“The climate crisis is tied to the ways fossil fuels are baked into our lives, belongings, and occupations. It thrives on how our fractured societies justify the mistreatment of ourselves and our resources.” —Extinction Rebellion

Scientists are raising the alarm that the global impact of humanity’s relentless push against Nature’s integrity will drive our species over the precipice as is already happening for many of the other life forms. The famed biologist E.O. Wilson put it succinctly: “The human impact on biodiversity…is an attack on ourselves.” He expressed doubt that humans would survive for more than a few months if we continue to eradicate our insect populations. We are afraid of insects and unwarrantedly pesticide them to death, but love the honey that bees provide us with.

Although Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring became the launchpad for action against the destruction of Nature through the use of pesticides 60-plus years ago, her book is not considered mandatory reading in schools and might even be part of the ritual of book prohibitions that festers throughout many US school systems. At the same time, herbicides and pesticides are an ever-increasing multi-billion-dollar ecocidal industry.

Is it any wonder that the well-known word “Anthropocene,” which denotes the predatory ascent of humans over all ecological systems as well as our climate through industrial society’s commodification of Nature, is now joined by other words that describe humanity’s destructive preoccupation since the Holocene?

Increasingly Wilson’s term “Eremocene” (the age of loneliness) fits our predicament, as humankind over this century sends thousands of species to their extinction, leaving us with far fewer fellow Earthly creatures and ultimately leading to our doom.

The Plantationocene speaks of the runaway colonization of the planet’s forests, such as in the Amazon for industrial cattle farming or expanding agribusinesses for soya bean production, in Indonesia for palm oil monoculture, or in Canada’s boreal forests, which have been converted into the enormous polluter that is the Alberta tar sands. In fact, for many historians the word “civilization” can no longer characterize or be the narrator of a shift away from mindless obsessed capitalism, as civilization and colonialism have been inextricably linked for too long and there are too many negative consequences associated with both.

Then there is the Pyrocene: the age of unstoppable wildfires unquestionably caused by fossil fuels.

The list goes on.

Our epoch has created the age of solastalgia, which is a homesickness that permeates societies without our leaving our homes: the memories of a better place where we have lived. “Solastalgia” describes a dread for where our beloved local spaces will eventually rupture to, or, even more encompassing, for the slow untangling fate of the Earth’s biosphere. Glenn Albrecht, writing in The Conversation, warned: “Either we face a pandemic of solastalgia and related negative psychoterratic syndromes as a result of the havoc created by unsustainable development and climate change, or we use our intelligence and creativity to give rise to a world where our positive psychoterratic emotions can thrive.” https://tinyurl.com/home-anxiety

The word “psychoterratic” joins two ideas: “psyche,” for the mind and soul, and “terra,” for the Earth. The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh defines psychoterratic syndromes as “mental health conditions caused by the impact of environmental change and disasters on individuals. Examples include eco-anxiety, ecological grief (eco-grief), solastalgia, and climate trauma.” https://tinyurl.com/earth-with-mental-health The younger generations in particular feel trapped in a spiral of ecological unraveling.

However, positive Earth emotions and feelings expressed as biophilia, topophilia, ecophilia and eutierria can be embraced and be a beacon to balance and overcome seemingly insurmountable crises. The geographer Yi-Fu Tuan described topophilia as the love of place and landscape. Wilson used the term “biophilia” to describe humankind’s innate love for Nature and other species, such that emotion counters the exploitative relationship with Nature, as does ecophilia, which can cure ecophobia.

The word ”eutierria” builds on biophilia, as it describes a deep connection and a dismantling of barriers with Nature in one’s consciousness, thereby creating a good and positive feeling of oneness with the Earth and its life forces. This feeling is one where the separation between self and the rest of Nature disappears and peace and connectedness pervade our consciousness. When the human—Nature relationship is immediate and mutually engaging (symbiotic), we experience an emotional state of eutierria, which contrasts with dread and eco-anxiety.

The late Joanna Macy proposed The Great Turning as a positive pathway through the Age of Unraveling, which is characterized by ecological collapse and societal fragmentation. The Great Turning represents a fundamental shift away from a civilization that depletes to a way of life that nourishes. Bioregionalism, inter-generational dialogues, profound cultural spirituality, deep ecology movements, cooperative economies, renewable energy micro-grids and watershed restoration projects will lead the way past fancy names towards a powerful human—Nature relationship. Macy said: “The most remarkable feature of this historical moment on Earth is not that we are on the way to destroying the world—we’ve actually been on that path for quite a while. It is that we are beginning to wake up, as from a millennia-long sleep, to a whole new relationship to our world, to ourselves, and to the future we can still create.” Taking action, according to Macy, leads to efforts to slow down damage to the Earth and its beings, including policy changes, legal battles, and resistance to destructive systems. https://tinyurl.com/Macy-turning

The long journey home is possible.

Humans, in order to survive, must go beyond the Anthropocene. Imagine the Symbiocene. The Symbiocene connects all beings in a harmonious interaction with all life. https://tinyurl.com/symbiotic-planet

Humanity is without question at a crossroads. It remains to be seen whether a young generation will radically depart from the industrial capitalist vision that has prevailed. It has no choice if it is to survive and prosper.

Meanwhile, for your delectation this upcoming Halloween, take a scary look at some of our watery neighbours. To see them is to love them and be thankful that they exist on Earth. https://tinyurl.com/deep-sea-creatures