Abstract
This paper keys off of the 2019 leap of coronavirus from the bat community to the human, as one instance of the “emergency” communication an entire biosphere is now tendering our species, calling in question our ceaseless aggression on habitat. While certainly ‘weaponized” as disease in our social/political/economic/cultural structures of inequity, the viral “messenger” yet begs reading as an evolutionary champion of biodiversity (trading genetic materials across hosts), who is now throwing down a gauntlet about such “difference.” Paleontology Data Project findings (2000) will frame the exploration to the effect that ecosystems have remained roughly in balance for 475 million years—even as species have come and gone—largely through strict “trophic scaling laws,” dictating an inverse ratio between body size and population numbers, until human agricultural technologies began leveraging human numbers in excess of what our body size would dictate. Now we either stand as an evolutionary exception or we are slated for a massive die-off in the near future! What might it mean to wrestle with this seemingly rigorous eco-limitation while continuing to act and imagine our way towards greater justice and sustainability? The paper roots itself in the author’s own experience of inner-city Detroit Black creativity revitalizing local neighborhoods, while simultaneously probing a contemporary Native American (Tzutujil Mayan) and an ancient European (Celtic) set of indigenous practices—all of which enjoin modalities of living within ecozone limitations and habitat differences in seeking to “seed” today’s imaginary with a viable vision of flourishing broader than merely human.
Presenters
James PerkinsonProfessor of Social Ethics, Spirituality, Ecology, Ethics, Ecumenical Theological Seminary, Michigan, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Multiple Legacies: Heritage, Traditions, Local Ecologies, Knowledge, Values, Protection
KEYWORDS
Coronavirus, Biodiversity, Agriculture, Scaling Laws, Sustainability, Indigenous Practices, Urban Activism
