The precise scope of the Smol Earth Compendium will hopefully come to
be defined gradually and organically via a consensus process amongst the
curators, but to help this happen the following guidelines are offered to
set folks exploring in roughly the same direction.
## What's in
Topics within the scope of the compendium include but are not limited to:
* Biodiversity, climatology, ecology, geology, hydrology, meteorology,
oceanography and any other Earth science topics
* Foraging for natural resources, e.g. berries, herbs, mushrooms
* Gardening and smallholding, especially organic, permacultural approaches
* Hunting and fishing, if they are done for food, not sport, and are practiced
sustainably and compassionately
* Nature observation or collection hobbies, e.g. bird watching, rock
collecting, storm chasing, wildlife photography
* Outdoor recreation, e.g. camping, climbing, hiking, kayaking, mountain
biking, orienteering, if the main focus is on natural places and experiences
in them, not gear, fitness or competition
* Sustainability in general, and in particular lower-energy, lower-impact,
lower-waste ways of life which can be practiced by individuals or small
communities
* Conservation and rewilding
Content on these topics might be long or short, formal or informal, prose or
poetry, focused on facts and figures or on emotional responses (or both!),
detailing first hand experience or responding to other people's writing.
## What's out
Computers, the internet, operating systems, programming languages and text
editors are out of scope, even if somebody has managed to connect them to the
natural world. That's not a joke, those connections are not impossible, and
they're not bad, but finding technical content in Goperhspace and Geminispace
is the easiest thing in the world, and there is already at least one other
server specialising in permacomputing. The Smol Earth Compendium seeks to
encourage using small internet technology to talk about things other than
the small internet, and to teach knowledge, skills and perspectives which
apply to life offline and outdoors.
## Clarification for hippies
The name "Smol Earth Compendium" is deliberately reminescent of the famous
"Whole Earth Catalogue", which is closely associated with the 1960s hippy
counter-culture. While not entirely disawoving the "hippy" label, the Smol
Earth Compendium is not supposed to cover the "hippy lifestyle" in general.
The following subjects are also out of scope for the compendium:
* Alternative medicine, chakras, Reiki, etc.
* Astrology, tarot cards, the I Ching, etc.
* Yoga, Pilates, meditation, etc.
* Free love
* Psychedelic drugs
This isn't a value judgement! Don't feel disouraged from talking about these
things on the small internet if they interest you. They are just not what
this particular project is focussed on.
## Further clarification for Gaians, druids, etc.
Just because astrology and chakras are out of scope, doesn't mean the Smol
Earth Compendium is strictly a place for writing within an entirely secular,
materialistic, logical positivist world view. Eco-Vulcans are of course
most welcome, and all content ought to be at least broadly inline with
modern scientific consensus, but if you perceive a kind of divinity in the
workings of the natural world or you want to ascribe a kind of holiness to
wild places, or even go so far as to deify the planet, there's no need to
be shy about writing that! Your writing still falls within our scope.
