Gaspar Koenig, philosopher and writer, publishes hummus, a novel whose protagonists are a worm and two agronomy students whose ideals are put to the test. A chance for him to make this plea for a happy ecology.
Go green for peace of mind
Ecology cannot be reduced to carbon accounting or the recommendations of the Regional Directorate of Environment, Planning and Housing. Ecology is above all an attitude, a way of being in a world created with simplicity, calmness and openness. The Norwegian philosopher and mountaineer Arne Ness, a founder of deep ecology in the 1970s, condemned the “sad passions” of some environmental activists, contradicting the principles of their commitment. As Spinoza’s acknowledged heir, he made joy the driving force of human action.
Combating negative affect, turning happy passions into action, is a prerequisite for the long-awaited transition. This joy comes naturally in interacting with ecosystems. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Henry David Thoreau, and many others have described the sense of calm that comes from a simple walk in the woods. The Japanese have made it a real treatment (shinrin-yoku, forest bath). Today, neuroscientists like Michel Le Van Kooyen are involved in explaining the beneficial effects of nature on our brains. The antidote to the over-excitement of our modern societies is literally at our doorstep.
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Learn how to appreciate the pleasures of nature
After this joy, these well-known “virtuous behaviors” automatically arise. Composting, for example, has never been a moral obligation for me, but a daily renewed pleasure. It is a gesture that turns waste into compost, death into life. What abominable folly is it to deprive you of it by throwing your husks into a sack for burning? We will not save the planet (or rather, the existence of humanity on the planet) with hasty, intrusive regulations and tax breaks, leaving the bureaucratic state and ecological planning our own responsibility. We must save ourselves first. Etymologically, humanity is coming hummus
If humanity survives, we can bet that it will now use its genius to serve nature
Gaspar Koenig
Respecting the human being among us also means rediscovering the feeling of hummus. Feel the country. Look up from your phone and appreciate the patient wonders of natural evolution. When Arne Ness was asked if he was optimistic, he replied: “Yes, for XXII.e century”. No one doubts that the coming decades will bring the models to a tragic confrontation with their political crises amid climate catastrophes and species extinctions. But life will take over, as it did in Chernobyl, which has become an enormous reservoir of biodiversity. If humanity survives, we can bet that it will now use its genius to serve nature.
*hummus, just published by Éditions de l’Observatoire.
Source: Le Figaro
