98th ESA Annual Meeting (August 4 -- 9, 2013)

August 03 - 09, 2013

SS 4

Generating a Historical Time Line of 'Earth Stewards' to Inspire Our Future

This session introduces the potential contribution of an historical timeline of past ESA and other ecologists’ contributions to the understanding of human agency in ecological change processes – what is today promoted as ‘Earth Stewardship’. Members of ESA’s human-centred Sections will 1) generate a list of ESA contributions that aid understanding this important topic and 2) develop biographical sketches of Earth Stewards. Results will help us assess how ecologists have interacted with societal movements and environmental events impacting ecosystem sustainability. In anticipation of ESA’s 100th anniversary, the results will celebrate ESA’s major contribution to Earth Stewardship, inspire younger members and foster future research efforts. The timeline software ‘Tiki Toki’, recommended by the Historical Records Committee, will be used. This session is organized by past Chairs of the Environmental Justice, Human Ecology and Traditional Ecological Knowledge Sections in collaboration with other human-centered Sections. We will overview how the various ‘human-centred’ Sections of ESA, the broader ESA community and other basic and applied ecologists might benefit from this collaboration. Next, we will present a brief guide of what makes a compelling historical biographical sketch, and demonstrate how Tiki-Toki works, including how to upload a biography, edit or enhance a biography and link to other resources and archives. We will then open discussion of suitable ‘Earth Stewards’ to initially populate the timeline, together with a call for commitment from individuals to generate first drafts. Progress will be revisited at the 2014 ESA Meeting, in preparation for a presentation at the 2015 Centennial.