We dance to the rhythms of the universe. We dance sometimes alone; sometimes in groups, Each sensing and responding to a slightly different beat in the chaotic rumble; Each encompassing the whole, yet remaining unique.Not random error, or noise, The out-of-step footsteps follow a path charted in the infinity of time, rational and beautiful, if only we could see it from outside ourselves. We live and celebrate life Made possible in the violent death of stars so long agolost to human memory. Can we comprehend the reasons and the patterns with our puny minds?If we can't, is truth then less true? Can we deny the meaning in complexity because we haven't been able to reduce it to our size? Can we learn to see the universe without confining it inside borders of our own creation and the accepted meters of our times? We look for revealed truth and discard what doesn't fit our craving for certainty. Yet, life is uncertainty-surprise and adventure, the unexpected.We dance to the rhythms of the universe. If one dance is lost, all our science can't replace it.We all are pieces of a puzzle, our bends and straight lines mesh to make a picturea whole. Are our footsteps set for us by some mad choreographer?Can we deconstruct, then reconstruct, the dance? Do we truly want to? Perhaps-Only if we can learn to visualize, to internalize, life in multiple dimensions, drawn through time.In a brilliant burst of light and energylong since dissipatedwe are born to dance to the rhythms of the universe.-Karen G. Evans (1998, v-vi)
ContentsList of Illustrations ix I wish to thank the contributors to this volume for their cooperation and collaboration. Without their support and encouragement this book would have never "self-organized" into its current shape. The initial conditions of possibility emerged during two workshops in early 2011-the first one from 19 to 20 January in Sydney (Australia) and the second one from 11 to 12 February in Munich (Germany). The Sydney workshop was made possible by support from the International Workshop Grant program of the Academy for the Social Sciences in Australia, the Center for Citizenship and Public Policy (especially, its director-Anna Yeatman), and the University of Western Sydney. The Munich workshop was funded by the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society (RCC). I am deeply grateful to Christof Mauch and Helmuth Trischler for their support and the generous subvention assistance as well as for creating the RCC "research haven" in the first place. It was at these two workshops that the idea of this volume was first conceived. A huge thank you is also owed to the discussants and participants at these workshops for their feedback and insight, especially to Brett