I’m reading Glenn Albrecht’s book: Earth Emotions New Words for a New World with an online book club led by Rowen White. She encourages new language to help us grasp the times we are living in. I approached this book with interest, and so far, the reading journey does not disappoint. In digging a little deeper into the author and his journey, I felt compelled because he pulled so much of the narrative I use in trying to grasp the current epoch: Anthropocene. The book helps transcend from this nightmarish necrophilia towards our planet, into a future of re-connection with place and the living world in The Symbiocene. He uses the example of his home in New South Whales Australia, in The Hunter Valley, where mining operations have destroyed much of the ecology and special places he knew and loved as a child. Though hard to fully comprehend, these mines are the largest active open face mines of their kind in the world- and many operate 24 hours a day. Below is a series of satellite photos of the mines- which you can see as white splotches from space.
This area is already stressed by drought and logging- which still goes on today. Massive wildfires in 2020 decimated much of the forests. Mining is not highly regulated in NSW, or much of Aulstrallia. There is a history of imposing colonial extraction throughout the continent. For Glenn, this experience with human destruction of environment continues to evolve as the mines grow, and neighbors once excited about the economic opportunities for the local economy, are now awestruck by the destruction and intrusion of industry into their lives. This story frames Albrecht’s concepts, as he takes us on a tough journey into phonetics, philosophy, and a collective thinking that bridges us from wanton destruction towards restoration and collaborative connection through place. The reading is thick, and I am looking at his concepts through many lenses to help me better understand how to reshape my own language towards Symbiocene. Earth Emotions tends to the lexicon with grounding stories of place, along with collected sources from around the world.
Albrecht’s argument for our individual choice in moving away from destructive, towards productive restoration and return to our ecology through community, grounds the idea of collective into daily action and vocabulary to evolve out of a society of fear and into direct connection with abundance through cooperation. Recognizing the complexities of life and how we as humans, part of this living world, live within ecological systems or parish in an artificial world of self-destruction. Both are happening at the same time. For the human psyche, this reading releases guilt, reshapes reality, and shines a little light on a future of harmony and refocusing on the finite time we have to thrive on this earth.
This is my first ecophilosophy read, and I recommend looking at other outside sources while reading this book- I’ve noted many in the text of this blog for a start. It’s refreshing to read in the direction of affirmation in my work, I was truly blown away at hearing so much familiar thinking, thus grounding my own vision of the world more soundly in an insane place. Excuse me now while I go feed the sheep and visit the newest lamb to our flock, Quern.
EEC Forest Stewardship 