DEEP ECOLOGY AND THE CONSERVATION OF NATURE WITH JOHN SEED

DEEP ECOLOGY AND THE CONSERVATION OF NATURE

JOHN SEED

Reynard Street Neighbourhood House, 104A Reynard St, Coburg 

June 26, 6.30pm

John Seed will speak about how participating in direct actions in defence of rainforests led to his work in Deep Ecology and how Deep Ecology allows us to transform our pain for the world into empowered engagement.

"I have worked for worldwide rainforests since 1979. 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."

This evening will include poetry, song and some experiential processes that allow us to dispel the illusion of separation from the more-than-human world.

This is a hybrid event, both face to face and zoom. A link to the recording of the event will be sent to all who register.

By donation to Rising Tide