INLS 2022: Maintaining Connections

We have heard from many of you, sharing your gratitude that this group of energetic and dedicated people has kept gathering, even if virtually, until we can all gather again in person. As organizers of INLS, we are equally grateful for all of you who are staying with it--maintaining those connections among all of us who work for the greater good of our natural environment. Our connections mirror the connections we strive to learn about, protect, and preserve in the natural world around us.

 

We also hear from more and more speakers that their work reveals fragile, delicate, and often only newly recognized connections in nature--between birds and plants, fungi and plants, insects and plants, and of course the world of micro-organisms--subtle relationships that often elude casual human observation. Maintaining these connections before we break them or lose them is now more critical than ever, as pressure on the natural web increases. As Aldo Leopold said, long before most people were paying attention: "If the biota, in the course of aeons, has built something we like but do not understand, then who but a fool would discard seemingly useless parts? To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering.” Assume nature has inherent value, at all scales and in all its parts, equally. 

 

These are the connections we try to explore, explain and maintain through INLS 2022--through our connections with our INLS community.

 

We look forward to sharing these connections with you.

~Dan Segal & Rick Manning