Deep Ecology - an Evening with John Seed

John Seed is a name that needs little introduction for those working hard for forest protection. He has worked for worldwide rainforests since 1979.

As he says, although many of our efforts succeeded, for every forest saved 100 have disappeared.

Clearly, you can’t save the planet one forest at a time. One green Earth or a bowl of dust.  Without a profound change of consciousness, we can kiss the forests goodbye, the ones we’ve "saved" alongside the rest.

Deep ecology is a key to the change we need. To deep ecology, underlying all the symptoms of the environmental crisis lies a psychological or spiritual root – the illusion of separation from the rest of the natural world which stems from anthropocentrism or human-centeredness.

Conditioned since the Old Testament to “subdue and dominate” nature, the modern psyche is radically alienated from the air, water and soil which underpin life and this is reflected in the rapid shredding of all natural systems in the name of economic development. Deep ecology reminds us that the world is not a pyramid with humans on top, but a web. We humans are but one strand in that web and as we destroy this web, we destroy the foundations for all complex life including our own.

While we maintain a self-image created in the matrix of anthropocentric culture, a shrunken and illusory sense of self that doesn't include the air and water and soil, we will experience nature as "outside" our self and fail to recognise that the nature "out there" and the nature "in here" are one and the same.

John’s presentation will include poetry and a couple of short processes that allow us to experience our ecological identity.

Enjoy this evening at the beautiful Barn on the Ridge with simple food and drinks available at the bar.