the word ecology contains the word home
the term eco comes from the greek word oikos, that signifies home
to think of ecology is to think of relationships
it’s to come face to face with open-ended phenomena, of limitless cause, effect, metamorphosis, transgenesis, biotic mishmash
to think of ecology is to think of feedback loops
of symbiotic relations
the life-form of what is described as my human body, is interacting with the microbiome in my guts, the chemical energy released from photosynthesis, the earbuds resting on the crevices of my ears.
the moment I was born, the bacteria of my mother’s vaginal microbiome had a direct effect on my immunity, and thus my chances of survival. I wonder how this affected the immunity system of my sister who was born 10 minutes later.
in a symbiotic relation the boundary between beings is blurred, and the relation ambiguous, am i a host to the parasites and bacteria, or are they hosting me?
we’re both keeping each other alive
to think of ecological beings it’s to come face to face with the interactions of lifeforms with non-life. life and non-life are edgeless circles filtering and flirting with each other, breathing in and out again
oxygen molecules aren’t alive, but yet their existence is crucial to my livelihood. non-life keeps me alive
take a deep breath for me
so there, the boundaries of an ecological being are hard to delineate.
Where do I stop and an environment begins?
There is no predetermined model, no defined explanation and no obvious limit.
——
i remember the time my neighbour invited me and my sister inside her home to meet their family dog. the family lived on the same floor as us, as long as we have, in an apartment across from ours. i remember how uncomfortable the experience was: walking inside a mirrored version of the apartment i had been living for 4-5 years, with the same woodfloors, staircase, kitchen layout, door frames… though the differences were apparent in the choice of finishings—the cabinets in the kitchen and bathroom, the handrail on the staircase, the different view from the living room balcony—reinforced the feeling of being in a parallel universe.
later that day i told my mom we should get a dog and a handrail on the stairs. none of those things happened.
——
to think of ecology is to think of home
in all its uncanny condition
it is to come face to face with the spectrality of our existence.
the german word for uncanny,
unheimlich, articulates the feeling of being at home and not at home at the same time.
ecological awareness is to realise how our past comes to haunt us in the future
it’s to come face to face with the spectrality of humanity, and the death drive implanted in the earth’s crust
it’s to come to think of a future where humans no longer live on the planet but have successfully embedded their existence in the geological++ layer of the earth
the death drive is manifested in mechanisms of overkill
the hardening of the organic tissues of plants and animals, turning them into smooth surfaces of plastic and fabric; and oil, juice of bones
taking cover inside the layers of death;
future fossils: plastic stone;
the use of energy of fossil (dead animals and plants) fuel to get around
the viscosity of the oil pumping through the carbon cycle of a combustion engine, is as elastic as the casualties of global warming. it sticks to us
it goos and plops like amateur unicorn slime, can't get rid of it
the more we think of ecological beings the more we find ourselves thinking of them not alive or dead, but as spectral
spectrality is nonhumans, including the nonhuman aspects of ourselves
we coexist
with ghosts, and
as ghosts ourselves.
ecological entities are uncanny at every scale—they are what they are, yet not exactly
they evoke familiarity and complete strangeness at the same time
the ecological being is an
arrivant
it haunts everything it has ever related to in the past, viscously imprinting on the future and thus everything about anything at all
the
arrivant is the shadow knocking at the door, arriving at the shore
it questions the threshold or border, it is ‘hospitality’ itself
“the
arrivant surprises the host—who is not yet a host—in such a way that it calls into question the very border that delineates a legitimate home”
the
arrivant tests the hardeness quality of the border
it is fluid, elastic, oily.
——
I was born in a maternity hospital located in the city of Coimbra, Portugal
about the time my brain was able to recognise and memorise patterns was about the time I was being taught about myself and how my identity is connected to the place of my birth, and to the larger entity that it is part of, the country of Portugal
i learned i was Portuguese because i was born inside the invisible lines of the territory of “Portugal”, which shortly after i learned to point to in an atlas
i spent a lot of time in my child and tweenage years getting to know this landscape.
Portugal’s southern, financially deserted, poorly infrastructurized “countryside” and “seaside” have seen a boom of rural tourism investments, mostly by non-native people. The websites of these retreats promise an immersive off-the-grid living, complete with hiking trips and yoga workshops.
This attempt to escape is a direct result of the viscosity of the spectre of our humanity, aka the active effects of human activity on the planet since the invention of agriculture
Going back to basics
Basics meaning the ability, privilege and disposable income that allow you to turn off your phone and play rural house somewhere where people don’t have access to ambulances
but of course this is not your fault. it’s not even the resorts nor the government nor the EU.
--
nature is an artificial concept given a capital N to enforce its status as a product of agrilogistcs*
there is no “out there”, no going back to nature
the biosphere in which the “rural” and the “urban” exist, is an edgeless vessel in which the operational interactions between lifeforms and non-life break free from human-defined notions like “nature” or “country”
the need to escape the viscosity of the spectrality of our species comes to life through much smaller manifestations other than surf vacations and winery weddings.
it’s manifested in artisanal coffee, alpaca wool, copper pans.
it’s manifested in the way in which we choose the “basic”, “primitive” option in an increasingly technological-enhanced living condition
the non-human organic and inorganic components of our x-humanity, that flux in and out of the flesh, are occupying more and more of our time, having successufully infiltrated our psyche in an ubiquitous fashion. we are aware and scared of them
ecological awareness is the awarendess of specters.
vibrations on the skin push us to reconsider our own behavioural patterns, and we realized we are being hanuted by light engineers (i don't want to name names).
the global anxiety derived from the dead smooth surfaces inserted between bodies.
let's go home for a while.
click to go back to Home
the word ecology contains the word home
the term eco comes from the greek word oikos, that signifies home
to think of ecology is to think of relationships
it’s to come face to face with open-ended phenomena, of limitless cause, effect, metamorphosis, transgenesis, biotic mishmash
to think of ecology is to think of feedback loops
of symbiotic relations
the life-form of what is described as my human body, is interacting with the microbiome in my guts, the chemical energy resultant of photosynthesis, the earbuds resting on the crevices of my ears.
the moment I was born, the bacteria of my mother’s vaginal microbiome had a direct effect on my immunity. I wonder how this affected the immunity system of my sister who was born 10 minutes later.