Additional Quotes That Reflect the Personality of mySelf and Thus — EcoC²S (Others are on my Home page)

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“Let the beauty of what you love be what you do.”

—Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī also known as Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Balkhī and other names; Source: Wikiquote: Rumi; License: Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)



“Lying on his death bed, revered Reb Zusya was very upset and crying, tears streaming down his face.

His students asked with great concern, “Reb Zusya, why are you upset? Why are you crying? Are you afraid when you die you will be asked why you were not more like Moses?”

Reb Zusya replied, “I am not afraid that the Holy One will ask me, ‘Zusya, why were you not more like Moses?’ Rather, I fear that he will say, ‘Zusya, why were you not Zusya?’”” [my emphasis]

—Rabbi Zusya (Buber and Marx 1947), appearing in Core Health: The Quantum Way to Inner Power By Dr. Ed Carlson and Dr. Livia Kohn.



“Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius—and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.”

—Ernst Friedrich “Fritz” Schumacher in “Small is Beautiful”, an essay, in The Radical Humanist, Vol. 37, No. 5 (August 1973), p. 22; Source: Wikiquote: E. F. Schumacher; License: Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)



“Why does this magnificent applied science which saves work and makes life easier bring us so little happiness? The simple answer runs: Because we have not yet learned to make sensible use of it. In war it serves that we may poison and mutilate each other. In peace it has made our lives hurried and uncertain. Instead of freeing us in great measure from spiritually exhausting labor, it has made men into slaves of machinery, who for the most part complete their monotonous long day’s work with disgust and must continually tremble for their poor rations. … It is not enough that you should understand about applied science in order that your work may increase man’s blessings. Concern for the man himself and his fate must always form the chief interest of all technical endeavours; concern for the great unsolved problems of the organization of labor and the distribution of goods in order that the creations of our mind shall be a blessing and not a curse to mankind. Never forget this in the midst of your diagrams and equations.”

—Albert Einstein, From Speech to students at the California Institute of Technology, in “Einstein Sees Lack in Applying Science”, The New York Times (16 February 1931); Source: Wikiquote: Albert Einstein; License: Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)



“Don’t all beings exist? Thus we ALL have consciousness — whether you or I or someone else believes it or not.”

—Irucka Ajani Embry, from “Untitled: Poesía en a different tunor” out of Balancing the Rift: ReCONNECTualizing the Pasenture. Page 57. ISBN# 978-0-9914994-0-3 {Questioning the Universe Publishing (QUP), 2014]; License: Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license (CC BY-ND 4.0)




Photograph of Irucka Embry

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Photograph of Irucka Embry



About EcoC²S

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Irucka Embry, EIT (Engineer-in-Training) is the Principal of EcoC²S. EcoC²S is a small business focusing on Consulting in a variety of areas [General Consulting, Food Grower, Healthy Living Coach (Promoting Healthy Living through the Read the Labels Campaign), Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) selection], Data Analysis and Data Science Services with R & Offering R Trainings, Public Speaking, & other services. He started Eco-[1]Creative [2] Consulting Services {and later shortened to EcoC²S [3] — Irucka used squared due to his background as an environmental engineer] in October 2007, in response to being forcibly laid off (due to government corruption) from his first professional engineering position as the Rutherford County Landfill Project Engineer. EcoC²S is an extension of the multidimensional Human Being that is Irucka thus this business offers a diverse array of services and products. He is a generalist (systems thinker [4] focused on connections and networks — please refer back to the quote from John Muir on his Home page) in all that he does, including when he worked as an environmental engineer; however, Irucka can be detail-oriented when he needs to “wear that hat” as well. Thus, he can both see the forests and the trees.


Now on to the backstory.


Business Origin Story

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For a class assignment in middle school (8th grade), I wrote a chapter-focused autobiography of mySelf. In the chapter entitled: “My Future Job and Why I Chose It”, I wrote the following to end it:


“Hopefully, after all of us children finish college we will be able to make a business. We are hoping that we can start up a little business and marketing job and maybe even expand the business into a very large one.”

Even before I wrote those words, I saw my father, Jim Embry, — Sustainable Communities Network — start a marketing and computer business. My siblings and I assisted our father in that business. After that business Jim created the “House Doctor” where he worked as a general contractor. My siblings and I worked alongside our father at different points in our Life in that business. In addition, I saw my mother, Dr. DeBora L’T. Mapp, — Schooling Solutions LLC — begin her business Kente Originals. My twin brother, Obiora, and I assisted my mother in her business too. In addition to the businesses created in my immediate family, there were plenty of other family members and/or family friends that had their own entrepreneurial pursuits during my formative years.


So, what does that mean?


The impetus to begin Eco-Creative Consulting Services was not solely due to being forced out from a job. It came from a deeper yearning to create a family engineering business (all 5 of my parents’ children have at least 1 engineering degree) which was refined while I was an undergraduate student. During those years, I decided that I wanted to create my own consulting engineering firm regardless if we created a family company or not. Another inspiration was that in January 2006, Obiora founded EConsulting™, thus “beating me to the punch” because I had been too “jobified” 🤗. I was making more money than I had ever thought that I would make as an employed environmental engineer due to seeing the average salary of civil engineers while at UTK. In addition, I had gotten complacent with regards to creating my business because I was the department head/boss/head honcho in my very first position! In spite of that, the yearning to create my own business was still there because I wanted to have complete creative control over what I was able to accomplish with my varied skills. At that job and in various other jobs over the years, my creative aspirations and innovations were usually too out there until I left. Then, some of my ideas were watered down and accepted.


Wholistic Ecological Advocate

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In that same autobiography, I included a chapter entitled: “If I Had Three Wishes”. Although I have misplaced the actual text, at the end of that chapter there is a photograph of the Earth taken from space.


Part of that stems from spending so much time outside in Nature at his childhood home, at his paternal family farm in Eastern Kentucky, at his material family farm in southwestern Kentucky, at parks, beaches, etc. and with being raised in a household rooted in healthy living (before it was cool again) & being actively involved in the greater community in Lexington, Kentucky, and across the nation and the world. More of this background will be explored and discussed in a forthcoming book co-written with Obiora, Irucka’s twin brother.



Pursued Various Interests While an Undergraduate Student

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August 2008 Business Services Cateogries

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Ecological Services

Computers

Selling/Resale

Education

Writing

Music Management



December 2008 Business Card Services

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Previous Imaginative Logos

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The logos are displayed over a background of a flower growing on the land leased by Getting Back to Nature™. The photograph was taken by Irucka Embry.

  • EcoC²S logo 1
  • EcoC²S logo 2
  • EcoC²S logo 3
  • EcoC²S logo 4
  • EcoC²S logo 1
  • EcoC²S logo 2
  • EcoC²S logo 3
  • EcoC²S logo 4

Irucka educates and inspires positive changes locally and globally through EcoC²S. In addition to the services that EcoC²S offers, Irucka has written various articles, has been interviewed on a variety of topics, has participated in diverse events on his own and with Obiora, and offers a plethora of online and print resources. Through these efforts, Irucka’s goal is to educate people on a variety of topics to hopefully inspire actions for the greater good.


Irucka knows that Human Beings, regardless of what “identity(ies)” that we may cling to, must Unite for the greater good for the Human Race and for ALL Life on Earth.



About Getting Back to Nature™

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In December 2012, Obiora (Irucka’s twin brother & Founder of EConsulting™) and Irucka began their quest to lease a couple of acres of land from Martin Acres, their maternal family farm, in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, to start an edible forest garden. Irucka was influenced by 2 events at the “A Place at the Table” dinners created by his friend, Martha Stamps, at a local church. One event was watching A Thousand Suns about the Gamo of Ethiopia. The other event was hearing a talk by Dave Jacke about edible forest gardens.


In 2017, Obiora and Irucka decided to join their individual businesses together under the umbrella of Getting Back to Nature™ to craft a more holistic vision for creating an edible food ecosystem on their beloved 2 acres.


You can view our products on the Getting Back to Nature™ Products page and also on our LocalHarvest profile page.


Irucka has applied his knowledge gained from being a civil/environmental/water resources engineer to the work of healing the soil on those 2 acres of land. Some of the materials learned in classes at the undergraduate- and especially the graduate-level have been a large influence in how Irucka approaches the work that we are doing on our 2 acres of land.


Irucka recognizes that the most healthy food will be grown in healthy and lively Soil that is wetted by healthy Water.



The Multi-Faceted Irucka Embry

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Partial Professional Background


Irucka Embry’s general curriculum vitae (CV) — [Requires PDF Software] — created with the vitae R package provides some more details to Irucka’s professional background & qualifications.


Graduate-level Research


Irucka Embry’s research as a Master’s student in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (now Civil and Architectural Engineering) at Tennessee State University in Nashville, Tennessee:




Irucka is a creative & multi-faceted Human Being. He is a(n):



Irucka has a Master of Engineering (ME) with a Concentration in Environmental Engineering from Tennessee State University (TSU) in Nashville and a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Civil Engineering with Minors in Environmental Engineering and el español (Spanish) from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.


In my first professional role after graduation, I worked for the Rutherford County Landfill as a Landfill Project Engineer. In this capacity, I worked in a variety of capacities, including overseeing the daily operations of a Class III/IV landfill (construction/demolition, farming, landscaping, and land clearing wastes) and the post-closure operations of a Class I landfill (commercial, domestic, institutional, and municipal solid wastes) with tire collection/storage/transfer facility; supervising 4 full-time staff and 1 part-time (really full-time) employee; stormwater management using Erosion Prevention and Sediment Control (EPSC) Measures; helping to establish native vegetation in an old borrow area; etc. My ecological activism at the undergraduate level was my impetus to request to use native vegetation to reclaim the borrow pit.


In my 2nd professional position with Metro Nashville Stormwater Division, I was involved more directly with the wider general public as I was interviewing people about their stormwater issues and recommending ways that we could solve their problems. The major problem was that many people were on a waiting list for, in some cases decades, a long time with no help.


In my 3rd professional role, I worked for the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Tennessee Water Science Center {the name was later changed to the Lower Mississippi - Gulf Water Science Center (LMG WSC)] and/or the Cherokee Nation Technology Solutions, LLC (CNTS) in a variety of roles. I became a R programmer because of that job doing a variety of computational and graphical analysis for various water projects. I worked on a project to use bioremediation to aid in the clean-up efforts at an unlined landfill that had stored various chlorinated products. I also worked on background work for the southeast portion of the SPARROW model which looks at nutrient cycling and how it impacts water quality and Human health. Lastly, I worked on a project to turn a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet into a R program called FEWSR that dealt with the power consumption of thermoelectric power plants throughout the nation.


In my 4th professional position, Adjunct Professor in the College of Engineering at Tennessee State University (TSU) in Nashville, Tennessee.


In my 5th professional role, I worked for the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT). I was responsible for obtaining environmental permits associated with water resource alterations to waterbodies (creeks, rivers, springs, streams, wetlands, and/or wet weather conveyances), impacts to potential sinkholes, and stormwater management [National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Construction Stormwater Permit] for mostly Western Tennessee transportation projects from federal and/or state environmental agencies, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Tennessee Department of Environment & Conservation (TDEC), and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA).



Family Web sites

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My Other Internet Outlets

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My Comments & Posts at Alignable

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Ethics

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[1]

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Eco- refers to the shortened form of “ecological” whereby ecology refers to “The branch of biology dealing with the relationships of organisms with their environment and with each other.” For mySelf, I have defined ecological as the economic, environmental, and social (relationships) planes of our Collective Real-ity.


The ecology definition source is Wiktionary, the free dictionary.


For more insight into ecology, I want to share my collection of various links related to ecology: https://www.ecoccs.com/science-sustainability.html#eco



[2]

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The most useful definitions of creative for defining my business name are: “Tending to create things, or having the ability to create; often, excellently, in a novel fashion, or any or all of these.” And “(of a created thing) Original, expressive and imaginative.”


The creative definition source is Wiktionary, the free dictionary.



[3]

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EcoC²S is pronounced ˈiːˌkəʊ siː skwɛə(r)(ed) ɛs in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).


Sources (Wiktionary, the free dictionary): eco- c square S



[4]

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I have a collection of various links related to systems thinking and other “new” ideas here: https://www.ecoccs.com/science-sustainability.html#newideas


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