Histoires of Ecological Design an Unfinished Cyclopedia

The term ecological design was coined in a 1996 book by Sim van der Ryn and Stewart Cowan, in which the authors argued for a seamless integration of human activities with natural processes to minimize destructive environmental impact. However, ecological design harks as far back as Ernst Haeckel's definition of the field of ecology and Henry David Thoreau's manual for self-reliance.