I added this comment in the EcoPsych Group here on the Alliance, but I think its important enough a topic, I wanted to post it here in the general Forum as well:
It's a new year, but the trend we are seeing with the collapse of ecosystems and the impact to species continues. I wrote my Master's thesis on the symbolic nature of Colony Collapse Disorder, the mass vanishing of billions of honeybees through a Depth Psychological lens. The loss impacts me deeply, and the mystery of it even more so.
100,000 Dead Fish in Arkansas Found Near Where 5,000 Blackbirds Dropped Dead:
http://democratifi.com/news/100000-Dead-Fish-in-Arkansas-Found-Near-Where-5000-Blackbirds-Dropped-Dead-1488143.html
Bats, birds, fish and bees: What’s happening to America’s wildlife? The great die off: http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_spoint/20110103/ts_yblog_spoint/bats-birds-fish-and-bees-whats-happening-to-americas-wildlife
The question is, if we did know what was causing these mass die-offs in
any specific, would we/could we collectively do something about it?
Though its not evident what's killing the bees, for example, it could be
anything from increased use of pesticides to new technology that
interferes with their ability to navigate. How to reconcile human
progress with the animal and plant beings...?
Replies
Bonnie -
Woud you be willing to share your thesis, or perhaps post the abstract? It sounds fascinating; I'd love to have a read.
And I love your question. I can't speak for the collective, but have a hard time even answering that question personally; that is, if I knew what was causing the die-offs, and if I knew that there were aspects of my lifestyle that were contributing to it (the wifi connection I'm using now to get online, for instance, or the driving I might do to get to some of my favorite hiking sites), would I be willing to give them up? I'm not sure, and this realization makes me, in some brittle way, sad.
In any case, we're not yet able to get along as a single species; what hope do we have for interspecies empathy? And is such a thing even possible? Surely we're not the first species to have inadvertently foisted others out of an ecosystem, even if we are the first who can claim awareness of this. Do we self-manage, or do we just plod onwards, and wait for nature ("nature") to take care of culling our own numbers when it's time?
Hi Siona: Thanks for your interest in my thesis. Researching and writing it was a very powerful process for me--and when I read back in it now, its hasn't loss its impact. I am still very smitten by the bees, as you can see from my icon :) The thesis is actually posted online. You can download the entire pdf at http://www.depthinsights.com/pdfs/Colony_Collapse_Disorder-A_Jungia...
If you ever have time to read it, I'd love to have your impressions.
Meanwhile, I can't personally answer the question of whether we can change either--which I guess is why I posted it for discussion. I am more aware than ever how tremendously conflicted I feel about my own lifestyle as a citizen and consumer in this country. I know many of the choices I make are not ideal for the planet yet I still continue to make them while feeling all the more guilty.
Meanwhile, I did some fieldwork on an archeological site in Belize a couple years ago and had a chance to study the Classic Maya civilization. They virtually vanished, many of their advanced cities completely collapsed, within a timspan of about 50 years. Though (like the bees) there isn't total consensus on what caused the collapse, there is some strong evidence that they wore out their environment by deforestation, even changing the weather patterns when there were no longer trees to draw water down. As they continued to cut trees to build their cities and temples, they knew what was happening but they continued anyway. I remember reading a powerful article about Easter Island that described a similar situation--I'll have to see if I can find it and post it here. Yes, the potential of collapse is troubling--especially if it can be prevented without having to learn such a hard lesson...
Thank you, Bonnie. I've gone and retrieved a copy, and just from looking at the first few pages alone I can tell I'm going to enjoy the whole of it; I love the way you've incorporated your own story and process into the work. (I'm also now--again just after browsing the first section--quite curious about your decisions around the thesis, and what it was like writing it, but I suppose I can hold off until later to ask more.) Thank you again!
Part of my struggle involves the valuation of life and human beings. How to balance biodiversity against one species? That is, I assume the rest of the animal world would, from a diversity standpoint, be better off if human beings disappeared; at the same time, I'm as amazed and awed by the achievements of our species as I am the beauties of the non-human world, and think it would be a tremendous loss if this race suffered a collapse as well. And then again, on a large enough time frame, neither we nor the bees nor the cockroaches will make it, so why worry about it anyway?
I think sometimes my confusion about all this stems from a certain awkwardness in relating to the feelings that come with embodiment and loss. But I'm not sure.
Siona, I'm so glad my thesis has spoken you. It was such an incredible process to write it, actually. A friend/colleague told me a thesis is "just a big research paper"--but for me, it was so much more than that. I tried to write it for two years while it simply refused to do anything but germinate somewhere deep in my psyche, then when I finally sat down and wrote it, it all came together in two weeks. So, two years and two weeks anyway :) Again, it transformed me significantly, working on me like nothing else could.
I am also keenly aware of your conflict and question about whether other species would be better off if we humans disappeared, and also of Robert's comment that many of us don't really want to know the answer to these questions because they are really too deeply disturbing and might demand too much of modern man/woman. I think you are both absolutely right, but there is another aspect to consider.
Actually, I saw one of my favorite analyst/authors speak last year: Jerome Bernstein, who wrote Living in the Borderland. That book was a cornerstone for my thesis and continues to be in my top 3 favorite all time books today. He hypothesizes that Nature is acting to bring humans back from the brink of extinction because we need each other, us and nature, us and the earth. Its an amazing book. I have a lit review I'll post in the Reading Room if its not there already, but you'll also read most of it in the thesis as well.
I also recently mentioned to James Burden in response to his comment on my blogpost, What is Depth Psychology? that I'm reading a book right now by Edward Edinger called "The Creation of Consciousness". Its also a remarkable book which discusses Jung's theory that the Self/ God image needs us humans in order to individuate, to bring light to its own unconscious. Beautiful, compelling stuff to think about! I highly recommend it.