Q is for Queer ecology
Is a heteronormative way of looking at the world outdated? (The answer is yes.)
We started the Alphabet of Climate Solutions because we needed a framework to guide us in selecting the books that we read. Picking topics by letters of the alphabet would be easy. Turns out as soon as you get halfway through the alphabet things get a bit more challenging. We usually come up with the topics as we go, also because very often, one book or topic leads us to another. Which is exactly what happened with this month’s topic. The first time we read about the concept of queer ecology was in Merlin Sheldrake’s book “Entangled life”, which we read for letter M - mushrooms. He quotes a scientific essay titled ‘Queer theory for lichens’, which argues that we are all lichens – a symbiotic merging of a fungus and an algae or at least that some of what makes up our ‘human material’ must have passed through lichens at some point. We got curious as to what ‘queer theory’ actually was and ended up in a ‘queer ecology’ rabbit hole, filled with a completely different view of the world to what we are being sold in the western societies. We went on a quest to seek out more queer authors that write about the natural world and came across ‘A natural history of transition’ by Callum Angus, a trans author based in Portland, Oregon. It is a collection of short stories that centres different kinds of non linear transformations of humans and nature. We rarely read fiction books but have found so much value in them in the past that we decided to give it a go. To sum it up in the words of this month’s book club attendee’s it was weird, wonderful and unexpected. But read for yourselves below.
The last goose passes over our patchwork of scorched fields, our dried-up lakes, our barren greenhouses. If geese can't hack it here, good riddance. Good riddance to the delicate snowberry, to black-footed ferrets, to salamanders that can't deal with rising water. I want nothing incapable of change. I want cowbirds and milfoil. I want kudzu and knapweed and snakeheads and cheatgrass and bark beetles. I want the pine false webworm - I want plants that can withstand a flood, insects that won't apologize for taking up space, things that shouldn't thrive but do because conditions are finally ripe.
– p.34
Check out this month’s community Notion document and feel free to add any interesting articles, essays or podcasts that talk about queer ecology and related themes.
This month’s take aways: A natural history of transition by Callum Angus
Please note: This month’s read was a collection of fictional short stories so the take aways are less facts and more observations.
Nature exists in a continuous state of flow. Rather than in binary states. The best example for this are lichen. They are neither one thing or another they are a symbiotic merging of a fungus and a photosynthetic bacteria or algae.
The book disrupts the notion that trans people can only have one transformation. Transition can be a continuous state and not something that necessarily has to happen once. The book frequently introduces characters that transition from one state to another, not just from one gender to another gender but also merging with nature, going from human to nature and back.
Transitions are uncomfortable. This is highlighted in a multitude of ways throughout the different stories. The visceral and poetic language makes the reader almost feel through the transition – sometimes blending human nature and nature nature (although this distinction is clearly made up by humans) into one. Here is an example from the short story “Rock Jenny” in which a woman transitions into a mass of rock: 'I'm just wondering what type of rock my daughter is,' wondered Queenie aloud. 'Not Metamorphic or igneous.' She looked closely: great boulders, small pebbles, even imprinted fossils were all mishmashed into the bulk of her. 'Sedimentary!' She decided.
Over time sedimentary layers get compressed and twisted; great upheavals scramble acres of desire and frustration and loneliness until they become so mixed up even the most expert geologists abandon the possibility of untangling dates and seismic events. Rocks like Jenny have great waves inside of them, like the ocean, only slower. On the outside baby maples sprang up on Jenny's thighs, and the nape of her neck was fast overgrown with poison ivy, sun-loving spreader, though she couldn't feel the itch, only the tickle of its roots in her own.We crave satisfying endings in stories. The majority of stories have an open ending or leave the reader with a lot of questions, which almost forces them to come up with their own endings or wonder how this story would play out eventually. We talked about how unsatisfying it can be to not have ‘closure’ at the end of a story. But then why do we need this closure? Why can’t we be okay with an open ending or an unpleasant one?
The storytelling is based on an animistic worldview, which is unusual for a Western author. Animism is the belief that all things are animate (possess a distinct spiritual essence) and are alive. This includes creatures, plants, objects – anything you can think of. This way of seeing the world is typical for indigenous cultures. On the other hand, the western way of thinking is rooted in dualism – we separate all things into two different categories: animate and inanimate things. Living and non-living. This way of thinking has contributed to the exacerbation of exploitative practices and the depletion of the natural world.
Elevating nature as a protagonist within the story can change the way we see and interact with the world. The author emphasises the role of nature by making it equal to and sometimes even more important than the human actors within the stories. Nature plays an active role within the stories rather than serve as a passive backdrop to human stories.
How we view and relate to nature influences everything: how we live, work, do business and even how we implement laws. Faith in nature is one of the first companies to put nature on its board of advisors. This is huge and a first step towards a shift away from a dualistic worldview. Read more about it here.
Not everyone made it into the picture but what a wonderful discussion it was. Thank you everyone who showed up!
Join the next book club: Blueprint for Revolution by Srdja Popovic
We’re fast approaching the end of the year as well as the final eight letters of our alphabet of climate solutions. The next one will be letter ‘R’ and we picked the topic of revolution. We felt like it is very apt and very needed considering the current climate (terrible play on words I know).
About the book:
In 2000, too-cool-to-care Belgrade rock kid Srdja Popovic found himself at the centre of a movement which was about to change the world.
Popovic was one of the unexpected leaders of the student movement Otpor! that overthrew dictator Slobodan Milosevic and established democracy in Serbia ― all by avoiding violence and opting for something far more powerful: a sense of humour. In this inspiring and entertaining guide for would-be activists, he tells his story and those of other ‘ordinary revolutionaries’ who have created real social change using non-violent techniques. This is a handbook for anyone who wants to effectively (and peacefully) improve their neighbourhood, make a difference in their community, or change the world.
Blueprint for Revolution will teach you how to:
• make oppression backfire by playing your opponents’ strongest card against them
• identify the “almighty pillars of power” in order to shift the balance of control
• dream big, but start small: learn how to pick battles you can win
• listen to what people actually care about in order to incorporate their needs into your revolutionary vision
• master the art of compromise to bring together even the most disparate groups
• recognize your allies and view your enemies as potential partners
• use humor to make yourself heard, defuse potentially violent situations, and “laugh your way to victory”
Join us for the discussion and workshop on the 6th of December at 7PM (GMT) – all tickets are donation based.
Thank you for reading this month’s newsletter! If you want to join us for one of our upcoming events, make sure you follow us on Eventbrite or Meet Up. If you have any questions please add a comment to this post, DM or send us an email to hello@andthefuture.com
Lisa & Tash ✨