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cover of episode Loneliness
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Laura Marris
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Laura Marris: 本书探讨了孤独的个人体验和生态关联。生态孤独是指人们在设计场所时，剥夺了自己与其他人类和非人类社群的丰富联系，导致与自然世界关系断裂。生态孤独是相互的，破坏其他物种的存在也会使自身陷入孤独，并伤害到其他物种。生态孤独与流行文化中对孤独的理解不同，更关注人们在熟悉的场所中感受到的孤独感。 科研表明，接近自然（鸟类、树木、水等）可以减轻孤独感。孤独是资本主义和增长模式社会造成的深刻孤立的阴暗面，与环境历史脱节也是孤独的一部分，不了解居住地的历史会使个体存在孤立。“孤独时代”这一概念警示了人类活动对地球生态的影响，以及由此可能造成的孤独感。 散文的写作形式可以促进不同观点的人之间的对话，并为读者提供思考空间。孤独可以帮助人们理解缺失的东西，并为重建人与自然的关系提供路线图。“实况检验”的方法可以帮助人们更好地理解孤独感。理想情况下，孤独可以帮助人们更好地珍惜和创建生态记忆的档案。将孤独转化为理解、渴望或重建，可以成为一种强大的恢复性工作。被人类遗弃的场所，例如被污染的工业用地，可能成为非人类物种繁荣的起点。自然界的真正力量并非在于“治愈”，而在于在人类退却后，生态系统中各种生物重新获得平等的生存机会。 Kim Adams and Sharanik Bhushu: This section is dedicated to the interviewers' questions and facilitation of the conversation. They guide the discussion, prompting Laura Marris to elaborate on various aspects of her work and its implications.

Deep Dive

Key Insights

What is ecological loneliness according to Laura Marris?

Ecological loneliness is the result of people designing places that deprive themselves of the abundance of human and more-than-human communities. It occurs when individuals are cut off from their relationship to the living world. This loneliness is reciprocal; diminishing other species harms both them and us, creating a cycle of isolation and harm.

How does loneliness relate to societal structures focused on growth and capital?

Loneliness is the shadow side of a society centered on growth and capital. In such a system, individuals may have everything they need materially but lack community or connection. This isolation stems from not needing to rely on others, leading to profound disconnection from both human and ecological relationships.

What role does loneliness play in understanding environmental history?

Loneliness can help individuals reconnect with environmental history by highlighting what is missing in familiar places. By examining how landscapes have changed over time, people can uncover overlooked or erased histories, fostering a deeper understanding of their connection to the land and its ecological transformations.

How does Laura Marris use the essay form to explore loneliness?

Laura Marris uses the essay form to create conversations on the page, allowing readers to think alongside her rather than being told what to think. This approach facilitates intellectual engagement and leaves space for readers to reflect on loneliness, its causes, and its implications for both personal and ecological contexts.

What is the significance of ground truthing in Laura Marris's work?

Ground truthing involves verifying remote observations with on-the-ground experiences. In her work, Laura Marris uses this concept to explore loneliness in familiar places, uncovering how things have changed or gone missing over time. This method helps reveal deeper ecological and historical connections that might otherwise be overlooked.

How can loneliness be a tool for ecological restoration?

Loneliness can serve as a roadmap for understanding what is missing in ecological systems. By listening to this feeling, individuals can identify gaps in their relationships with the natural world and work toward rebuilding those connections. This process can lead to restorative efforts that address ecological loss and foster healthier ecosystems.

What is the concept of containment areas in Laura Marris's book?

Containment areas are sites of former industrial pollution or toxicity that have been abandoned by humans. These places, often overgrown or unused, represent both the failures of human care and the potential for ecological regeneration. They are hopeful spaces where more-than-human life can thrive without human interference, creating democratic and resilient ecosystems.

Chapters
This chapter explores ecological loneliness, defining it as the isolation resulting from the disruption of connections with the living world. It highlights the reciprocal nature of ecological loneliness, where actions negatively impacting the environment eventually affect the individual. The discussion touches upon how societal perceptions of loneliness, often gendered, can obscure the broader ecological implications.
  • Ecological loneliness is the isolation from the living world, resulting from human actions.
  • It's reciprocal: harming the environment ultimately harms the individual.
  • Societal views of loneliness are often gendered and atomistic, obscuring the ecological aspect.

Shownotes Transcript

Loneliness is what results when a person is cut off from the living world. Ecological loneliness, in particular, is reciprocal - what we mete out always comes back to trouble us. However, as Laura Marris demonstrates, loneliness can entail the shadow work for understanding how a society based on capital and on growth, can create profound isolation. She suggests that this work can look like ground truthing a place that has changed over time, that was once familiar to us, either as individuals or as collectives, but now appears alien.

Laura Marris) is an essayist, poet, and translator. Her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in The Believer, Harper’s, The New York Times, The Paris Review Daily, The Yale Review, Words Without Borders and elsewhere. She has received fellowships from MacDowell, a Katharine Bakeless Fellowship from the Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference, and a grant from the Robert B. Silvers Foundation. Her first solo-authored book, The Age of Loneliness), was published by Graywolf in August, 2024. She lives in Buffalo.

Image: “The Monk by the Sea” by Caspar David Friedrich, now housed at the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin. The image is in the public domain.

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