From little things big things grow (song co-written by Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody). Yet, adoration of the individual hero and the ‘big’ person view of history prevails. In ‘Earth Emotions’ (May 2019) I see this trait as, in part, a failure to understand the symbiotic turn in life science. I argue: “Some humans have
Category: Earth Emotions
A standard view is; “The more emotionally invested you are in anything in your life, the less critical and the less objectively observant you become.” (David JP Phillips, We Don’t Have Time board of directors, “The Magical Science of Storytelling”). I think the opposite is true. Here is my reasoning. Emotions are an integral part
A book on the positive and negative emotions humans have with respect to the Earth.
The act of confronting those people, institutions and corporations that have become too large and powerful to be in the public, community or global interest. The confrontation results in the transfer of titanic power and its re-incorporation into intensely democratic and sumbiocratic decision-making structures at local and sumbioregional levels. In the Symbiocene the Titans will have
Perhaps one of the initial important tasks of the discipline of sumbiology is to complete the critique of Anthropocene category mistakes. In particular, the concept of the “environment” must be removed from our thinking. However, another concept that must be critiqued is the concept of “ecology” and the related idea of an “ecosystem”. A sumbiology-based
Alongside the Extinction Rebellion movement we need an ‘Extantion Celebration’ movement. ‘Extantion’ is an action that values the existence of life. That which is still in existence (extant) should be celebrated for its continued presence on this Earth. Yes, we should be rebelling against extinction, yet if people do not know what diversity of life
It troubles me that we do not have a concept for the opposite of ecocide. I tentatively propose “Terraliben” (Terra = earth), and liben (Old High German, lebēn, to live, from Germanic libēn)) meaning ‘let the Earth live’. Terranascient thinking might be enough, yet I feel that a strong, simple counter to ecocide and tierracide is urgently
Sumbiocide is the deliberate killing of symbiotically unified communities of life at all scales. Sumbiocide is inflicted by humans on the living parts of the symbioment (environment). It is a sub-set of ecocide or the deliberate destruction of the living and non-living elements of ecosystems. Sumbiocide is the systematic destruction of the life present in
Human identity for all; males, females and LBGI+, has become a place of dangerous contradictions, with globalisation destroying the planet while locking people into psychic instability, toxic jobs, structural unemployment, addictive consumption and deep inequality. Control and influence over our emotions in such a context has become a battleground. Tribalism is built into our
Despite the importance of connections between environmental health and human health (physical and mental) in many cultures, we have very few concepts in English that address environmentally-induced mental distress and physical illness. In order to rectify that deficiency, I have created two new diagnostic categories: psychoterratic and somaterratic health and illness. These make the connection
