Considering the writing of Yi-Fu Tuan and the concept of space and place, the essay explores the similarities between what Robin Wall Kimmerer describes as becoming indigenous to place and what Stephen K. Levine describes as ecopoiesis. Both have the potential to serve as cross-cultural foundational concepts that can alter how contemporary societies shape the earth to meet human needs. The author relates this to her time spent outdoors during the Coronavirus pandemic developing a deeper connection to the place she calls home and poses consideration for further research and thought.
Florescence refers to flowering, a changing situation and development. Flowers are expressions of life support and contribute to both biodiversity and human vigour. Human aesthetic correspondences to flowers include the capacity to identify with flower species that become them. The ephemeral nature of flowers is an opportunity to reflect upon metamorphosis as a human and botanical experience. As an art material, flowers evoke experiences of sensory absorption and facilitate attunement to temporality, blossoming attributes and decomposition.
This article presents the method of Natural Therapy (NT) developed by Ronen Berger on the basis of the integration of the ideas of ecopsychology, expressive therapy and environmental education. The article starts by presenting basic NT theory and concepts; specifically, the concepts of touching nature, the triangular relationship (therapist-client-nature), and ritual, and continues with examples that illustrate how these concepts are implemented in practice. An example of its use with a student with an autism spectrum disorder is given. A description of the "Safe Place" program based on the application of NT in dozens of schools and kindergartens in Israel is provided, as well as some brief data on its effectiveness.
This essay explores a deep encounter between a photographer and the natural world. Slowing down and focusing in on a landscape, a moment when light brushes the earth alight after a storm, or, to gaze into an animal's eyes in the wild is like an awakening of our relationship with our earth. In times when we are increasingly disconnected or even separated from the wild, the therapeutic use of photography can draw us back into the intimacy that is at the essence of our own wild nature. It can restore hope and a relationship of compassion, care and appreciation of beauty and communion with our mother Earth.
Today national and international policy supports the inclusion of the natural environment in holistic health promotion [25]. It has become
This article attempts to systematically analyze methodological approaches and techniques for assessing the level of “ecological culture.” Some findings from the social and pedagogical research into the ecological culture of the population of St. Petersburg are presented. The value of the average level of ecological culture is discussed. The article highlights the contribution of environmental and sustainable development education to ecological culture.
Through dialectical viewpoints of relationality and personal knowing, this exploration seeks to weave meanings and connections between home, the natural world, and the expansiveness and relatedness of self. More than a mere static and individuated entity, the self is viewed here as a context of relational movements, situated between broader horizons of seamlessly interacting and dialectically open more-than-human worlds, through which the self accrues both depth and dynamic. From this basis the author explores the relationship between themes of belonging and autonomy within home, in Nature and the world, viewing these in relation to narrowed and sequestered experiences of a self related to substance use and addictions.
Paul Virilio (1932-2018) was a philosopher, urbanist and architectural critic. He is widely known for his conception of the "military model" of the growth of modern cities and the evolution of society. He introduced the concept of "dromology", meaning the study of speed as a philosophical category. He is the author of such books as Speed and Politics, The Information Bomb and The Original Accident. The selection of materials incudes the introductory remarks by Drew Burk, and an excerpt from Paul Virilio’s series of lectures entitled as “Grey ecology”
Psychologist, musician, composer Vadim Ryabikov - about co-creation with the natural world, geopoetics, ecological grief, psy-geographic music as a special way of human interaction with natural landscapes, transforming the experience of the landscape into aesthetic images that can change our attitude to the environment and have a healing effect on us and our life world.
This essay speaks to the reality of our invisible and visible interconnection with all life on the planet, with a focus on ecological grief as a powerful feeling which can awaken us to our authentic perception of our planet and our own eco-human needs. Ecological grief speaks to the necessity of reawakening our heart and our connection with the earth, to help us remember how to attune to and trust our emotions and feelings related to human and natural ecology.
The interview begins with the author summarizing his new book, Dump Philosophy, in which he gives a phenomenological description of the devastated world we live in today. Hierarchy has been replaced by a levelling process in which the boundaries and distinctions between different regions of being no longer obtain. As he says, “All the world’s a dump.” There is no position outside of the dump that is uncontaminated. In response to the interviewer’s objections, he goes on to say that neither art nor philosophy constitute exceptions to this process. Rather, what we must do is be faithful to the experience of the dump itself and not look for exceptions elsewhere. Even the very air we breathe has become part of the dump in which we exist. We must engage in “…learning to be in the middle…even in and especially if one is in the middle of a dump.”
Despite many reasons for pessimism, the author of the article defends Tuchin’s claim, arguing the threat of global ecological destruction provides the incentive to further develop our capacity for cooperation, not only through international relations, but through the way we organize societies and its institutions and the built-up environments we create. To coordinate the quest for a peaceful, ecologically sustainable world order, or ‘ecological civilization’, we need to articulate a new dialogic grand narrative based on ecological rather than mechanistic thinking to inspire people to work towards this end. We need to acknowledge the absolutely central place in life to ecopoiesis, the making of households or homes, recognizing the contribution to architecture and town planning of the work of Christopher Alexander.
This paper presents the substantiation and results of the use of ecological art therapy in the rehabilitation of those who use psychoactive substances. The techniques of ecological art therapy are illustrated with examples from practical work in a day hospital and an outpatient culture and health club. The effects achieved in the process of creating art objects and installations from natural materials and photographing the environment testify to the versatile impact of this type of therapeutic work on the personality and mental state of individuals in rehabilitation.
The author was one of 13 artists invited to participate as an artist in residence programme organised by City Art Community and funded by the Jeju Culture and Art Foundation. The project was to be held on Jeju Island, South Korea, in August 2020, and the aim was for participants to research and respond creatively to Jeju scoria, a volcanic stone particular to this island. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the residency was cancelled. Instead, participants were sent a small quantity of scoria to work with in their respective countries. In this paper, the author reflects on the challenges of conducting an artist residency remotely, arguing that while this mode of working poses challenges, particularly in terms of access to authentic contexts and stimulation, it also provides an opportunity to explore new models of interaction.
The key presumptions and theoretical foundation of ecological, or nature-assisted creative arts therapies are considered from the perspective of the eco-human multi-disciplinary approach as defining the human being in a relation to the environment, and seeking to reveal one’s own subjectivity and to shape the world in order to fill one’s needs and take care of environmental well-being. Such key concepts of ecological arts therapies as an environmental perspective on health and illness, eco-identity formation, nature as the third part in the therapeutic relations, environmental and ecopsychology perception of the therapeutic setting, the role of the arts in providing meaningful human connection to nature are explained.
Newton Harrison presents his ideas about future eco-urban communities that are self-renewing and occupy a niche in the whole life web. He envisions these communities as centers for the regeneration of herding and farming, made up of groups of around 20,000 people that join together to occupy a new niche in the web of life rather than dominating or using nature. Newton's work reveals the social and cultural activities that need to be developed in order to create such communities, including forestry combined with ecologically knowledgeable herding, the newest forms of agriculture that are polycultural in nature, and an education system that is informed and involved in generating an eco-cultural, empathic community.
This article is based on the paper presented by Beverley A’Court at the first international web-based conference, “Ecological/Earth-Based Arts Therapies: International and Multi-Cultural Perspectives" (2020). It reveals the quality of tenderness expressed towards all life forms, exercised not only in relationships between people, but also in their relations with the more-than-human world. Many therapists are taking their sessions outdoors, however it is important to remember that 'Nature' is not just a backdrop or resource 'supermarket', but a dynamic, living field of diverse intelligences and subjects. The voice of every living being has a place in this 'orchestra', contributes to the whole 'symphony' and must be attended to for psycho-ecological well-being and survival.
This article was adapted from Dr. Parker-Bell’s keynote presentation which described her process of designing and teaching a studio art and self-care class to graduate level art therapy students at Florida State University during the COVID 19 pandemic. Due to the limiting factors of required online teaching platforms and virtual engagement, promoting self-care and connection through artmaking became a challenging objective. Consequently, Dr. Parker-Bell incorporated eco-art therapy components into the course design. Sixteen students were invited to select three eco-art therapy articles and explore represented eco-art therapy concepts in nature. Students opted to explore nature alone or together with instructor and peers if they remained in the Tallahassee area.
This essay speaks to the reality of our invisible and visible interconnection with one another and all life on the planet, with a focus on the plants and trees as healers who can awaken us to our authentic selves. It speaks to the necessity of reawakening our connection with the earth no matter where we live, city or country, to help us remember how to attune to and trust our own senses. It is an exploration of the need to reweave experiential wisdom as found and felt in our own bodies with our intellectual understandings, as this is liberating, builds confidence, and evokes joy which is healing in and of itself.
One of the pioneers and leaders of the eco-art movement, Newton Harrison, presents the Sensorium, a work of art and of science that sets out to provide a whole systems visualization of the problems that the world ocean faces, as well as potential solutions to these problems. The Sensorium is an immersive environment, a fully interactive 3-dimensional human-centered interface, where the floors, walls and even the ceiling act as “live” surfaces, connected to real time data, information and modeling / simulation tools. Sensorium can operate as a generalized pre-emptive planning environment where oceanographic problems, mostly of human creation, can be seen and acted upon.
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