Earth Beings is the fruit of Marisol de la Cadena's decade-long conversations with Mariano and Nazario Turpo, father and son, runakuna or Quechua people. Concerned with the mutual entanglements of indigenous and nonindigenous worlds, and the partial connections between them, de la Cadena presents how the Turpos' indigenous ways of knowing and being include and exceed modern and nonmodern practices. Her discussion of indigenous political strategies—a realm that need not abide by binary logics—reconfigures how to think about and question modern politics, while pushing her readers to think beyond "hybridity" and toward translation, communication that accepts incommensurability, and mutual difference as conditions for ethnography to work.
In Abundant Earth, Eileen Crist not only documents the rising tide of biodiversity loss, but also lays out the drivers of this wholesale destruction and how we can push past them. Looking beyond the familiar litany of causes—a large and growing human population, rising livestock numbers, expanding economies and international trade, and spreading infrastructures and incursions upon wildlands—she asks the key question: if we know human expansionism is to blame for this ecological crisis, why are we not taking the needed steps to halt our expansionism? Crist argues that to do so would require a two-pronged approach. Scaling down calls upon us to lower the global human population while working within a human-rights framework, to deindustrialize food production, and to localize economies and contract global trade. Pulling back calls upon us to free, restore, reconnect, and rewild vast terrestrial and marine ecosystems. However, the pervasive worldview of human supremacy—the conviction that humans are superior to all other life-forms and entitled to use these life-forms and their habitats—normalizes and promotes humanity’s ongoing expansion, undermining our ability to enact these linked strategies and preempt the mounting suffering and dislocation of both humans and nonhumans. Abundant Earth urges us to confront the reality that humanity will not advance by entrenching its domination over the biosphere. On the contrary, we will stagnate in the identity of nature-colonizer and decline into conflict as we vie for natural resources. Instead, we must chart another course, choosing to live in fellowship within the vibrant ecologies of our wild and domestic cohorts, and enfolding human inhabitation within the rich expanse of a biodiverse, living planet.
A top researcher proposes a controversial new theory of human evolution in a book “combining the thrill of a novel with a remarkable depth of perspective” (Nature). In this groundbreaking and engaging work of science, world-renowned paleoanthropologist Chris Stringer sets out a new theory of humanity’s origin, challenging both the multiregionalists (who hold that modern humans developed from ancient ancestors in different parts of the world) and his own “out of Africa” theory, which maintains that humans emerged rapidly in one small part of Africa and then spread to replace all other humans within and outside the continent. Stringer’s new theory, based on archeological and genetic evidence, holds that distinct humans coexisted and competed across the African continent—exchanging genes, tools, and behavioral strategies. Stringer draws on analyses of old and new fossils from around the world, DNA studies of Neanderthals (using the full genome map) and other species, and recent archeological digs to unveil his new theory. He shows how the most sensational recent fossil findings fit with his model, and he questions previous concepts (including his own) of modernity and how it evolved. With photographs included, Lone Survivors will be the definitive account of who and what we were—and will change perceptions about our origins and about what it means to be human. “An essential book for anyone interested in psychology, sociology, anthropology, human evolution, or the scientific process.” —Library Journal “Highlights just how many tantalizing discoveries and analytical advances have enriched the field in recent years.” —Literary Review
As climate change and development pressures overwhelm the environment, our emotional relationships with Earth are also in crisis. Pessimism and distress are overwhelming people the world over. In this maelstrom of emotion, solastalgia, the homesickness you have when you are still at home, has become, writes Glenn A. Albrecht, one of the defining emotions of the twenty-first century. Earth Emotions examines our positive and negative Earth emotions. It explains the author's concept of solastalgia and other well-known eco-emotions such as biophilia and topophilia. Albrecht introduces us to the many new words needed to describe the full range of our emotional responses to the emergent state of the world. We need this creation of a hopeful vocabulary of positive emotions, argues Albrecht, so that we can extract ourselves out of environmental desolation and reignite our millennia-old biophilia—love of life—for our home planet. To do so, he proposes a dramatic change from the current human-dominated Anthropocene era to one that will be founded, materially, ethically, politically, and spiritually on the revolution in thinking being delivered by contemporary symbiotic science. Albrecht names this period the Symbiocene. With the current and coming generations, "Generation Symbiocene," Albrecht sees reason for optimism. The battle between the forces of destruction and the forces of creation will be won by Generation Symbiocene, and Earth Emotions presents an ethical and emotional odyssey for that victory.
NASA Astrobiologist and renowned scientist Dr. David Grinspoon brings readers an optimistic message about humanity's future in the face of climate change. For the first time in Earth's history, our planet is experiencing a confluence of rapidly accelerating changes prompted by one species: humans. Climate change is only the most visible of the modifications we've made--up until this point, inadvertently--to the planet. And our current behavior threatens not only our own future but that of countless other creatures. By comparing Earth's story to those of other planets, astrobiologist David Grinspoon shows what a strange and novel development it is for a species to evolve to build machines, and ultimately, global societies with world-shaping influence. Without minimizing the challenges of the next century, Grinspoon suggests that our present moment is not only one of peril, but also great potential, especially when viewed from a 10,000-year perspective. Our species has surmounted the threat of extinction before, thanks to our innate ingenuity and ability to adapt, and there's every reason to believe we can do so again. Our challenge now is to awaken to our role as a force of planetary change, and to grow into this task. We must become graceful planetary engineers, conscious shapers of our environment and caretakers of Earth's biosphere. This is a perspective that begs us to ask not just what future do we want to avoid, but what do we seek to build? What kind of world do we want? Are humans the worst thing or the best thing to ever happen to our planet? Today we stand at a pivotal juncture, and the answer will depend on the choices we make.
Living Earth Community: Multiple Ways of Being and Knowing is a celebration of the diversity of ways in which humans can relate to the world around them, and an invitation to its readers to partake in planetary coexistence. Innovative, informative, and highly accessible, this interdisciplinary anthology of essays brings together scholars, writers and educators across the sciences and humanities, in a collaborative effort to illuminate the different ways of being in the world and the different kinds of knowledge they entail – from the ecological knowledge of Indigenous communities, to the scientific knowledge of a biologist and the embodied knowledge communicated through storytelling. This anthology examines the interplay between Nature and Culture in the setting of our current age of ecological crisis, stressing the importance of addressing these ecological crises occurring around the planet through multiple perspectives. These perspectives are exemplified through diverse case studies – from the political and ethical implications of thinking with forests, to the capacity of storytelling to motivate action, to the worldview of the Indigenous Okanagan community in British Columbia. Living Earth Community: Multiple Ways of Being and Knowing synthesizes insights from across a range of academic fields, and highlights the potential for synergy between disciplinary approaches and inquiries. This anthology is essential reading not only for researchers and students, but for anyone interested in the ways in which humans interact with the community of life on Earth, especially during this current period of environmental emergency.
‘The mission of our age is not to reproduce an ancient wisdom, but to engender a new one – a wisdom that points not only to the past but that works prophetically into the future.’ – Rudolf Steiner Beginning with ancient Egypt, the pyramids and sphinxes – and a comparison of that epoch with our own – Rudolf Steiner surveys a vast spiritual landscape of human development. In symphonic style, he describes the conquest of the physical plane in post-Atlantean civilizations, the relationships between the various cultural epochs, the human being’s connections with the kingdoms of nature and the different planetary bodies, and the relationship of animal forms to ‘the physiognomy of human passions’. Through this panoramic vision, we discover how the changed conditions of human consciousness call for a new spiritual understanding today. In her Introduction, Marie Steiner relates the special experience of being a member of Rudolf Steiner’s audience for this timeless series of lectures: ‘Enormous cosmic pictures were unfolded before the spiritual gaze of the listeners; insights were of such depths of ancient wisdom, views of distant futures of human and world development, that deepest devotion flowed through their hearts…’ This new edition features a revised translation, introduction, notes and an index.
An interdisciplinary and quantitative account of human claims on the biosphere's stores of living matter, from prehistoric hunting to modern energy production. The biosphere—the Earth's thin layer of life—dates from nearly four billion years ago, when the first simple organisms appeared. Many species have exerted enormous influence on the biosphere's character and productivity, but none has transformed the Earth in so many ways and on such a scale as Homo sapiens. In Harvesting the Biosphere, Vaclav Smil offers an interdisciplinary and quantitative account of human claims on the biosphere's stores of living matter, from prehistory to the present day. Smil examines all harvests—from prehistoric man's hunting of megafauna to modern crop production—and all uses of harvested biomass, including energy, food, and raw materials. Without harvesting of the biomass, Smil points out, there would be no story of human evolution and advancing civilization; but at the same time, the increasing extent and intensity of present-day biomass harvests are changing the very foundations of civilization's well-being. In his detailed and comprehensive account, Smil presents the best possible quantifications of past and current global losses in order to assess the evolution and extent of biomass harvests. Drawing on the latest work in disciplines ranging from anthropology to environmental science, Smil offers a valuable long-term, planet-wide perspective on human-caused environmental change.
The Anyuak definition of what a human person is appears to be a relatively easy one, at least in theory, because it is based upon purely physical criteria; The metaphysical dimensions of a human being are completely neglected in this definition and are only of importance when needed to exclude a human being from human society. The term "person" is essential in Anyuak language, for it introduces a special category within the large category of "human beings": not all human beings are also persons. The notion of "personality" is, in this context, of no relevance, because it is merely a qualitative extension of the notion of human person, its individual aspect. There is no moral element in the judgement of a human person, at least in this theoretical sense, and even intelligence which elsewhere is considered to be almost exclusively human is not considered when defining the truly human qualities of a person. Because the individual characteristics of a person, his or her mistakes and problems, do not turn into existential questions, Anyuaks hardly ever ask themselves about their "real" identity or meditate about their inner life: Anyuaks know perfectly well who they are and what place they have in existence, and it is with this deep and sober self-knowledge that they face their private destiny. The best, as well as the most complete, answer to the philosophical question "Who am I?" thus is for Anyuak a very easy, self-evident one: "Who I am? - I am a human person!" "Human person" means in Anyuak language "dhano". "Dhano mo dicwo" is a male, "dhano mo dhago" a female person; the plural is "jiy" or "jow", the latter meaning literally "fellows, people". The term "dhano" is positively discriminating and describes a definite sphere of exclusively human values. A human person is of course a human being, the latter being a particular species living on earth an thus clearly different from animals, birds or fish. The differentiation from animals is, as we shall see, of importance, because unlike animals the human being has a spiritual dimension and is conscious of his or her existence. But because of human superiority over animals and because of the usually peaceful coexistence between man an animals on earth, the human being contents himself with stating the differences between man an animals in their physical nature and intellectual capacities; the difference between man an animals is a positive one because it strengthens the position of the human being and is therefore of psychological rather than of truly existential importance to the definition of a "human person". Anyuak existence would probably be much less problematic if their universe were simply divided into a spiritual sphere above (of God) and an earthly sphere of existence below (of humans, animals, etc.). The problem of human society is aggravated by the fact that the nature of human being is not the same in all people, that there exist treacherous elements which side with the spiritual, nonhuman matters and find tremendous pleasure in torturing an killing other human beings. A "human being" is therefore not necessarily a "human person" but can, in spite of his or her human appearance, very well have supernatural, i.e. inhuman qualities. When Anyuaks define a "human person", they primarily think of these cetergories of existence: while the difference to animals and the one to invisible spiritual matters in the sky does not need to be stressed, the differentiation between real human persons and people of mainly spiritual nature has to be emphasised and made perfectly clear because it is a differentiation within the same category of earthly appearances, the category of human beings. The human beings thus are divided into "persons" and "non-persons", the former defined by purely human values, the latter depending upon spiritual attributes. If one wonders "Who is walking over there?", anyuaks never give a precise answer such as "These are people coming from Ajwara" but simply say what in their opinion is the most and the only essential "Be jiy di piny", "These are people of the earth", i.e. earthly, not spiritual existences, they are normal people. This expression shows clearly that a true human person is closely linked to the earth, while spiritual non-persons of course are rather related to the sphere of the sky, to immaterial spirituality. To be a "human person" is the most positive thing an Anyuak can say about her or himself. Here, there is no idea of humanity as a fault of the humans'' imperfection and need for salvation, on the contrary, the human person is the only positive and solid criterion on which all other matters are to be judged. The term "dhano", person, thus qualifies or disqualifies somebody as a human being. Soemtimes, one does hear it in a positive sense, as in the already mentioned examples or when for example a difficult discussion is to be put on a constructive level by saying "yini dhano thuoo", i.e. "you are a human being like me" (and should therefore not argue as if you were a sorcerer); usually, however, one applies the term to disliked or even hated people, by calling them "non-persons", i.e. "pa dhano". A man walking naked in a big village (like Akobo or Otalo) is today considered to be mad (at least if he never wars clothes) and thus said to be "no person any more" ("pa dhano ket") and consequently left in peace (even by the police). In such a context, to be a non-person is synonymous with "to b mad" (bol): when for example my watercarrier in one of his frequent malaria attacks completely lost his mind and even forgot all the obligatory respect due to the king, walking with shoes in royal presence and even disregarding the king''s orders, he was not caught, tied up and slashed as normally would have been the case: "Let him be," the king said calmly, "he is no human person any more" (i.e. he does not know what he is doing).
This is an ascension manual heralding the golden age of enlightenment, activating the divinely intended plan of heaven on earth and restoring each being’s intended birthrights as divinely powerful, loving, and peace-conscious cocreators of heaven on earth, magically and easily, just for being. Only love is real.
