from ecosystem simplification in the exporting of industrial agricultural systems
into the humid tropics with disastrous effects in very short periods of time,
and the longer term effects of the same agricultural methods applied in
temperate regions, can be understood in terms of fundamental ecological
principals. At the same time, the "simplification" or reduction of diversity
in culture, which is taking place in the smoothing out of regional differences
in dialect, food habits, architecture, music, and so forth by the "mass culture,"
may be similarly causing instabilities, although the effects have not been as
well documented nor the dynamics understood. At a more metaphorical level,
social ecology calls for a diversity of ideas, beliefs, proposed solutions,
life-styles, etc., within a society, because of the need for this diversity to
produce long-term stability. Milton's "Aeropygitica," which calls for promis-
cuous reading, and John Platt's paper "Strong Inference," which calls for
multiple hypotheses in scientific research, both attempt to create more diverse,
richer, more liberated "societies," ultimately more sustainable.

 The bio-regional concept, long known in ecological literature, has its
analog in social ecology. Bio-regions are natural areas where geography,
geology, climate, and topography interrelate to produce a characteristic
landscape. Plant and animal associations biotic communities develop
which are characteristic and unique to each bio-region. Similarly, Gary Snyder
points out:
 The differing regions of the world have long had each their precise
 subsistence pattern developed over millenia by people who settled in
 there... Countless local ecosystem habitation-styles emerged. People
 developed specific ways to be in each of those niches: plant knowledge,
 boats, dogs, traps, nets, fishing, the smaller animals, the smaller tools.
The development of modern industrial society has imposed different sorts of
technologies upon these bio-regions attempting to smooth out differences
between the bio-regions. However, in recent years, originating from the so-
called developing world, the concept of appropriate technology has emerged.
Appropriate technology is a process of technology design and utilization which
emphasizes awareness of cultural and environmental impacts, and attempts to
find local solutions to local problems. While it is not a specific set of
technologies, there are common characteristics which represent a set of values.
Appropriate technologies: 1) are labor intensive, 2) have comparatively light
capital costs, 3) are understood, used, and maintained locally, 4) are
compatible with local social conditions, and 5) make optimum use of locally
available renewable resources (Committee on Science and Technology, U.S. House
of Representatives, 1978). For a given technology to be considered appropriate,
the five criteria stated above must be optimized simultaneously. At the same
time, local choice and acceptability are essential, so there is an inherent
participatory element as well.

 Technology appropriate or not must be recognized as broader than the
hardware of the society. Bell, in THE COMING OF THE POST-INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY,
characterizes technologies as machine technologies, intellectual technologies,
and social technologies. Machine technologies are the physical tools we use
to extend human strength or acuity, like the tractor or the microscope.
Intellectual technologies are ideas, concepts, ways of ordering the natural
world, like calculus or philosophical systems. Social technologies are ways
of organizing people, like slavery, universities, or cooperatives.