Nicholas Wilkinson on our relationship to nature in a mass extinction

Join us for the Life Itself Research Community Call #6. In this call Nicholas Wilkinson dives into the the complex relationship between humans and nature.

Watch the Call Here

About the Call

In this Community Research call Nicholas Wilkinson dives into the complex relationship between humans and nature, with a focus on the concept of mass extinction and its implications.

Nicholas shares how we can think of our place in the world, and our relationship to nature, if we look at the story of an ongoing mass extinction, rather than the very different stories about the collapse (or triumph) of civilizations. An important difference is that the mass extinction did not start with industrialization, the enlightenment, or even agriculture, and it has not been caused by a particular human culture.

The discussion also touches on the challenges of reconciling modern scientific discoveries with traditional spiritual cosmologies, and the potential for nihilism or hopelessness in the face of environmental collapse.

Chapters

00:03:09: Towards a mass extinction

00:11:07 The myths of Easter Island

00:23:26 Nature, Power, and Social Justice

00:29:16 Challenges in Sustainable Culture Creation

00:35:48 Nature, Human World, and Meaning

00:42:17 Nihilism, Environment, and Human Responsibility

00:48:59 Finding meaning, and balancing collapse and creativity