NATRE’s Post

"A flat earth epistemology involves negligence in considering scientific data, poor biblical scholarship, the trivialization of well verified physical laws, and an irrational belief in secret conspiracies." Our knowledge of what our world truly looks like is important for our belief in the Creator God. Want to learn more about our earth? Go through this week's memo. Read more: http://fast.st/351 #FASTMissions #MondayMemo #TheFlatEarth

I'm heads-down writing against hard deadline to get new drop (*The Bigger Leap - An Ethics of NextCapitalism*) to publisher in time for Fall 2024 lecture series... Pre-dawn research stumbled upon a key insight for final chapter - [ desire is a communism ] - "Indigenuity". Daniel Wildcat develops the application of the concept to save the settler colonizers' from themselves, by re-imagining themselves and all the other animals, elements, plants, oceans, planets and skies as being in relationship. It's about denying and annihilating the historical hegemony empire and the Enlightenment have convinced humans is their right. In Dr. Wildcat's words: "At a fundamental level, Indigenuity is about imagination and creativity rooted in a People’s deep spatial and experiential relationship to the land, air, and water, and the life found therein." This becomes a pivotal concept for the closing chapter, the book itself - the work to be done by a post-Anthropocene kindred. https://lnkd.in/epnvYRBR #DanielWildcat #Indigenuity #PostAnthropocene #NextCapitalism #TheBiggerLeap #AnEthicsOfInsight

Grantee partner Wimblu has launched the ninth volume of their multimedia magazine. The theme for this edition is Language: "This edition observes the contours of language, traverses the rigid lines by which we have defined it, and acknowledges the consequences of naming, classifying, hierarchizing. But as the stories explore tongues and voices beyond the human, the definitions begin to soften and language is revealed as a living thread that weaves us into the world." In this collection of creative non-fiction stories, in several multimedia formats, authors from different realities and geographies reflect on language, bringing their perspectives and sensitivities to invite us to imagine, resign and de-construct language from the intersections of ecology, culture and spirituality. Explore this volume here: https://lnkd.in/dpXECbBV Subscribe to the Wimblu newsletter to receive the stories in your inbox: https://lnkd.in/dWZjCKte Learn more about this grantee partner: https://lnkd.in/dy57mD4t #SpiritualEcology #GranteePartner #Media #Storytelling

In my latest paper I wrote about nature in discourse, asking the question how we are supposed to understand and connect with nature when terms related to it have suffered. Political Landscape, Digital Ecosystem, Information Ecology, ... Yet, nature itself is defined is anything but humans or human creations. I had the immense honour to attend a talk by Dr Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of Braiding Sweetgrass. She talked about the itification of the natural world, addressing other species and the world around us as lifeless, and how that shapes perception and thinking. Dr Kimmerer also introduced us to her idea for the pronoun ki for other species: "Look at ki building a nest!", and it's plural kin "Do you see kin at the pond?" The English language is exposed to the commodification of the natural world driven by a capitalist system, and in turn struggles to confine meaning to nature discourse. As the world's most dominant language, it holds power and has influence. This is why I believe in the need for #renaturalizing the English language to improve the #HumanNatureConnection which will lead to a better relationship with, and treatment of the Earth. I invite you to join me in adopting (or at least try out) Kimmerer's #ki and #kin, and to be more aware of the language we use.

What do we (intentionally or unintentionally) subjugate or privilege when we are engaging with IK? I find this table from the paper, “Centering Indigenous Knowledges in ecology and beyond” by Gazing Wolf et al (2024) a useful starting point for engaging with Indigenous Knowledges (IK). Within the academy, discussions about IK seem to be the norm these days but it feels there is an implicit assumption that IK can be “integrated” into existing institutions and scientific disciplines and without those institutions and disciplines having to change. This assumption risks re-colonizing IK by continuing to perpetuate the privileging of western knowledges over others such as IK. A process of integration always carries with it some form of subjugation. For scholars and anyone engaging with IK, we all need to be having hard conversations with ourselves and our colleagues about our commitment to decolonizing disciplines, institutions, and ultimately ourselves. Full paper is linked here: https://lnkd.in/dJBbW4TY

Nostalgia post! As I was wrapping up my graduate degree, applying to a mix of academic, "alt-ac," and corporate roles, I was met by the assumption that, once you left academia, you were out forever. Happily, I don't think that's true. Today, I was listening to Duane Degler's talk on "Enabling exploratory discovery through taxonomy" at Taxonomy Bootcamp, and he talked through his involvement with the Texas Coastal Bend Collection (https://lnkd.in/gPWYcBVG) and how taxonomies (for geography, topics, assets, culture, activities, and more) supported discovery of photographs, oral histories, and more. All I could think was, "wow, this is such a beautiful illustration of digital humanities!" - which was a hot topic when I was in grad school. I may not be a professor today, but I am still surrounded by intellectual curiosity and quests for uncovering deeper meaning.

A 2023 review makes a strong case that hands-on observation of natural phenomena has both academic and psychological benefits. https://lnkd.in/ghztmMXZ

Here is my Learning Map for my science lesson about plants and their needs.

Join the Environmental Humanities Reading Group Thursday, August 15, 2:00 – 3:30 pm EDT on Zoom for a virtual conversation on the subject of “Roots.” Most plants form underground relationships with microbes and other species that inhabit the soil in order to survive. Plant roots are crucial in these formations: they interact with fungi to form symbiotic mycorrhizal webs for exchange of nutrients, or with bacteria to build resistances to novel pathogens, or even with sound vibrations to synchronize with changing environments. What happens to life above ground is deeply entangled with what roots do, don’t do, or undo below ground. At the same time, roots and practices of rooting/uprooting have long been critical figurations in the humanities and the arts, offering meaningful coherence to the unfathomable violences of slavery, forced assimilation and dispossession, genocide and extraction, bio- and necropolitics. By combining readings from the humanities and sciences, we aim to think/sense with the underground worlds of roots and their material-semiotic complexities. Register to attend on Zoom and receive the readings for the session: https://lnkd.in/eCu3kWpP This meeting is part of a New England Humanities Consortium (NEHC) project that aims to gather the lively energies surrounding plants today and the expertise of co-PIs Elaine Gan (Wesleyan University, Science and Technology Studies), Colin Hoag (Smith College, Anthropology), and Xan Chacko (Brown University, Science, Technology, and Society), and regional collaborators, and direct them toward the development of a cutting-edge, interdisciplinary curriculum. #EnvironmentalHumanities #EnvironmentalStudies #BotanicalHumanities #Plants #Roots

Because of its history, Americans are a diverse group of people today. This section on a growing nation will teach the answers to eight (8) questions on the U.S. Naturalization Test. Learn more at https://lnkd.in/eNSGWaAD #GreenSpiegelUS #AGrowingNation #PreparingForTheOath #USNaturalizationTest