Sublime

ore, a forest as a sacred grove rather than lumber and pulp, other species as our biological kin rather than resources, the planet as our mother and life-giver and not an opportunity, then our actions will reflect far greater humility, respect and responsibility.

The core value of biocentrism is that a planet that hosts life is sacred, deserving of respect and veneration. We are part of the life collective, codependent and coevolving with the whole of the biosphere.

Proponents of degrowth argue that economic growth is predicated on the continuous extraction of natural resources, and so infinite growth in a world in which resources are finite is, by definition, impossible. In fact, the pursuit of infinite growth is what led civilization down the path of climate change, ecological destruction, biodiversity loss,

A healthy forest must need dead trees. They’ve been around since the beginning. Birds turn them to use, and small mammals, and more forms of insects lodge and dine on them than science has ever counted. She wants to raise her hand and say, like Ovid, how all life is turning into other things. But she doesn’t have the data.

Bennett’s musings have an ethical component: if a nuisance tree, or a dead tree, or a dead rat is my kin, then everything is kin—even a piece of trash. And I’m more likely to value things that are kindred to me, seeing them as notable and worthy in themselves

The beauty of living things stems from the fact that they are embodied solutions of individual-existence-in-connection. Andreas Weber (2013: 38)