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Ecological Mindfulness

Persistence's picture

There are 3 particular readings that I have enjoyed thus far in class. These readings include: “The Ecological Thought” by Timothy Morton, “Sick of Nature” by David Gessner, and “The Land and Language of Desire” by Suellen Campbell. I believe these three articles share a similar and positive/ opportunistic view point about ecological thinking. Morton wrote about how ecology shows us that all beings are connected and that the ecological thought is the thinking of interconnectedness and coexistence. I also think some points (e.g. “‘Nature’“is an artificial construct” (pg.11)) in the article contradict the overall premise of what he is trying to say about ecological thinking.  He argues that the ecological thought is an integration between the attitude of science, the arts and humanities, and even relationships among one another. I guess I am having trouble understanding what he means by, “one of the things that modern society has damaged, along with ecosystems and species and the global climate, is thinking.”  I think it is a bit contradicting for him to define what ecological thinking is and say how nature destroys thinking while arguing that everything is interconnected. I, personally, have my own opinion and definition on what interconnectedness and nature are, so I got a bit confused while reading about the ecological thought. I would like to explore more about that through Gessner’s article on how we shouldn’t separate nature from ourselves and Campbell’s point on ecology and post-structuralism, nature and textuality, humanized landscapes and uninhabited wilderness, and network and desire. I also want to explore how this can be tied back to the classroom.