EDITORIAL: ECOPOIESIS DURING THE GLOBAL CRISIS

EDITORIAL: ECOPOIESIS DURING THE GLOBAL CRISIS

How does it stand with ecopoiesis in this period of global conflict? It would be easy to lose sight of our underlying concern for the fate of the earth when reading the everyday headlines. The human suffering involved is heart-breaking. We see images of death and destruction, as well as the immense migrations in which millions of people are forced to leave their homes. We should not look away from these.

At the same time, however, the ecological devastation is also enormous. The earth itself is suffering from the violence, as shells land everywhere and the air and water are filled with the pollution which they bring. Moreover, the harvest is being destroyed, and the grain which has been harvested has nowhere to go, raising the possibility of widespread famine. Ecological devastation, human suffering and violence are always intertwined.

In fact, we could think of this conflict as the negation of ecopoiesis. Violence occurs when one party attempts to impose its will on the other. Both then necessarily become involved in a struggle based on domination. In Nietzsche’s philosophy, the Will to Power is seen as basic to every form of life. However, we do not understand this basic drive as the will to dominate others. Rather, it is best seen as the drive to become fully alive with all one’s potential realized.

If we live in the period of the Anthropocene, this does not necessarily mean that we must bring destruction everywhere. It could also mean that we have a responsibility to help the earth become more earth itself, to help it realize its potential for flowering, for manifesting its being and appearing in all its beauty.

Ecopoiesis, then, could be understood as the way in which the earth itself comes to fruition. Poiesis is essentially ecopoiesis. The creative act takes place in the world, not only in our minds. As we become planetary beings, we are more and more aware that our fate is linked with that of other creatures, both human and non-human, all over the world, as well as with the ground on which we stand, the air we breathe, the water we drink and the warmth which sustains life.

We understand ecopoiesis as the way in which human beings can respond aesthetically, with all our senses, to the needs of the earth. We maintain that we have an aesthetic responsibility to the fate of the earth, to transform devastation into beauty. Ecopoiesis is the way in which we must carry out this responsibility.

Stephen K. Levine