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?
Overview of Our Lecture:
I. Why is nature important to modern humans?
A. What is Biophilia?
Overview of Our Lecture:
I. Why is nature important to modern humans?
A. What is Biophilia?
B. Why is it relevant?
Overview of Our Lecture:
I. Why is nature important to modern humans?
A. What is Biophilia?
B. Why is it relevant?
C. What evidence exists of Biophilia?
Overview of Our Lecture:
I. Why is nature important to modern humans?
A. What is Biophilia?
B. Why is it relevant?
C. What evidence exists of Biophilia?
A. What is Biophilia?
E. O. Wilson (1984) defined biophilia as “an innate
tendency of humans to focus on life and lifelike processes…
A. What is Biophilia?
- There are four elements:
1. Humans are interested in living things…
A. What is Biophilia?
- 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…
A. What is Biophilia?
- 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 …
A. What is Biophilia?
- 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 …
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
B. Why is biophilia relevant to modern humans?
- three elements:
1. Pragmatic: it works – nature IS relevant, and its
contribution to culture is interesting.
2. Artistic: Because it may help
us express our humanity more fully…
B. Why is biophilia relevant to modern humans?
- three elements:
1. Pragmatic: it works – nature IS relevant, and its
contribution to culture is interesting.
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.
B. Why is biophilia relevant to modern humans?
1. Consider that the human mind and its products have not
arisen in a vacuum.
NATURE AND
EVOLUTION
B. Why is biophilia relevant to modern humans?
agriculture
burial
5.0 mya
75,000
10,000
Understanding Human Evolution.
1999. Poirier and McKee
99.6% before art
“Pre-cultural Baggage”
B. Why is biophilia relevant to modern humans?
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 _____________.
C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities - Language
A ‘first alphabet’ book…..
‘A’ is for _____________.
- antidisestablishmentarianism?
C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities - Language
A ‘first alphabet’ book…..
‘A’ is for _____________.
- antidisestablishmentarianism?
C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities - Language
A ‘first alphabet’ book…..
‘A’ is for _____________.
- Antidisestablishmentarianism?
- Apple?
C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities - Language
A ‘first alphabet’ book…..
‘A’ is for _____________.
- Antidisestablishmentarianism?
- Apple?
- Airplane?
C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities - Language
A ‘first alphabet’ book…..
‘B’ is for _____________.
- Ball?
C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities - Language
A ‘first alphabet’ book…..
‘B’ is for _____________.
- Ball?
- Bee?
C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities - Language
A ‘first alphabet’ book…..
‘C’ is for _____________.
- Cat?
C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities - Language
A ‘first alphabet’ book…..
‘C’ is for _____________.
- Cat?
- Car?
C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities - Language
A ‘first alphabet’ book…..
‘D’ is for _____________.
- Dog?
C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities - Language
A ‘first alphabet’ book…..
‘D’ is for _____________.
- Dog?
- Duck?
C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities - Language
A ‘first alphabet’ book…..
‘E’ is for _____________.
- Elephant?
C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities - Language
A ‘first alphabet’ book…..
‘F’ is for _____________.
- Fox?
C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities - Language
A ‘first alphabet’ book…..
‘F’ is for _____________.
- Fox?
- Fish?
C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities - Language
A ‘first alphabet’ book…..
‘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.
C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities - Language
A ‘first alphabet’ book…..
‘A’ is for apple or airplane.
‘B’ is for ball, not bee.
‘C’ is for cat or car.
Living or
“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?”
C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities - Language
Adjectives and similes…..
Sly as _________
C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities - Language
Adjectives and similes…..
Sly as _________
an Enron executive?
C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities - Language
Adjectives and similes…..
Sly as _________
an Enron executive?
a fox…
C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities - Language
Adjectives and similes…..
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
Trivial examples or basic, fundamental examples?
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
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
Ravens
Panthers
Bengals
Lions
Jaguars
Eagles
Rams
Falcons
Bills
Bears
Broncos
Colts
Dolphins
Seahawks
15 of 32 teams (not that it helps….)
C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities - Religion
And significant…
C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities - Religion
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
C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities - Religion
Middle East – Judaism – Eve and the serpent
C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities - Religion
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)
C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities - Religion
Australian aboriginal culture – the rainbow serpent – art
dates from 6000 years ago
C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities - Religion
Norse –dragons and Jormungand, the world serpent – (an
ouroborus).
C. Evidence for Biophilia in the Humanities - Religion
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
C. Evidence of Biophilia in the Social Sciences - Sociology
Societies construct gardens, parks, and green spaces in urban
environments – like Central Park, NYC.
C. Evidence of Biophilia in the Social Sciences - Sociology
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;
The purpose of Biology 340:
- to appreciate the extraordinary diversity,
complexity, beauty, and history of the natural
world;
The purpose of Biology 340:
- 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”