Science Summit at United Nations General Assembly (UNGA78)

Introduction and aims

This panel will use indigenous wisdom, western philosophy and contemporary science to examine some ways that disconnection from the two interwoven sources of human personhood - the natural world, and the social world - are making us and our ecosystem sick and how we might repair those connections.

Abstract

Disconnection from Nature and its ways has been concomitant with economic development for centuries. Such disconnection is becoming globalized, via the economically-driven disruption of traditions and practices rooted in ecological belonging. As the surrounding environment, animals and plants, waterways and soil come to seem more and more alien, they come to seem less and less a matter of moral concern. They are no longer siblings or gifts, but resources to be fought over. The result is an extractive, competitive, objectifying, utterly unsustainable posture towards the natural world.

At the same time, recent data and discussions in the USA revolve around an epidemic of social disconnection and a missing sense of belonging. The US Surgeon General recently released an 82-page report on the “epidemic” of social isolation and loneliness, both of which he says are on the rise in the US and doing a great deal of damage to our physical, psychological and social well-being. Interpersonal interconnection is, indeed, a central and non-negotiable need for humans. Our friends and family create us - there is no human form of life that does not intimately involve other people.

These two species of disconnection are intimately related, flowing from deep tendencies in WEIRD societies. These tendencies are relatively novel, and very much out of step with the human mainstream, viewed through a wide historical and cultural lens. Many Indigenous/First Nation traditions maintain multiple types of connection throughout life. From the beginning, babies are nested in species-normal companionship care, never left disconnected or distressed. Children are woven into the multi-age community activities with kin and nonkin, with animals and plants of the locale. Ceremony engages each person with the unmanifest, connecting to the cosmos.

In short, the Indigenous worldview considers the entire cosmos unified, sacred and moral. Following the laws of Nature, including Nature’s gift economy, are essential for wellbeing. Each kind of connection builds on the other. It is only in such a setting of rich, multifaceted connection that truly healthy interpersonal wellbeing can emerge. Each person finds the source of her self both in the community and in the land, and reacts with gratitude, reciprocity and responsibility for the gift of existence. A renaissance of this sort of integral thinking is deeply necessary as we confront social and ecological crises across the globe.