The language we use to relate to the living world—sometimes brimming with animism, other times divisive and reductive—shapes how we respond to our moment of ecological degradation. As we strive to embody new ways of being, might we consider how our vocabulary both reveals and constructs our relationship with the Earth? What kind of naming can summon wonder and knowledge, opening us to a remembrance of our entanglement with the living world?
“What might happen if you could summon back into the mouth what also should be summoned back into the landscape?” — Robert Macfarlane
In this episode of the Emergence Magazine Listening Hour, we are joined by writer Robert Macfarlane to discuss the magic and intimacy that is lost in our relationship with the Earth when a lexicon of place-specific terms is replaced by general ones. Explaining how the right naming can act as a kind of portal into the more-than-human world, he advocates for the power of language to bring us into deeper awareness and connection with our landscapes.
This episode is part of the Emergence Magazine Listening Hour—a special limited series exploring the timeless connections between ecology, culture, and spirituality.
