This page was created by Alison Morgan. The last update was by students at Xavier University.
Editor's Introduction
Ego break the chains that hold me back
Once the ego is killed then the true nature is revealed
Irony what a game we play
Once again I am returned to the earth
Returned to love to unity
Until I healed then again I sprout a new
These lines from Tyler Freund's poem "Ego" echo the disconnect between human and earth, presenting ego as the thing which prevents humans from embracing their duality with nature. In order to restore this human-earth relationship and become more a more viable species, we must reinvent ourselves and the way we live our lives. Becoming too distracted by our dreams, our dreams have lost their meaning. We are constantly bombarded with images and ideas of what we should be, how we should look, and what we should do -striving for perfection in an imperfect world creates an endless cycle of disappointment and obsession. Unfortunately, in trying to fill that void with "more" and "better," we have lost the understanding of our role in the universe, and have created a way of life centered around consumerism, money, and exploitation of the earth's resources -thus, slowly destroying our world. However, since we share a story with the universe, what we do to it, we also do to ourselves. Although in the United States we are currently experiencing economic stability and a comfortable standard of living, we will inevitably soon experience a destruction within ourselves because we are out of touch with the very thing which gives us life.
Children no longer play with each other outside, but online. Adults are constantly staring down into their phone screens rather than looking at and interacting with the world and people around them. This obsession with technology and neglect of our environment stagnates our social skills, distorts our perception of reality, and altogether decreases the respect we have for ourselves, each other, and our world. Richard Louv, author of the national bestseller Last Child in the Woods, expresses in his work a deep concern for the disconnection between young children and nature. Louv highlights differences between his childhood and his own son's childhood, such as the amount of time spent outside, the interest in nature, and the effects their experiences have had on their cultural attitudes towards nature. In his introduction, Louv emphasizes that "...healing the broken bond between our young and nature...is in our self-interest, not only because aesthetics or justice demands it, but also because our mental, physical, and spiritual health depends upon it. The health of the earth is at stake as well. How the young respond to nature, and how they raise their own children, will shape the configurations and conditions of our cities, homes—our daily lives." Ultimately, it would seem that the best teacher we have is the universe itself because we are part of it, come from it, need it, and create it. If we can listen and learn from what the earth is telling us about ourselves and our relationship to it, we can live our lives in a way which fulfills our shared story and dream experience.
One creative piece in our anthology which reflects how important it is to interact and have experiences with nature is "Hike to the Top" by Sarah Clark. This short story is an account of a group of friends' journey to the top of Taylor Mountain in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Although the journey to the top is strenuous, Clark is able to appreciate the experience, reflecting, "Once I was able to become steady on my feet, I could not believe the sight I was seeing...I've learned through this journey that the best view comes from the most difficult climb." Environmental experiences like these are crucial not only for children, but for adults as well, as they allow us to connect with something larger than us and broaden our understanding of the environment outside of our immediate sphere of awareness. In her artist's statement, Sarah reflects on the importance of this personal experience, saying that the lesson learned applies to a larger issue -"We have to work to reach our goal of creating a healthier environment, but it will take endurance and determination along the way. Green literature helps express the reality we must face in order to turn our fantasy of a healthy and sustainable environment into a reality."
Dr. Lisa Ottum, an English professor at Xavier University, gave the students in her Literature and Moral Imagination course the task of creating a class anthology focused on the themes explored throughout the semester. The focus of this class being the environment, our relationship to it, and the way literature represents the ecological issues of our time, the overall purpose of our anthology is to shed light on the current ecological crisis and provoke thought as well as action. Some students chose to create their own original works, including poems and short stories, while others analyzed literary works through an ecocritical lens. Although each student approached the anthology with their own interpretations, ideas, and goals, the collective concern for the environment and call for change rings true throughout all the works.
As today's youth and tomorrow's future, we must not only recognize our current ecological crisis, but also embrace our responsibility to take action. Unfortunately, it's not easy to get people to put down their phones and pay attention to the world around them these days. Partly, this is our own fault because we allow ourselves to be so consumed by the technology we created, that we neglect paying attention to the nature which created us. Also, the media and its many forms of communication have developed strategic ways to distract people from the real issues. The disconnection from nature fosters an environment of disregard and indifference, making it all the easier to turn a blind eye towards things like global climate change, pollution, and deforestation, among other environmental issues surrounding us today. However, it is crucial we realize that our actions have consequences -if not now, certainly in the future. This anthology is a collection of the feelings and ideas our class has towards the subject. Together, we express our concerns through ecocritical works -both creative and analytic- and we hope that our anthology will spark interest and action in our readers.
While exploring our anthology, it is helpful to keep in mind that every piece is a result of unique perspective and inspiration. With the focus of our course this semester being the relationship between the natural world, literature, and environmentalism, we have explored many different interpretations of the role we play in -and the effect we have on- the planet. Despite the go-green campaigns we see every day, we must recognize that the state of our earth is not improving; there must be a deeper issue which recycling simply cannot fix. What is at the core of our current crisis? Why do we not care for the planet? Many of the works in this anthology take the position that our disconnect and perceived unrelatability to nature is at the root of this issue.
Taking into consideration class discussions and readings such as Margaret Atwood's Year of the Flood and Nathaniel Rich's Odds Against Tomorrow, we actively explore worst case scenarios of what our world might look like if we continue this disregard for nature. Ultimately, one can conclude that the reason why we are exploiting the earth through our technology and desire is because we don't have a genuine understanding of our connection with the earth, so we don't respect and value it as we should. Although the earth has ruled and regulated its own functioning for billions of years, we have allowed ourselves to slip into a void of disregard and disrespect towards the home which gives us life, capitalizing and profiting on its resources for our own short-term benefit. Exploiting the earth as rigorously as we do, we are depleting its resources faster than they can replenish, altering the earth's entire mode of functioning. Because our society has become so focused on development, progress, and consumerism, we refused to be limited by nature, and instead took control of it. As environmental historian Thomas Berry discusses in his famous essay "The Viable Human," the problem we face now is bridging the gap between industry and ecology, and establishing within ourselves a psychic structure which allows for the recognition and development of a viable human-earth relationship. This human-earth relationship is crucial for our survival, as the human and the earth are centered in one another. As Berry argues in "Reinventing the Human," "We do have a choice of what we think and how we shape our patterns of living, our moral codes, our social institutions, and our artistic and literary traditions," so we must start considering ourselves as part of the larger community of life rather than separate from it.
This idea is certainly reflected in many of the works in this anthology, and a number of other themes emerge, too, as one delves deeper into the creative and analytical pieces. While it is a widely unknown term, ecocriticism perfectly describes the works we have collected here. Whether they be original creative pieces or literary analyses, a common goal all the works share is to bring attention to and provoke thought about what our current situation is and how we are to deal with it -recognizing our environmental problems is the first step we must take towards improving our situation. No doubt influenced and inspired by class discussion of ecocritical readings and artwork, every piece presents a thoughtful and unique approach to the issue. Some works readers will find in this anthology radiate with appreciation of nature, hope for a brighter future, and a feeling of connectedness with the environment around us. On the other hand, some pieces set a darker mood, reflective of the dangers of neglecting our environment. Literary works portraying a future dystopian society have the power to open peoples' eyes to a very real and unfortunate possibility if we continue our current way of life.
David Codispoti's short story "The Wildcat Clan" depicts a possible future if we continue to disregard our pressing ecological issues. The grim picture he paints is this: with such an obsessive focus on consumerism and politics, our society neglects the earth to a point of no return. Our society collapses, everyone turns on each other, and the earth is depleted of the natural resources it needs to sustain life. While it is sometimes difficult to imagine an alternative world functioning in such drastically different ways than our own, the very real possibility of consequences like this should be enough to make one stop and think what he/she is doing to help or harm the environment and reflect on the outcomes of actions. An excerpt from Daniel Stenger's creative piece "The Little Things" focuses on one example of how small ecological factors can have an enormous impact on the environment:
Perhaps the most profound of these effects, however, is the greatly reduced rate of composition observed in the exclusion zone, especially in its most irradiated areas. Chernobyl has a wet climate, receiving in excess of 200 inches of precipitation annually, so one would expect quick decomposition of organic materials. However, within the exclusion zone, scientists found up to “40% lower litter mass loss” (Mousseau et al.) than in non-irradiated areas. Many describe Chernobyl as being a city “frozen in time”, but it is also “frozen” ecologically, as well; nothing decays, and nothing in the ecosystem, consequently, “works” as it should. Thus, the “little things” of the Chernobyl ecosystem have a much larger impact than one would initially think, and humans have a responsibility--a responsibility which can be achieved by simply being conscientious, responsible, environmentally conscious global citizens--to protect these things the world over to prevent any and all similar ecological crises, and to preserve the world, not just for future generations, but even just for their own, as well.
Daniel presents a real situation and asks us to reflect on how much damage we have caused the environments in which we try to live in. Although an extreme example of humans' destructive nature, it is an important time in history nonetheless. The overall message of "The Little Things" piece is how we are ignoring the smallest but most vital parts of our ecosystems such as bacteria and fungi -without these, no species can live.
The structure of our anthology is fairly simple and designed with the intention of allowing readers to explore whichever parts they are interested in. The table of contents following this introduction gives an overview of the anthology's structure, and the Menu allows readers to navigate freely throughout. We also wanted our writers to present topics of their choosing, to ensure the work we present is genuine and well thought out. With this goal in mind, the anthology we have created includes both original creative works and in-depth literary analyses. For further exploration of environmental topics and ecocritical literature, we have included towards the end a compilation of journal article summaries from each member of the class. This section is particularly helpful for readers who are unfamiliar with ecocritical literature, providing clear and concise summaries of a variety of works focused on this topic. Because ecocriticism is -unfortunately- not a widely popular topic outside of universities, we've also constructed a glossary at the end of our anthology so readers can reference it in the case they come across unfamiliar terms.
Works Cited:
Berry, Thomas. The Great Work: Our Way Into the Future. New York: Bell Tower, 1999. Print.
Berry, Thomas. Reinventing the Human. 1997. MS. Chapel Hill, NC.
Louv, Richard. Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin of Chapel Hill, 2005. Print.
Media: Digital image. Wall 321. Web. 17 Apr. 2016.