River Places

'Place is what takes me out of myself, out of the limited scope of human activity ... A sense of place is a way of embracing humanity among all of its neighbors. It is an entry into the larger world' (Robert Michael Pyle interviewed in Pearson, 1996).

This comment from Robert Michael Pyle underlines the intertwining themes of this blog, that there is something larger, such as the complex interworkings of the ecosystem and something other - our neighbours be they animal, plant or river. This assumption threads an animistic perception of the cosmos with what ecophilosopher David Abram calls a 'sensorial empathy' with the living earth.

By this he means the engagement with all our senses, a heightened awareness of nature through taste, touch, smell, hearing and feeling which brings us into a deep empathetic moment, one that, through the body's responsiveness to the natural world, can stimulate or awaken a sense of responsibility for the earth.

I watched today as joggers, locked into their electronica, zipped past the jewelled blue wrens singing in the day, and perhaps too were oblivious to a magical happening taking place beneath the bushes along the riverbank.

The Brush Turkey has built a huge mound of earth and leaves, a nestling place for eggs. Father Turkey, resplendent with his bright yellow wattle and bright red headdress, was carefully watching over this ecological incubator. His mound is about 2 metres round and almost a metre high. Very grand. The decaying foliage generates heat and keeps the eggs a constant temperature of around 33C. Add more dirt and leaves when it gets cold. Slough them off when it gets warmer. Father Turkey has prime responsibility of this site and needs to keep predators at bay.

Being witness to such wondrous events links me more deeply to the movements of this river-place. Each day there is more to see and more to learn. David Abram (1995:314) suggests such places offer 'vital sources of nourishment'. Separated from such places, we not only lose access to those 'vital sources of nourishment' but also perhaps we lose a sense of who we are. Who we are as nature as well as human is paved over within a high density urban habitat, swelling traffic and an increasingly internalised and indoor lifestyle.

The other evening, at a different river place, I watched joggers and exercisers encased behind glass at the local gym. No one was out running along the river bank or walking their dogs. No one was simply out for an evening stroll. It was a warm still night and the river was glorious as the urban lights twinkled their reflection on the water.

References
Abram David, 1995, 'The Ecology of Magic,' in Theodore Roszak, Mary E. Gomes & Alan D. Kanner, eds., Ecopsychology. Restoring the Earth. Healing the Mind, San Francisco, Sierra Club.
Abram David, 1998, 'Trust Your Senses,' Resurgence, 187, Mar./Apr., 13-15.
Abram David, 2004, 'Earth Stories.' Resurgence, 222, http://www.resurgence.org/resurgence/issues/abram222.htm
Pearson Michael, 1996, 'Robert Michael Pyle,' In John Elder, ed., American Nature Writers, Volume 2, 733-39, New York, Charles Scribner's Sons.

Animism - The Grace of Wild Things

Terry Tempest Williams says in her delicious book Red, 'to protect what is wild is to protect what is gentle. Perhaps the wildness we fear is the pause beteen out own heartbeats, the silent space that says we live only by grace. Wild mercy is in our hands' (2001:215).

Today I watched the bulldozer at work and wondered if the driver was aware of why his machine is called a 'bull' dozer. I wondered it has something to do with the imagined temperament of the bull as determined and consequential, or the cultural origins of the bull fight in Spain where the savage dance between bull and human ends with the bull's death. Or perhaps it dates back earlier to the Minotaur, the fearsome half-bull/half-man of Ancient Greece who was outwitted by the hero Theseus using the canny trick of Adriadne's thread to find his way out of the Minotaur's terrible labyrinth. Or perhaps it dates back to the smothering of Pagan beliefs from pre-Christian days, when Bulls were honoured.

In the famous cave of Lascaux in France, the Bull is stands out as a reverential creature whose painted body is considered 'unique because still today the brushstrokes make it appear to be rich, velvelty, and soft' (Grand 1967 in K. C. & M. S., 1998). The Bull was hunted and in paleolithic times, hunting Bulls was a dangerous undertaking. I can well imagine the rituals that may have accompanied the hunt, as hunters called on the spirits of place and their ancestors to ensure a successful hunt and for protection. The interaction between hunter and animal was respectful.

But the way the term bull is used in this culture is often derogatory. And yet, as Graham Harvey (2006:99) notes in his marvellous book Animism: Respecting the Living World, 'animals are people too'. An animistic worldview shifts the treatment and recognises 'that the world is full of persons, only some of whom are human, and that life is always lived in relationship with others (Harvey, 2006:xi). Harvey makes the point that the perception of humans as animals is problematic. There is a presumption in this (western) culture at least that animals are not like 'us', are not 'us', and thus they can be depicted as 'other' and treated as such - just as humans can also be 'treated like animals' (113).

Harvey proposes that animism be regarded in the same vein as ecological philosophies and activitism. In the process he suggests a change from the expression 'environmentalism' towards 'ecological ethics'. An ethical stance towards the living earth and the other-than-human is interwoven with what he maintains are 'celebratory, respectful interactions with places and communities' (185). I keep this notion of respectful celebration in mind as I travel in riverspace and seek the interaction with local persons, 'only some of whom are human'.

Today as I walked the rivertrail I wondered if there was a better term for the 'bull' dozer - an earth destroyer, an animal killer - but these terms suggest that it is the machine alone which has agency, which decides on what fate to deliver. Rather than directing animosity at the operator, it is the system which is the real driver and its economic imperative. The outcome is the same.

Ecological sustainable development (ESD) has three components that interact - economic, environmental and social. But within this sustainability framework the spiritual and the sacred are missing. Sustainability is about sustaining the economy while at the same time, sustaining the wellbeing of society, and the viability and vitality of ecosystem processes. Governments worldwide have adopted ESD principles and frameworks. But alongside ESD must be the precautionary principle.

The Science and Environmental Health Network's website (2007) explains the object of taking precaution, and making care:
'When an activity raises threats of harm to human health or the environment, precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause and effect relationships are not fully established scientifically. In this context the proponent of an activity, rather than the public, should bear the burden of proof. The process of applying the precautionary principle must be open, informed and democratic and must include potentially affected parties. It must also involve an examination of the full range of alternatives, including no action' (Wingspread Statement on the Precautionary Principle, Jan. 1998).

There is an acknowledged connection between the health and sustainability of the environment and an individual's or a community's overall health and wellbeing. The river sustains us aesthetically and in terms of health and wellbeing. People walk their dogs, admire the view, run along the trail, and enjoy the waterscape. But can we sustain the river?

References:
Harvey G, 2006, Animism: Respecting the Living World, New York, Columbia University Press.
K. C. & M. S. 1998, Cave of Lascaux, Webpage prepared for History & Thought of Western Man, Rich East High School, http://http://www.richeast.org/htwm/Las/Las.html
Williams TT, 2001, Red: Passion and Patience in the Desert, New York, Pantheon Books.