culture, biology, and saving the planet wade b. worthen furman university

Culture, Biology, and Saving the Planet

Wade B. Worthen

Furman University

A Disclaimer: - the title…..

The Earth is not at risk – it is 4.6 by old and will do fine for another 5 by.

(“Saving the planet” was hyperbole.)

A Disclaimer: - the title…..

However, the conditions on the Earth that make it a great place for humans to live ARE changing.

(“Saving the ecological integrity of the planet to preserve human and non-human life” was too long.)

-How can we preserve the biological integrity of our home? How can we convince people that nature matters?

-data and charts??

-Yes, we need to measure stuff. But while this may change people’s minds, it may not change their hearts.

(1999 temperature increase above century mean)

- In addition, we need to demonstrate how and why nature is important to each person, even at an unconscious level.

Overview of Our Lecture:

I. Why is nature important to modern humans?



A. What is Biophilia?




B. Why is it relevant?




B. Why is it relevant?

C. What evidence exists of Biophilia?


E. O. Wilson (1984) defined biophilia as “an innate tendency of humans to focus on life and lifelike processes…


- There are four elements:

1. Humans are interested in living things…




2. There is an adaptive benefit to this interest that has been selected for over hominid evolution…





3. This relationship influences how we learn …





3. This relationship influences how we learn …

4. And who we are …

B. Why is biophilia relevant to modern humans?

- three elements:

1. Pragmatic: it works – nature IS relevant, and its contribution to culture is interesting.

Aztec God Quetzalcoatl, as an Ouroborus


- three elements:


2. Artistic: Because it may help us express our humanity more fully…


- three elements:


2. Artistic: Because it may help us express our humanity more fully…

3. Ecological: “…to the degree that we come to understand other organisms, we will place greater value on them, and on ourselves” (Wilson, 1984).

To save biodiversity, we must appreciate its relevance to our mind and our cultures.


1. Consider that the human mind and its products have not arisen in a vacuum.

NATURE AND EVOLUTION

5.0 mya1.75 mya

tools art

0.2 mya

burial

75,000

Understanding Human Evolution. 1999. Poirier and McKee

agriculture

10,000

…to chim

ps

99.6% before art

“Pre-cultural Baggage”



2. As such, our interaction with art, society, and nature may have a biologically interesting contribution. (NOT single factor biological determinism, please!)

Let’s examine the Evidence for Biophilia in our disciplines:

Humanities

Social Sciences

Natural Sciences

C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities - Language

A ‘first alphabet’ book…..

‘A’ is for _____________.

‘B’ is for _____________.

‘C’ is for _____________.

‘D’ is for _____________.

‘E’ is for _____________.

‘F’ is for _____________.



‘A’ is for _____________.

- antidisestablishmentarianism?



‘A’ is for _____________.

- Antidisestablishmentarianism?

- Apple?



‘A’ is for _____________.

- Antidisestablishmentarianism?

- Apple? - Airplane?



‘B’ is for _____________.

- Ball?



‘B’ is for _____________.

- Ball? - Bee?



‘C’ is for _____________.

- Cat?



‘C’ is for _____________.

- Cat? - Car?



‘D’ is for _____________.

- Dog?



‘D’ is for _____________.

- Dog? - Duck?



‘E’ is for _____________.

- Elephant?



‘F’ is for _____________.

- Fox?



‘F’ is for _____________.

- Fox? - Fish?



‘A’ is for apple or airplane.

‘B’ is for ball, not bee (ambiguous?)

‘C’ is for cat or car.

‘D’ is for dog or duck.

‘E’ is for elephant.

‘F’ is for fox or fish.



‘A’ is for apple or airplane.

‘B’ is for ball, not bee. Living or

‘C’ is for cat or car. “life-like”

‘D’ is for dog. Even if they are NOT

‘E’ is for elephant. commonly encountered -

‘F’ is for fox or fish. Why learn “elephant?”


Adjectives and similes…..

Sly as _________



Sly as _________

an Enron executive?



Sly as _________

an Enron executive?

a fox…



busy as __________?

Strong as ________ ?

Weak as _________ ?

C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities – Language

Verbs:

To ‘cow’ To ‘quail’

To ‘clam up’ To ‘weasel’

To ‘outfox’ To ‘hound’

To ‘hog’ To ‘grouse’

To ‘fawn’ To ‘buffalo’

C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities – Language

Summary –

“Human intelligence is bound to the presence of animals. They are the means by which cognition takes shape and they are the instruments for imagining abstract ideas and qualities…they are basic to the development of speech and thought.”

-Shepard 1978

Trivial examples or basic, fundamental examples?

C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities - Art

-Language and the arts are dependent on natural imagery to evoke a particular emotion…..

Autumn Landscape at Dusk – Vincent Van Gogh

C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities - Art

-… or misrepresents ‘a natural view’ to spur our attention…

“Tete d’une femme Lisant”

-Pablo Picasso

C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities - Religion

Animals are our cultural icons, we use them for tribal affiliation, both trivial….

NFL Football Team Mascots:

Cardinals Falcons Ravens Bills Panthers

Bears Bengals Broncos Lions Colts

Jaguars DolphinsEagles Seahawks

Rams

15 of 32 teams (not that it helps….)


And significant…


Animals are central to the myths that give our lives meaning and our culture context.

In particular, the serpent figures

prominently as an icon of power,

knowledge, life, and death.

Egyptians – the Earth as an

Egg, grasped by a serpent


Middle East – Judaism – Eve and the serpent


Greeks – Gaia (Earth) was protected by her son, Python, who lived at the center of the world and held it together

(image from Greek alchemist text, 15th century)


Australian aboriginal culture – the rainbow serpent – art dates from 6000 years ago


Norse –dragons and Jormungand, the world serpent – (an ouroborus).


Aztecs – Quetzalcoatl, the ‘bird-serpent’ or “feathered serpent”

C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities – Cultural Summary

"Animals are far more fundamental to our thinking than we supposed. They are not just a part of the fabric of thought:

they are a part of the loom." (Peter Steinhart, 1989).

The loom from which we fashion our cultures…

(Native American ouroboric image)

Navajo Dance

Silver tip fox cape with foot clasp

C. Evidence of Biophilia in the Social Sciences - Psychology

- phobias are usually related to natural environmental cues: (snakes, spiders, water, closed spaces, heights)

(and other primates that encounter snakes are ophidophobes)

C. Evidence of Biophilia in the Social Sciences - Psychology

- even though cultures have produced more deadly risks

C. Evidence of Biophilia in the Social Sciences - Sociology

-habitat selection – humans with the resources build homes on promontories near water, with a view

The Vanderbilt Estate, “The Breakers”, Newport, RI


Societies construct gardens, parks, and green spaces in urban environments – like Central Park, NYC.


We need nature, and we take it with us into man-made environments; it is a part of what we are, and it has shaped who we are and how we identify ourselves, individually and

collectively.

Rooftop Garden, Tokyo

C. Evidence of Biophilia in the Natural Sciences - Physiology

- contact with people helps development and healing

- contact with animals helps stress and healing, and gives us someone who depends upon us..

C. Evidence of Biophilia in the Natural Sciences - Physiology

- vistas - people with a natural view are less stressed and are more productive.

- inner city children with a view of a park are able to concentrate in school and are better learners.

What are the ramifications of biophilia?

Humans need nature as a reference to completely express our humanity. It is at once the “other” and the “self”.

To lose it, or to simplify it, will profoundly affect what we are.

The purpose of Biology 340:

- To increase your appreciation for the value of the natural world; for both utilitarian and intrinsic reasons;


- to appreciate the extraordinary diversity, complexity, beauty, and history of the natural world;


- and now you understand HOW we are related to this diversity, and how we are still DEPENDENT UPON this diversity for sustaining a reasonable quality of life for ourselves and future generations.

“It is interesting to contemplate an entangled bank, clothed with many plants of many kinds…

“with birds singing on the bushes, with various insects flitting about, and with worms crawling through the damp earth…

“and to reflect that these elaborately constructed forms, so different from each other, and dependent on each other in so complex a manner….

“have all been produced by laws acting around us…There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or one….

“and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.”Charles Darwin, 1859, “The Origin of Species”

culture, biology, and saving the planet wade b. worthen furman university

Documents

biophilia relevant

modern humans

defined biophilia

nature important

innate tendency of humans

nature matters

living things2

adaptive benefit