“In times of bleakness, it is useful to revive our ability to imagine a better future.” Adrian J. Ivakhiv This is the text of a lecture that the author gave on August 16 of this year at the seminar “From the Anthropocene to the Symbiocene or Paths to a Life-Supporting Civilization” (Toulcův dvůr, Prague Hostivař, August 12-18, 2024). It discusses the birth of the idea of the Symbiocene (ecological civilization) and presents two…
Tag: Symbiocene
Glenn Albrecht: Enter the Symbiocene
In the Anthropocene, the so-called new normal is characterized by uncertainty, unpredictability, chaos, and relentless change. Shouldn’t we rather think of this era as a new abnormality? Environmental philosopher Glenn Albrecht argues that we need to move on from the Anthropocene story, and proposes the Symbiocene (from the Greek sumbiosis, or community) as the next epoch. The scientific meaning of the word “symbiosis” means living together in harmony…
Rediscovering our earthly emotions – an interview with environmental philosopher Glenn Albrecht
Glenn Albrecht is an Australian philosopher and ecologist who was for many years Professor of Sustainability at Murdoch University in Western Australia and is now an Honorary Associate Professor in the School of Geosciences at the University of Sydney. In his book Earth Emotions (2019), he argues that we have lost awareness of our deep and long-standing connection to nature and that we no longer have the words to…
Indigenous technologies could change the way we design cities – an interview with Julia Watson
“These LO-TEK technologies are born from symbiotic relationships with our environment, where humans live in symbiosis with natural systems. That’s where we need to move today. We are not superior, we are not working against nature or threatening it, we need to be in symbiosis with it. We need to change this idea of superiority to an understanding of symbiosis.” Julie Watson Julia Watson (born 1977) is an Australian landscape architect and…
Glenn Albrecht: Sumbiocracy
Glenn Albrecht (born 1953) is an Australian environmental philosopher, best known for coining the neologisms solastalgia and symbiocene. He is a theoretical and practical researcher on the relationship between ecosystems and human health. He is a pioneer in the field of research into "psychoterratic" or Earth-related mental health conditions - the concept of "solastalgia". He characterizes solastalgia as a form of emotional or existential anxiety caused by environmental changes;…
Jiří Zemánek: Where there is life, there are rights... or From the Anthropocene to the Symbiocene
“A new wave of change is flowing through the zeitgeist, bringing with it a desire for action, for fundamental change, and for humanity to be reintegrated into the community of Earth.” Cormac Cullinan This is an abbreviated text of a lecture on the rights of nature at the eighth seminar of the Pilgrim Anima Animalia and the Rights of Nature Association’s Traveling University of Nature in Horní Maršov, given on August 10, 2023. The steeply rising crisis…