Scope of the Smol Earth Compendium

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.