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
