AQAL: A stick man skeleton without a body

Continuing this post, I asked McLeod if he was familiar with the book Integral Ecology by Esbjorn-Hargens and Zimmerman. And if so, if they address a thermodynamic, ecological perspective. He replied:

No, they do not address this issue in Integral Ecology. Kind of surprising that in this 796 page book, the word "energy" does not appear in the index. There is on page 166 a short discussion on different schools of ecology, mentioning Ecosystem Ecology in two sentences as looking at the interactions of organisms with energy and matter.

Economics is mentioned in one brief sentence on page 206. Thermodynamics comes up on page 106: "J. Baird Callicott interpreted Eugene Odum's thermodynamic ecosystem ecology to mean that organisms are merely temporary configurations of energy flowing through ecosystems... In Wilber's view, thermodynamic ecosystem theory has validity but only within the limits imposed by its perspective and methods. Insofar as ecosystem theorists ignore or discount the validity of environmental truths of other legitimate perspectives, such as population dynamics, environmental ethics, 1st-person experience, and so on, ecosystem theorists commit what Wilber calls 'quadrant hegemony.'"

That last sentence has the effect of shutting down investigation into thermodynamic ecosystem ecology before making a serious effort to learn the truths they offer, however partial they may be. They merely mention it, give lip service by acknowledging limited validity, and then move on.

I replied:  It's like AQAL, perhaps a useful skeleton, never fleshes out anything because a particular piece of flesh doesn't always put things in terms of the skeleton. Hence AQAL remains but a stick man without a body, an ideological frame that won't accept the grounded details that might upset the invested cart before the horse.