EARTHLINGS
DESIGNING A CIRCUALR FUTURE!
EARTHLINGS
EARTHLINGS
Humans, being not the only species on the planet, share this world with millions of other creatures who all evolved here together. Since we all inhabit this planet, we are all considered part of this world… so called Earthlings. However, it is the human earthling that tends to dominate the earth, oftentimes treating other living beings as mere objects, and that is what is meant by the term speciesism. In analogy with racism and sexism, speciesism means being biased in members of your own species, whilst against those of others. Racists violate this principle by highlighting members of their own race as superior to other races. Sexists violate it by giving greater weight to the interests of their own sex. Similarly, speciesists allow the interest of their own species to exploit those of other species.
Every human is a somebody and not a something, thus members of the human family recognize the moral imperative of respect toward each other. An act of disrespect is targeted at those who stand less powerful in the relationship between two parties, treating the other member as nothing more than a resource to exploit. The child-molestor does this to the child molested, the rapist does it to the victim of rape, the master does it to the slave. In each of such cases the one who possesses power exploits those who lack it.
Undoubtedly there are differences between our species, humans and animals are not the same in all respects, however the question of being the same is more complex. Animals do not have all the desires which we humans possess, they do not comprehend everything that we comprehend. Nonetheless, we and they do have some of the same desires and comprehend some of the same things. A desire for companionship, freedom of movement, shelter, food, water and foremost an avoidance of pain. Like us, animals embody a consciousness, meaning they are not only in this world, they are aware of it and comprehend what's happening all around them, they are the psychological centers of a life that is uniquely their own. In these fundamental respects, humans and animals are alike.
Nevertheless, as the dominant species of this planet, what we do affects all other creatures of the earth, without them having too much to say about it. Thus, we as human beings have a great responsibility in how we handle what's to come. This means that we always have to adapt to how the world looks today, how systems such as energy, infrastructure and food are structured and function from an ecological and economic point of view. We must also take account of the social aspects that arise when changing these systems, the population we have to support and the standard of living we desire for humans as well as the animals… all the earthlings of this planet.
-Earthlings
EARTHLINGS
ANTHROPOCENE
The Anthropocene, a geological epoch which can be defined as the period in which human activity has affected the earth's landscape, climate, geology, limnology and ecosystem on a global scale. Effects such as loss of biodiversity and global warming, what could eventually lead to anarchy and the end of humankind as we know it. The demise of Easter island is an intriguing example of this which captures our existence on this planet at the core human domination. The island's isolated location and finite raw materials can be viewed as a metaphor for earth's isolated stature in space. Through years of overexploitation and overconsumption of the islands resources it finally started to crumble, this arose to civil war, anarchy and cannibalism which in turn led to an economic collapse.
This metaphor aligns perfectly with the model of the Planetary boundaries, a concept stated by the scientist Johan Rockström which is a map of all of our effects on the earth today. It involves nine boundaries, including; Climate Change, Biosphere integrity, Land system change, Freshwater use, Biogeochemical flow, Ocean Acidification, Atmospheric aerosol loading, Stratospheric ozone depletion and Novel entities. As of last year we have passed through the threshold of 6 out of the 9 boundaries, where the red zones are areas which are hard, or close to impossible to reverse.
Looking at the world as it is today; Is it in human nature to find a resource and exploit it until extinction and then do it all again? It's weird that we don't learn, that we don’t change. Individual efforts is a must to spark a revolution in this field, however, for a big change, big solutions are needed, solutions which let people go on about their lives as they always have. Products already produced are in abundance, and in using what we already have to make new stuff instead of treating it as waste we take a step in the right direction toward a sustainable future. CL Ståle tries to contradict conventional means of capitalism where we, instead of extracting new resources, we instead use what’s already mined, what's already cut down and what's already harvested… in a closed loop system.
EARTHLINGS
EARTHLINGS