Dr. Reuben J. Ellis: Reciprocal Healing:Thoughts on a Natural and Social Ecology of Business
Channel: Woodbury University Live
Date: 07/07/2020

Philosopher and pioneer conservationist John Muir famously wrote: “When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe,” an observation that is often cited as an early articulation of scientific and philosophical ecology.  Muir is correct.  We live in a profoundly relational world where human behaviors, all our cultural practices, are connected not only to the physical world, impacting it and impacted by it, but to everything else as well.  The study of deep relationships between humans and the environment occurs across a range of disciplines beyond scientific ecology--anthropology, eco-psychology, environmental ethics, environmental history, ecofeminism, just to name a few.  All of the social sciences and humanities seek to understand relationships in a human context.  We should also be putting business on this list, and one question we should be asking ourselves is this.  How do our business practices--our self-reflection, our objectives, our strategies, and our actions--function as part of a relational network that contributes to the entire ecosystem we inhabit, societal, natural, and the vital interaction of the two?  How we answer this question may be an important factor in how we determine what is “good for society, good for business.”

Dr. Reuben J. Ellis is Interim Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Woodbury University.  His scholarly interests include western American Literature, Native American literature; exploration literature; literary modernism; diversity studies, and creative writing.  Dr. Ellis’s academic career spans more than 35 years and has included teaching literature and writing courses.  He is also CEO of Ellis Farms, Inc.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/reuben-ellis-ph-d-7b1a637/

https://woodbury.edu/news/listening-and-acting-a-message-from-cola-interim-dean-reuben-ellis/

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