all, its friendly and inimical relations with those animals and plants with which comes directly and indirectly into contact - in a word, ecology is the study of all those complex interrelations referred to by Darwin as the conditions of struggle for existence. This science of ecology, often inaccurately referred to as 'biology' in a narrow sense, has thus far formed the principal component of what is commonly referred to as 'Natural History'. "(Foster, 2001) Man started as a savage animal and climbed the ladder of civilization slowly and steadily and is still evolving in his philosophical quest for perfection and peace in body and mind.