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 … Continue reading Terraliben: Let the Earth live!
Earth Emotions
To be published by Cornell University Press in 2019
Sumbiocide
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 … Continue reading Sumbiocide
Sumbioregionalism
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 … Continue reading Sumbioregionalism
Psychoterratic and Somaterratic health and dis-ease.
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 … Continue reading Psychoterratic and Somaterratic health and dis-ease.
An Allegory of Two Caves
Plato’s Cave. The 5th century BC philosopher Plato, in his book The Republic, tells the story of the famous Allegory of the Cave. The allegory is a conceptual device to help the reader see the distinction between appearance and reality. In the story, prisoners in the cave see only the shadow shapes of real objects … Continue reading An Allegory of Two Caves
Vitality and the Ghedeist
Vitality requires something more than renewal, restoration, resilience, sustainability and regeneration. All these terms can inadvertently or deliberately be used to reproduce qualities and properties that are undesirable or generate the status quo. Vitality, as a life force (elan vital) is eternally creative and it will always seek new ways of regaining health. I have … Continue reading Vitality and the Ghedeist
Global Dread
The experiences of angst, dread, nausea and despair are commonly associated with the writings of the existentialist philosophers such as Sartre and Kierkegaard. Kierkegaard wrote The Concept of Dread in 1844, but it was published in English in 1944. Kierkegaard’s dread was prompted by the tension created in human affairs by “original sin”, as explained within a … Continue reading Global Dread
Generation Symbiocene (Gen S)
The generations produced by the Boomers, and now, their own children (Gens X, Y and Z), are labelled as vague, directionless tribes in the Anthropocene, but now is their time in history to unite and fight for a cause that is without peer … themselves and their own future. In Australia, in late 2018, the … Continue reading Generation Symbiocene (Gen S)
Communication in the Symbiocene
The many positive attributes of Generation Symbiocene, centred on high levels of education and technological sophistication, enable them to communicate with each and every Symbiocene inspired movement worldwide. Similar communications systems to the ones now being used in Western contexts can also be transferred to developing contexts. This can be done without the need for … Continue reading Communication in the Symbiocene
The Psychoterratic Typology
The Psychoterratic Typology (see Glossary) Negative Earth Emotions Origin Positive Earth Emotions Origin Biophobia Kellert & Wilson 1995 Biophilia Wilson 1984 Ecoagnosy Albrecht 2017 Ecoliteracy Orr 1991 Ecoamnesia Kahn 1999 Sumbiophilia Albrecht 2018 Ecoanxiety Leff 1990 Eutierria Albrecht 2010 Ecocide Galston 1970s Terraliben Albrecht 2018 Eco-Necrophilia Fromm 1965 Biophilia Fromm 1965 Ecoparalysis Rees 2007 Soliphilia Albrecht … Continue reading The Psychoterratic Typology
Psychoterratica 