Every living organism dies, as do ecosystems and species, thereby perpetuating the “circle of life.” Life feeds on life; death indispensable to ecosystems and evolution itself. One species, however, has developed the capacity to anticipate (and therefore dread) death and commandeer the rest of creation in service to itself . With industrialization, anthropogenic species extinctions and ecosystem collapse, once limited… Read more »
Entropy. The degree of disorder within a system. The degradation of energy in the universe, leading to a state of inert uniformity (Merriam-Webster 2019). Entropy will inevitably lead life into stillness, into nothing. So what does this mean for us today? As humans living in/creating the Anthropocene, how does the entropic fate of life as we know it resonate into… Read more »
The contemplative practice that resonated most deeply with me was when our bodies were thought of as processes rather than static beings. I have found myself lost in thought regarding this idea, and I have enjoyed where my mind has gone when I get lost in this kind of thinking.My mind tends to make connections through a scientific lens, and… Read more »
In Learning to Die in the Anthropocene, Roy Scranton writes, “the conceptual and existential problems that the Anthropocene poses are precisely those that have always been at the heart of humanistic inquiry: What does it mean to be human? What does it mean to live?” (20). At the intersection of these unanswerable questions and humans’ amazing creative capacity is: art…. Read more »
The Anthropocene is the current geological epoch, where humans are the greatest influences on climate and the environment. Many people do not understand the extent of our impact, and neither did I until partaking in this project. The human ecological footprint goes far beyond what we typically believe. It includes the ecological impact (pawprint) that our beloved pets have on… Read more »
My group’s project was born from the question of how cultural worldviews and death interact and play out in the medium of art, inspired by Terror Management Theory detailed in Worm At The Core. We knew we wanted to work to break down death denial, and did this through two strains of our project. First, our Instagram (aptly named grievinggaia)… Read more »
As a group, we decided to focus on making a difference in the two most important issues of our time, climate change and biodiversity. Since these are “wicked problems” (Scantron, 51) that don’t offer a clear solution, we decided to tackle this carbon-fueled capitalist problem on a smaller scale. Our goal was to create a new information flow and educate… Read more »
The ballot initiative action project is a way of assuming agency as ecological disaster grows increasingly imminent. Harnessing individual ability and momentum for a collective effort is a way of acting out community and planetary oriented ideals. By working alongside other people, one is able to see the needs of “the self” as collective, and in this case, as ecological… Read more »
Initiative Measure No. 1665 concerns invasive species and agriculture. That is the ballot initiative that came into existence as a result of my groups action project. The point of this measure was to give agency to the council and authorities in regards to invasive species. It would also give the Department of Agriculture the permission and powers it requires to… Read more »
In drafting and submitting a ballot initiative for the state of Washington, I feel I gained information on how certain aspects of the legislative process work here. Going through the bureaucratic process was frustrating at times. The office of the Secretary of State was vague in its advice, and the King County Democratic party was unresponsive to our inquiries concerning… Read more »
My group did a pamphlet and discussion event on implementing Circular Economy in our dying Anthropocene era in hopes of changing our audiences mind to think more sustainable. In terms of relating to political ecology of death, we are giving our targeted audiences an alternative economic system and moving them away from our resource extraction economic system that is destroying… Read more »