Monstrous algae meets gentrification: a Tale of Invasion
More than ever today, nature has become inseparable from culture; and if we are to understand the interactions between ecosystems, the mechanosphere, and the social and individual universes of reference, we have to learn to think ‘transversaly’. As the waters of Venice are invaded by monstrous, mutant algae, so our television screens are peopled and saturated by ‘degenerate’ images and utterances. In the realm of social ecology.
Donald Trump and his ilk -another form of algae - are permitted to proliferate unchecked. In the name of renovation, Trump takes over whole districts of New York or Atlantic City, raises rents, and squeezes out tens of thousands of poor families. Those who Trump condemns to homelessness are the social equivalent of the dead fish of environmental ecology.
Felix Guattari, Three Ecologies, 1989
Invitations to contemplate these words and play with your thoughts
What captured our attention
What if we tell a different history
What if “Nature” does not exist
What if we invent an ecosystemic economy
What do you think?
Where does Europe begin and Where does Europe end
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Imagine an Ecosystemic Europe
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Cross Idea
We would ask to transform and reform the modalities of membership by which the city (cité) belongs to the state, as in a developing Europe or in international juridical structures still dominated by the inviolable rule of state sovereignty […] This should no longer be the ultimate horizon for citie …
Where does Europe begin and Where does Europe end
Who creates mutated algae and displaced people? We do. Europe is man-made, and this recognition should serve as a warning: we must take responsibility for our actions and not ignore their consequences. Helpful can be a transversal approach, that encourages us to see the connections between seemingly unrelated areas. Algae and displaced people may appear distinct, but their suffering is rooted in the same neglect of how our actions impact both the environment and society. Europe begins with our care for it (including social relations and ecological ones), and ends with our neglect.
