New name for this planet
Zontaná
We know we have a predicament, as seen in the increasing destabilization of the climate, resulting from our disregard for the ever-increasing level of population, the ever-increasing level of greenhouse gas emissions, the destruction of every ecosystem, the corrupting of every natural cycle of all elements (water, salt, nitrogen, etc.) and the passing of many planetary sustainability boundaries. But what is the root cause of this planetary catastrophe? The problem originated in our development of this industrial civilization, which we called “Progress” which entailed the production of more and more manufactured Things. This industrial civilization was a most serious error, an existential threat to all forms of life. It must be wound down, ASAP! First step in that process must be setting limits to Progress!
It’s time for a new name for this planet. Let’s try Zontaná. Yes, that’s not a noun but too bad, pick another one instead if you can. Or use the whole phrase: “Zotanós planitis” (Living planet) but for a name, that’s redundant, so try just Zotaná. This planet WAS the planet of living beings, but “we” keep building non-living things which are crowding out Life. What used to be the “web of life” encompassed the entire planet which is essentially one living being and very likely the only one in the Universe. It is becoming the Planet of Things, as “we” move Nature out of our way to make room for our Things. All the while tearing the planet apart in search of ever-more resources, essentially using our home planet as a nearby resource planet. We see this same crap going on with the recent Space explorationism - to wit, the immediacy of searches on the Moon for what “we” can extract, such as water for Moon-station drinking water or to make rocket fuel out of!
All these Things (autos, trains, planes, dams, bridges, cities) are NOT what this planet-of-living-things looks like! They DO NOT fit in amongst life forms. Yet “we” keep building more and more of them resulting in a planet of Things. “Things” are non-living entities; in relation to living beings; they represent dead entities since they are devoid of life. Choose Life rather than Death! The creation of these non-living things causes loss of life in their construction, in their use and in their disposal. Living beings recycle via life systems and while living are self-repairing.
In a strange congruence, humans build all these Things as a means of putting themselves above the level of “subsistence” which in actuality is the mode of life in harmony with Nature, and its cycles of life and decay. We keep trying to make things which don’t decay but in the process are destroying life itself, and just don’t give a damn.
"An excellent example of the collective insanity of humanity is the dissemination of plastics into a biosphere which requires that all matter be continuously recyclable in the closed-loop system of Life." (my quote from 2013)
"If we pollute the air, water and soil that keep us alive and well, and destroy the biodiversity that allows natural systems to function, no amount of money will save us."
— David Suzuki
“…the artificial world we have created disconnected us from the Earth, life on it…” — Geoffrey Deihl
“We can’t simply "green" our way out of a crisis that is fundamentally rooted in the way we relate to the natural world. The shift to renewable energy is insufficient if it merely perpetuates the extractive, growth-obsessed ethos that precipitated our ecological predicament.”
“Rather than embracing the climate emergency as a chance to reimagine our relationship with the Earth … we are rushing headlong into a future where the same logic of domination and exploitation prevails, only under a greener guise.”