If we truly want to change behaviours to lessen our impact on the natural world, how we perceive ourselves needs to be re-aligned to see that we are not the owners of this planet, merely custodians. We are members of the biosphere that constitutes planet Earth.
“a bewilderingly complex array of interrelated and unpredictably erratic fluctuations over which we have little or no control and which remind us that the whole world is a giant ecosystem with a sensitive biosphere that has taken 4.5 million years to evolve” (Guattari, F, 2009, p3)
Additionally, we are not creators of the world; we are simply visitors. This concept links in with Timothy Morton’s Hyperobject theory, discussed earlier.
Felix Guattari, a French philosopher, introduced a new way of thinking. Instead of following a self-idolising mind-set, revolving around the idea that humans were above everything else, (that was popular at the time) he designed a different path.
Guattari created the ‘three ecologies’ defined as mental, social and environmental. These ecologies redefine our relationships with our surroundings. In his essay ‘The Three Ecologies’, Guattari argues that our capitalist views need to be altered.
“The increasing deterioration of human relations with the socius, the psyche and nature is due not only to environmental and objective pollution but is also the result of a certain incomprehension and fatalistic passivity towards these issues as a whole, among both individuals and governments.” (Guattari, F, 2008, p27)
We need to redefine our relationships, not only to ourselves but also to the socius, a term Deleuze coined in earlier work referring to the platform in which subjects communicate, as well as our relationship to the environment. To do this we will need to re-evaluate purpose in objects and human interaction.
“In order to have an impact on individual and collective life, mental ecology does not presuppose the importing of concepts and practices from a specialised ‘psychiatric’ domain. It demands instead, that we face up to the logic of desiring ambivalence where it emerges — in culture, everyday life, work, sport, etc. — in order to re-evaluate the purpose of work and of human activities according to different criteria than those of profit and yield.” (Guattari, F, 2009, p38)
Capitalism, is a political and economic system, organized and run by private owners seeking to maximise their profits, regardless of the impact on individuals and the environment. This system, driven for personal profit, causes an imbalance of wealth and hierarchy, not only socially, but also globally.
The combined wealth of third world countries is significantly less than some individual citizen’s in the developed world. This has raised many moral and ethical dilemmas, for example, ‘How can one person have more money than an entire country?’ and ‘Where is the equality?’
“The only true response to the ecological crisis is on a global scale, provided that it brings about an authentic political, social and cultural revolution, reshaping the objectives of the production of both material and immaterial assets” (Guattari, F, 2009, p18).
To combat these inequalities, we will have to reshape our thoughts on many different factors such as politics and industry. Mark Maslin who writes, “The problem is that global warming is not just a scientific concern, but encompasses economics, sociology, geopolitics, local politics, and individuals’ choice of lifestyle” (Maslin, M, 2004, p1), supports this concept.
Furthermore, if we start to alter how we think, we will be able to comprehend our impact on the three objects defined by Guattari’s ecologies.
A similar, but slightly different mind-set that could alter our ‘survival of the fittest’ lifestyle attitude is Bruno Latour’s ‘Actor-Network Theory’. Bruno Latour is a French philosopher who developed this theory whilst working with numerous philosophers. ‘Actor-Network Theory’, in non-technical language, is the relationship between human and non-human interaction.
To see a network, we must be able to see both the human and non- human entities working together. The actors in ‘Actor-Network Theory’ are not just humans but everything we interact with. Latour is not suggesting that these objects have the same mental thought processes that humans do, but they have purpose when studying the network of interactions — they too can act on other objects.
To ignore the other ‘actants’ in these networks would be to skew the view of social structures, leaving us unable to see the network entity as a whole. This theory works for all interactions and supports Guattari’s ideas for an ecosophical change in mind-sets.
We can apply this theory to the Anthropocene, where the name alone, is a human orientated word. It is our interference with nature that has led to the dramatic change to the planets ecosystem. For example, if we never discovered fossil fuels, or applied their use in technological advancement, it would not have led to the environmental issues we are facing today.
Chris Jordan’s artwork Midway: Message from the Gyre provides an example of this network. In his ongoing project, Jordan photographs the carcasses of albatrosses who having eaten our plastic waste we have dumped in the sea have died.
This supports both Guattari and Latour’s demand in self-perception, as we are able to witness that our mass consuming, throw away society, is affecting not only ourselves, but also the animals and environment that share our planet.
Albatross’ forage for food over the Pacific Ocean and consume the waste we discard. They then feed these items to their young leading to a large volume of deaths within the population. Jordan wrote “For me, kneeling over their carcasses is like looking into a macabre mirror.” (Jordan, C, 2011) Having the plastic products outliving the carcass of the bird provides a window for us to see our impact on the planet. It highlights the causes and effects that have led to this point in time where we cannot argue that things need to change.
This macabre mirror Jordan references, reflects back on us, our temporality on this planet, that we are not superior to the planet; we are simply a member of a larger network. We must alter our mindset to be able to change our ways that benefit not only us but also the planet as a whole.
“Mental ecosophy will lead us to reinvent the relation of the subject to the body, to phantasm, to the passage of time, to the mysteries of life and death.” (Guattari, F, 2009, p22)
If we shift our mind-sets, we will have a better relationship with ourselves, how we interact with the planet, and our effects on it’s ecosystems.
