Whole Earth Thinking and Planetary Coexistence: Ecological wisdom at the intersection of religion, ecology, and philosophy

164 Pages·2015·0.923 MB·English

by  Sam Mickey

Whole Earth Thinking
and Planetary Coexistence
Like never before in history, humans are becoming increasingly interconnected
with one another and with the other inhabitants and habitats of Earth. There are
numerous signs of planetary interrelations, from social media and international
trade to genetic engineering and global climate change. The scientific study
of interrelations between organisms and environments, Ecology, is uniquely
capable of addressing the complex challenges that characterize our era of plane-
tary coexistence.
Whole Earth Thinking and Planetary Coexistence focuses on newly emerging
approaches to ecology that cross the disciplinary boundaries of sciences and
humanities with the aim of responding to the challenges facing the current era of
planetary interconnectedness. It introduces concepts that draw out a creative con-
trast between religious and secular approaches to the integration of sciences and
humanities, with religious approaches represented by the “geologian” Thomas
Berry and the whole Earth thinking of Stephanie Kaza and Gary Snyder, and the
more secular approaches represented by the “geophilosophy” of poststructuralist
theorists Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari.
This book will introduce concepts engaging with the ecological challenges of
planetary coexistence to students and professionals in the fields of environmental
studies, philosophy, and religious studies.
Sam Mickey is an adjunct professor in the Theology and Religious Studies
Department at the University of San Francisco, USA.
Routledge Environmental Humanities
Series editors: Iain McCalman and Libby Robin
Editorial Board
Christina Alt, St Andrews University, UK
Alison Bashford, University of Cambridge, UK
Peter Coates, University of Bristol, UK
Thom van Dooren, University of New South Wales, Australia
Georgina Endfield, University of Nottingham, UK
Jodi Frawley, University of Sydney, Australia
Andrea Gaynor, The University of Western Australia, Australia
Tom Lynch, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, USA
Jennifer Newell, American Museum of Natural History, New York, US
Simon Pooley, Imperial College London, UK
Sandra Swart, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
Ann Waltner, University of Minnesota, US
Paul Warde, University of East Anglia, UK
Jessica Weir, University of Western Sydney, Australia
International Advisory Board
William Beinart, University of Oxford, UK
Sarah Buie, Clark University, USA
Jane Carruthers, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa
Dipesh Chakrabarty, University of Chicago, USA
Paul Holm, Trinity College, Dublin, Republic of Ireland
Shen Hou, Renmin University of China, Beijing
Rob Nixon, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA
Pauline Phemister, Institute of Advanced Studies in the Humanities, University
of Edinburgh, UK
Deborah Bird Rose, University of New South Wales, Australia
Sverker Sorlin, KTH Environmental Humanities Laboratory, Royal Institute of
Technology, Stockholm, Sweden
Helmuth Trischler, Deutsches Museum, Munich and Co-Director, Rachel Carson
Centre, LMU Munich University, Germany
Mary Evelyn Tucker, Yale University, USA
Kirsten Wehner, Head Curator, People and the Environment, National Museum
of Australia
The Routledge Environmental Humanities series is an original and inspiring
venture recognising that today’s world agricultural and water crises, ocean pollu-
tion and resource depletion, global warming from greenhouse gases, urban sprawl,
overpopulation, food insecurity and environmental justice are all crises of culture.
The reality of understanding and finding adaptive solutions to our present and
future environmental challenges has shifted the epicenter of environmental studies
away from an exclusively scientific and technological framework to one that
depends on the human-focused disciplines and ideas of the humanities and allied
social sciences.
We thus welcome book proposals from all humanities and social sciences dis-
ciplines for an inclusive and interdisciplinary series. We favour manuscripts
aimed at an international readership and written in a lively and accessible style.
The readership comprises scholars and students from the humanities and social
sciences and thoughtful readers concerned about the human dimensions of
environmental change.
Rethinking Invasion Ecologies from the Environmental Humanities
Jodi Frawley and Iain McCalman
The Broken Promise of Agricultural Progress
An environmental history
Cameron Muir
The Biosphere and the Bioregion
Essential writings of Peter Berg
Cheryll Glotfelty and Eve Quesnel
Sustainable Consumption and the Good Life
Interdisciplinary perspectives
Edited by Karen Lykke Syse and Martin Lee Mueller
The Anthropocene and the Global Environmental Crisis
Rethinking Modernity in a new Epoch
Edited by Clive Hamilton, Christophe Bonneuil and François Gemenne
Nature, Environment and Poetry
Ecocriticism and the poetics of Seamus Heaney and Ted Hughes
Susanna Lidström
Whole Earth Thinking and Planetary Coexistence
Ecological wisdom at the intersection of religion, ecology, and philosophy
Sam Mickey
Endangerment, Biodiversity and Culture
Edited by Fernando Vidal and Nélia Dias
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“Sam Mickey has produced an insightful study of the intersection of religion,
ecology, and philosophy. Drawing on such seminal thinkers as Thomas Berry,
Gilles Deleuze, and Félix Guattari, the author weaves an engaging narrative of a
way toward Whole Earth thinking.”
Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim, Forum on Religion and
Ecology at Yale University, USA
“Philosophically precise, ethically capacious, and accessibly written, Whole Earth
Thinking and Planetary Coexistence is a wonderful addition to discourses on
religion, philosophy, and ecology. Sam Mickey’s careful and generous depictions
of geophilosophy (informed by Deleuze and Guattari) and earth community
(informed by Thomas Berry and others) serve as helpful guides to some of the
vexing environmental issues facing different parts of the planet in the present day.
His treatments of various religious and philosophical traditions demonstrate
the vitality of multiple ways of human knowing and relating in an era of ecologi-
cal change. Both erudite and accessible, this text is a wonderful guide for students
and will also serve as a useful resource for interdisciplinary scholars of environ-
mental philosophy and religion and ecology.”
Christiana Z. Peppard, Fordham University, USA
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Whole Earth Thinking
and Planetary Coexistence
Ecological wisdom at the intersection
of religion, ecology, and philosophy
Sam Mickey
First published 2016
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa
business
© 2016 Sam Mickey
The right of Sam Mickey to be identified as author of this work has been
asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Mickey, Sam, 1981–
Whole earth thinking and planetary coexistence : ecological wisdom at
the intersection of religion, ecology, and philosophy / Sam Mickey.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Ecology—Philosophy. 2. Ecology—Religious aspects.
3. Environmental responsibility. 4. Environmental responsibility—
Religious aspects. I. Title.
QH540.5.M54 2015
577—dc23 2015000496
ISBN: 978-1-138-88854-8 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-71335-9 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Keystroke, Station Road, Codsall, Wolverhampton
Contents
1 Introduction 1
2 Ecology: a household word 17
3 A geologian meets geophilosophers 32
4 Integrating environments, societies, and subjects 50
5 Roots of ecological wisdom 65
6 Reinventing the human 83
7 Emerging Earth community 97
8 Cosmic connections 109
9 Narrative imagination, dangerous dreams 120
10 Energy 132
11 Conclusion 144
Index 151