Philosophical foundations
Even in our time, there are important thinkers who point toward a future in which we live in closer harmony with nature. Glenn Albrechts writes about a new era that will follow the Anthropocene: an era in which humans and their technology are the primary factors shaping the Earth’s surface and the nature that lives on it. The Symbiocene34 is the era that follows, in which the cooperation or symbiosis between humans and nature can be enhanced through technology, allowing our technology to also care for the nature around us. In the Symbiocene, we move from an era of exploitation to an era of restoration, connection, and mutual benefit between humans and ecosystems. We should break down the systems formed during the Industrial Revolution and instead live more in tune with the rhythm of nature.34 From the perspective of the Symbiocene philosophy, the wind is not merely something to be exploited for energy but a force with which a relationship can be built. This shifts the question from how we can use the wind as efficiently as possible to how we might develop ways of coexisting with the wind. Deep ecology34 is another example of how to give shape to this. It is a set of principles that, rather than merely taking an environmental activist position, seeks a “deep connection” with the environment in the pursuit of a connection with nature. Arne Naess describes humans as a species that engages in—and is capable of forming numerous symbolic relationships with its environment, and that these relationships are essential for caring for, paying attention to, and feeling connected to the environment, as well as for the development of “oneself.” Deep ecology is seen as a way of seeking meaning rather than facts. Whereas science, in the form of data and testing, looks only at empirical results, deep ecology is a way of examining the individual and collective meaning of the more than human world. A mountain can serve as a father figure35, the wind as a mother. Naess notes that this is more common in many indigenous cultures. Both Naess and Albrechts do not advocate a return to the past but rather a different attitude toward the world around us. Not controlling the elements, but listening to what they have to tell us.