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Editorial

Nathan Kowalsky

Ecocentric Friluftsliv in a Pedagogical Context: A Practical Approach to Ecophilosophy

Jørgen E. Nerland and Bob Henderson
The ideas in ecophilosophy might appear as abstract concepts unless concretised. To remedy this, we suggest a practical approach to teaching ecophilosophy through the Scandinavian outdoor education tradition of friluftsliv. Our aim is to investigate how an outdoor education project concerning making firewood, from forest to fireplace or campfire, can convey concepts from predominantly the Norwegian ecophilosopher Sigmund Kvaløy Setreng to adult friluftsliv students. Our theoretical foundation shows that the ecocentric and pedagogical perspectives in friluftsliv have corresponding ideas to ecophilosophy in general. And a closer look at Setreng’s work in the field of ecophilosophy, with concepts such as “complexity versus complication,” “meaningful work,” and “organic time,” reveals practical dimensions applicable to friluftsliv. These dimensions are incorporated in the firewood project in an attempt to convey ecophilosophy to the students. Based on a description of the firewood project from the professor’s perspective, we analyse and explore in what way the experiential learning activities in this project convey selected ecophilosophical concepts. Our conclusion is that the firewood project to some extent indeed communicates important aspects. We thus argue that a practical approach like the one found in the firewood project can contribute to spreading the ideas of ecophilosophy.

Landscape, Time and the Philosophy of Michel Serres

James Kelly
This article explores the changing uses of the word landscape over time, using ideas from the philosophy of Michel Serres to examine the word’s relevance to contemporary debates on humans and nature. It begins by reflecting on the three types of domestication of the landscape (the farm, the garden, and the national park) identified in Serres’s introductory essay to a book to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the Pyrenees National Park. These three figures provide a point of departure for an exploration of how the changing meanings of the word “landscape” in the English language reflect our position as humans with respect to nature. Using the geological metaphor of the stratigraphic column to look at different strata in the word’s history and the different meanings associated with it over time, the first part of the article examines how a specific usage of the word associated with each stratum reflects a certain way of seeing the world and the human position in it. Having thus grounded the term etymologically, the second part of the article examines how ideas from Serres’s The Incandescent embody a fundamental shift in how the human subject is conceived, providing a philosophical foundation for a new way of thinking about landscapes, advocating the importance of the concept for reflecting on the ecological challenges we face in the twenty-first century.

Deep Degrowth: Contributions from Catholic Social Teaching

Chad Baron and Sam Mickey
Drawing on deep ecology's critique of the obsession with growth in contemporary socio-economic systems, this article explores what the authors call deep degrowth, particularly by looking at the intersection of the degrowth movement and the religious values of Catholic Social Teaching. Following a discussion of the degrowth movement’s critique of growth, the article discusses degrowth's approach to mending colonial relations and facilitating a just distribution of resources globally. Following that, the article examines Catholic Social Teaching’s commitment to the just distribution of resources, particularly considering its concept of distributive justice. The conclusion offers some remarks about affinities between degrowth and Catholic Social Teaching as well as potential future directions for deep degrowth.

King Tide

Elisa Carlsen

Predation

Sue Hall Pyke

Humboldt Hill

Don Gayton

Justice

Walker Abel

Two Poems

Henry Hughes

Two Poems

Michael Goodfellow

Three Poems

Nancy Holmes

Two Poems

Nell Smith

The Red Duvet

Laura-Renée Lachhein

An Interview with Martin Wikelski: Conducted by Harold Rhenisch / Wikelski, Martin. The Internet of Animals: Discovering the Collective Intelligence of Life on Earth. Greystone Books, 2024

Harold Rhenisch

Bruckner, "The Friendship of a Mountain: A Brief Treatise on Elevation"

Paul G. Chamberlain

Power, "Ripple: An Intimate Exchange of Urgency and Hope Between An Ecologist and His Daughter"

Violet Gordon