#environmental humanities

Today marks World Environment Day, a symbolic annual observance intended to raise awareness about ecological crises and inspire action to preserve the Earth. Image taken from Internet Yet in an era defined by accelerating climate collapse, biospheric degradation, and the enclosure of commons into commodified data points, mere awareness is no longer sufficient—nor is celebration. What is needed…

04.07.2022~ slowly getting back to the rhythm after a week away from PhD work in 6 months.

Regarding quarantine, I feel the deep resonance to the thought of the philosopher of ecological aesthetics Gernot Böhme that for a long time we were involved in environmental degradation and this affects our own nature. We are talking about the ecological continuum, where the boundaries between human and nature are illusive and nominal, nature does not lie outside of us, as it is usually represented in our anthropocentric philosophy. An important point, in his opinion, is that the destruction of the external nature becomes a conscious problem for us only when it affects us and becomes perceived by our own bodies. And any destruction sooner or later concerns ourselves.

Historically, this is exactly the moment when at the physical level almost all the inhabitants of the planet felt a lack of stability, at least through an extensive narrowing of their living space - which is also very symbolic that we closed up to the purely anthropogenic world of concrete boxes and technologies - who we are without nature? As a maximum it concerns us through a real threat to life. I think this awareness and holistic body-psychic collective (!) living-through of this experience can have important potentials for all of humanity to somehow rethink itself as a natural being and part of a single ecosystem, and be able to recognize that the dominance of nature is impossible - and need to change it and establish the partnership with the nature. For such a qualitative leap in consciousness, a universal “planetary” experience is probably necessary. Virus is very natural, logical and even “reasonable”, it solves some global problems and looks only like an evil from the standpoint of anthropocentrism.

Maybe we are just a new romantics. But it's not an escapist strategy. We believe in Nature and Harmony. Relationships with Nature based on Love are possible and required. Ecology can be poetic. We have souls and the Nature have the soul too. We are natural beings connected to the Earth. We can co-exist and co-create with nature. The part of the beautiful wholeness. We are free to choose whatever to believe (as our survival depends on our settings) and if some myth should resurrect - we will re-enchant the Earth together. For ones it's just tales on noosphere, animism, pantheism, ecocentism but these tales nowadays can heal us as the society which used to oppress and abuse the nature. For some (like me) it's complex and multidimensional reality. Facts doesn't matter here! It's the matter of culture, collective awareness and ecological consciousness. Let's imagine the world of human-nature harmony and then let's make it real! We need to believe something bigger.

“Bathed in the golden light of the evening sun, thousands of people danced in front of a festival stage so densely packed that it’s almost discomforting to watch today. One year has passed and a lot has changed since Glastonbury, for the first time in a decade, went completely rain-free and festival-goers experienced catharsis: economies have collapsed since, borders have been closed and people have been pulled apart from each other at a distance of approx. 1.5 meters. [...] We might need this catharsis again, not one of purification or purging of emotions and conflicts but one of keeping us involved, one that leaves us sticking in the mud. A muddy catharsis.”

go read this article my friend wrote! if you care about music, activism and art at all, this is for you.

Climate change is a study often thought best left to the sciences. But this grave issue necessitates participation from more fields, and thus the environmental and energy humanities are born.

“‘Energy humanities’ is an emerging field of scholarship that overcomes boundaries between disciplines and between academic and applied research. Like its predecessors, energy humanities highlights the essential contribution that the insights and methods of the human sciences can make to areas of study and analysis that were once thought best left to the natural sciences” - Energy Humanities: an Anthology

Unfortunately, even the energy humanities have a tendency to perpetuate a Euro-centric view of energy. In our study of climate change, it is important to include the voices and writings of several cultures, not just Western ones. We must consider how the consequences of climate change affect different cultures, often disproportionately so.

05.07.2022☁️🏙️