UNIT 2 OVERVIEW.
In this imaginary, Nature revolts against humanity’s interpretation of its entities as strictly a resource. Thus, in the fiction applying the imaginary of the judgment, these entities gain a monstrous agency that is used to judge and punish humans for their reckless behavior. This imaginary has a cultural history that goes back to some of the earliest myths of Western civilization – from the Epic of Gilgamesh to other deluge myths such as the myths of Atlantis or of Noah. However, like in the fiction applying the imaginary of the Social Breakdown, it is in the Judgment theme that there is no longer a God who is the judge and punisher of a morally lost humanity. It is rather an animated Nature that through its violent (and uncanny) behavior it becomes obvious that humanity has gone too far in its misuse of Nature.
In this imaginary, Nature revolts against humanity’s interpretation of its entities as strictly a resource. Thus, in the fiction applying the imaginary of the judgment, these entities gain a monstrous agency that is used to judge and punish humans for their reckless behavior. This imaginary has a cultural history that goes back to some of the earliest myths of Western civilization – from the Epic of Gilgamesh to other deluge myths such as the myths of Atlantis or of Noah. However, like in the fiction applying the imaginary of the Social Breakdown, it is in the Judgment theme that there is no longer a God who is the judge and punisher of a morally lost humanity. It is rather an animated Nature that through its violent (and uncanny) behavior it becomes obvious that humanity has gone too far in its misuse of Nature.
FICTION
- "Hermie" by Nathaniel Rich, I'm With the Bears: Short Stories from a Damaged Planet, Verso, 2011.
- "The Precedent" by Sean McMullen, Fantasy and Science Fiction, July/Aug 2010.
- "Time Capsule Found on a Dead Planet" by Margaret Atwood, The Guardian, 25 Sept. 2009.
- Daniel Ranalli's Fire and Ice series of photo montages documenting the history of climate change
IMAGE GALLERY
In the below series called Fire and Ice, Daniel Ranalli arranges composite NASA satellite images of major wildfires, glaciers, glacial calving, hurricanes, and floods, bordered or juxtaposed with physical objects, such as chalkboard, whale bone, shell fragments, or the tails of horseshoe crabs. Click on images to enlarge.
In the below series called Fire and Ice, Daniel Ranalli arranges composite NASA satellite images of major wildfires, glaciers, glacial calving, hurricanes, and floods, bordered or juxtaposed with physical objects, such as chalkboard, whale bone, shell fragments, or the tails of horseshoe crabs. Click on images to enlarge.
VIDEO GALLERY.
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Hermit Crabs Adapting to Anthropogenic Climate Change
from Wild Thailand | BBC Earth | 2018 |
Das Rad ("The Wheel")
Chris Stenner, Arvid Uibel, and Heidi Wittlinger | 2002 |