As I begin to engage in the course material, I am feeling relieved. Although the concepts we are exploring weigh heavy in nearly every aspect of my life, it is so often a lonely or subconscious task to carry them! Addressing the ties between politics and ecology (especially through the lens of death) feels like an opportunity to tend to personal and conceptual isolation. In the interest of forming deeper connections, I am looking forward to examining what it means to be human in the Anthropocene together.

I’ve also encountered a fair amount of sadness already in engaging in the class materials. When looking at the ecological impact of human industry, I am distressed not only because of the death and destruction itself, but also because I am deeply invested in its continuation. As a member of an ecological system I may be horrified, but as an individual I am thrilled to have access to Costco hotdogs and Amazon two-day shipping. Thanks to the Ibe piece we read, I can think of this internal conflict as a sort of “policy resistance” – I’m encountering subsystems within me which are in conflict! I’m hopeful to explore this notion more as we progress through the class. Do other people feel this way? Can this conflict serve as the basis for the kind of “creative tension” we read about in the Schley piece?

I am also excited to be guided through contemplative practices as part of our course material. While watching the film Anthropocene, I was struck by the potency of the astronauts’ photograph of Earth from space – how collectively affected people seemed to be by this unique chance to look inward from outside of their normal perspective. Observing Earth from above, we’re invited to reflect: Which systems, at what scale, do we think about? (How) can they fit together? It is exciting to think of meditation as a similar form of exploration, in which I’m able to examine my own interrelated subsystems with new perspective.

Image source: NASA,  Apollo 8 Earthrise

Works Cited

Ibe, Khalil. “Summary of Thinking in Systems by Donella Meadows.” Medium, Medium, 2 May 2019, https://medium.com/@opuhasanopu/summary-of-thinking-in-systems-by-donella-meadows-b54aec0f40f8.

In “The Insect Apocalypse is Here,” the concept of an “Eremocine” stood out to me because I think it accurately reflects the way human social and economic activity have led to many species of wildlife becoming endangered or going extinct, and biodiversity has been significantly reduced. Furthermore, I believe that loneliness not only characterizes the current biological scene, but human interpersonal relationships as well. In many countries—namely the United States but also other countries which have historically held the most influence at the international diplomatic table or which have caused great environmental impact, such as the United Kingdom—the dominant worldview is individualistic. People are encouraged to work for their own personal gain rather than contribute in ways that benefit their whole community, and they are deprived of opportunities to connect with their community. I think that part of the reason why a small percentage of humans are responsible for huge environmental damage is this individualistic mentality, which urges people to do anything for personal profit and prevents them from feeling any responsibility for the wellbeing of others around them or for future generations.

The Keeney reading was interesting to me because it affirmed the beliefs I already had and it made me broaden my perspective to a more systemic level. As best as I can remember, I have never wanted to be immortal, at the very least because I think it would get boring. However, Keeney’s article prompted me to think more about why everyone being immortal would be harmful in many ways. I appreciated the perspective that aging is a natural and necessary process. I think that even though it is uncomfortable, it is important to grapple with and accept the fact that we all age and we all will die, so that we can do our best to have a positive impact in our short time here. I believe that accepting that nothing is infinite—our lives, our civilizations, the Earth’s natural resources—will lead us to create more opportunities for meaningful interpersonal connections and will help us construct more sustainable systems which produce less waste.

Jarvis, Brooke. “The Insect Apocalypse is Here.” The New York Times Magazine, 27 November 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/27/magazine/insect-apocalypse.html.

Keeney, Jonathon. “To Beat Death and Become Immortals, We First Must Defeat Entropy.” 22 December 2015, https://www.inverse.com/article/8867-to-beat-death-and-become-immortals-we-first-must-defeat-entropy.

Parsons, Leif. The New York Times: Opinionator, 18 Aug 2012, https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/18/deluded-individualism/.

“Changes” by Big Thief

My roommate recently mentioned that when she introduces me to people, she leads with my name and the fact that I want to decompose in the woods. This apparently essential part of my personality has become a running joke, but it came from a very genuine place – about a year ago, in the depths of quarantine and going a bit stir-crazy in a small apartment, I had a crisis about what I wanted to do with my life. Unsatisfied with my economics major and disillusioned by my classes, I despaired that I would only be happy if I was surrounded by earth.

Thus, this class. I am particularly drawn to the relationship between things – between humans and the natural world of which we are inextricably a part and on which we depend, between global-capitalist economic systems and the consumerist culture we have developed, between the vibrancy of life and the inevitability of death that gives it meaning. All this, combined with the facts that I am easily moved to tears and love the feeling of dirt under my fingernails, leads me to ecology and death and the anthropocene.

I was raised to be quite blasé about death, my parents sending my brothers and I to an atheist camp for our middle school summers. (Think church camp, but trade psalms for the scientific method.) Then, I came to college, had long conversations with my Quaker roommate, and realized I was drawn to the natural circle of life. As we discuss resilient systems, I remember the life cycles of forests, and how fallen trees become nurse logs for new growth. If I think about that for too long, I’ll cry.

I am taking this class because I am drawn to these conversations about what gives life meaning. Two quotes come to mind: In a Classics course I took here at UW, we looked at ancient graffiti on the walls of Pompeii which described love as “eternal fame, to be sung throughout the whole world forever/ so even when I am given to the final flames, I’ll live.” And from a character on the TV show The Good Place: “I argue that we choose to be good because of our bonds with other people.” Our relationships with each other and with the world can, I believe, give us a clue as to how we approach death and how we live our lives.

     When I first signed up for this course I was a little nervous as to what it would entail. “The Political Ecology of Death in the Anthropocene” is a fairly daunting title compared to my other classes. However, once class began and we delved into our discussions I realized that I made the correct decision for what class to take. Coming from an Episcopal background, I had a pretty cut-and-dry view of what death might look like and how to approach it: once someone dies they are gone from this earth. My understanding of death was limited to viewing it as an end and a beginning, nothing more nothing less. It wasn’t until my Aunt gifted me my first deck of tarot cards that my view of death shifted. In the tarot world, the death card is regarded as a positive card symbolizing transformation. After delving more into the realm of tarot, and encountering my first significant experience with death I have come to realize that while there is no one way of thinking about death it is definitely something that should be thought about. 

     My hope for this class is to be able to expand my thinking around death with people who are as intrigued and comfortable with it as I am. As shown in the image below, death looks very different to every person and I hope to gain insight into the different ways people my age approach the concept of death/transformation especially in regards to political ecology and the anthropocene. 

      I admit that while I am an environmental studies major, my relationship with death has been deeply personal and I have largely failed to think about death on a larger scale. I am interested in expanding my thinking to consider how death plays into human systems and impacts modern politics. I think this class is very important and develops on ideas that we as students need to consider about how we regard death as the future world leaders. I am excited to continue to develop my relationship with death and tie my personal experiences in with the dynamics of politics and the anthropocene.