This is an article I wrote back in 1999, so the references are a bit dated. I feel it is still a useful review of the literature up until then.

To most ecopsychologists, the existence of a human-nature disconnection in most modern individuals and in modern culture as a whole may be self-evident: In industrial societies, most people live indoors and most interactions take place either with other people or with huma n-made artifacts. Most people spend more time watching television than being outdoors. More people go to theme parks than go to national parks. Many ecopsychologists claim that this physical separation from the natural world leads to a psychological disconnection, that the physical separation arises from the psychological alienation, or both.

For ecopsychologists, the psychological or spiritual disconnection from more-than-human nature can lead to:

1. ecologically destructive behaviour. Separation from nature on a cultural level is seen as a root cause of the ecological crisis.
2. various forms of individual human suffering. Some addiction, anxiety, depression, and anger are seen as reactions to the disconnection from nature.
3. various forms of social and collective suffering. Racism, sexism, violence, and alienation from society are seen as arising along with the disconnection from nature.

There is an alternative view within ecopsychology:

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According to media reports, 2016 was the 25^th anniversary of the birth of the Internet, although a case can be made for birthdates as early as 1989. Email discussion lists were one of the early uses of the Internet, and the second half of the 1990s saw the creation of a large ecopsychology group moderated by the late Claudia Robinson. A number of participants discovered that her moderation was somewhat immoderate and left her list to create a new, smaller, but more inclusive ecopsychology discussion list. Several members of the list attended the “For the Love of Nature” conference in Scotland, co-organized by a member of that small list, Brendan Hill of the Centre for Human Ecology.

The list had a diverse membership from around the (mostly English-speaking) world with members in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Belgium, and France. There was a consensus on the list that there was a need for enhanced communication beyond our small email list and occasional conferences. We had an extended discussion of our next step: Should we create an academic association with a peer-reviewed journal or should we have a very loose organization with a website and a more open magazine format? Informality and the magazine carried the day.

We called ourselves the International Community for Ecopsychology (ICE) and created the first versions of this website www.ecopsychology.org and our internet magazine Gatherings. All the work was performed by volunteers and all expenses (registration and hosting fees) were covered by donations from the members of ICE. By consensus we agreed not to carry commercial advertisements, charge for directory listings, or sell anything.

The first edition of Gatherings appeared in late 1999. The internet was still in its childhood and information was difficult to find. Google had only been online for a year and Wikipedia was still two years in the future. The response to our effort was large and positive and there was no question that we were filling an important need: Our directory soon had more than 100 listings from 25 different countries and our articles were being widely cited.

But as the Internet reaches 25 and ICE approaches 17, times are changing. The field of ecopsychology now has academic journals, there are several national and international organizations, numerous web sites, and active discussions on Facebook and probably elsewhere. As the ecopsychology community has changed, so has our ecology: Climate change and other global issues have made environmentalism and environmental issues much more prominent and critical than they were, while ecotherapy and nature healing have become almost mainstream.

What is the continuing role for www.ecopsychology.org? Where do we go from here? It would be great to read comments from our readers, supporters, current and former members, and maybe even future members of ICE.

Helmcken Falls

We are in Wells Gray Park, a huge protected natural area in the Caribou Mountains of British Columbia, Canada. It is a land of mountains, lakes, rivers, and forests with a diversity of wildlife, notably bears, moose, birds, fish, and more than 30 species of mosquito.

More than anything else, though, Wells Gray is a land of waterfalls. Due to its unique geological history, there are about 39 named major waterfalls and uncounted smaller cascades in the park. Helmcken Falls is the 4^th largest waterfall in Canada, about three times the height of Niagara Falls.

The terrible power of turbulent water

Much can be learned in the company of waterfalls. Watching a river’s wild cascade, breathing the mist, and experiencing the roar, it is clear that a waterfall is a living being. The word “waterfall” tells of relationships. A waterfall is the event when a particular river arrives in a particular location. It is the immensely powerful and beautiful shape water takes for a moment in its journey down a stream.

If we stretch the time scale, we realize that everything (and everybody) is a temporary event like a waterfall. Just as a waterfall is a momentary shape of water, a tree is the shape takon by sunlight, water, and certain chemicals for a few centuries. Animals, including humans like myself, are the shape food, water, and air takes for less than a century. The waterfall is the story of life written in an instant.

Calm water above the falls

A striking feature of many waterfalls is that the water above the cascade is deceptively smooth, quiet, and calm, giving little warning about the confusion and danger ahead. From the quiet of a lake the current accelerates imperceptibly until suddenly the water rushes over the fall in a paroxysm of energy, chaos, violence, and beauty.

The same may be true of human affairs. As we age, life can go smoothly until we become ill or reach old age and our systems begin to fail at an increasing rate. For society, it seems the pace of technological and social change is gradually and smoothly accelerating, like the river above the falls.. Suddenly, a threshold may be reached and chaos ensue. The swimmers ahead of us may already be in the maelstrom while for those of us farther behind, everything may still seem safe and calm. Listening with an alert mind, we may hear the sound as we approach a fall before it is too late to swim to the safety of the bank.

There are always lessons in nature.

“We accept it as normal that people who have never been on the land and have no history or connection to the country may legally secure the right to come in and by the nature of their enterprises leave in their wake a cultural and physical landscape that is utterly transformed and desecrated”  –Wade Davis (2012)

This long article began as a review of Naomi Klein’ 2014 book, This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate, but it has grown into something much larger, a consideration of the roles of ecopsychology and our individual connection to ecology in the greater politics of climate change, resource extraction, and environmental destruction.

At nearly 500 pages plus 60 pages of endnotes, Klein has written an imposing book. Most of the space is taken up with case histories to illustrate and reinforce Klein’s arguments. Klein is a very good storyteller and she has done a great deal of research; the book is a goldmine of specifics. In this discussion I summarize her conclusions, omitting most of the factual background for those conclusions. I assure you it is there.

In chapter after chapter Klein convincingly makes her points, but I do not believe she succeeds in her main point that it is capitalism vs. the climate. In fact, she even suggests several “capitalist” solutions to the climate crisis. As I will describe later, I believe she has done something even more valuable by reframing the issue as Extractivism vs. Blockadia, abstract economics vs. our connection to the earth.

Klein begins with a discussion of the climate denial movement. There are different shades of climate change denial: People who insist that climate change is not happening, that it is happening but is not caused by human activities, or that it is happening but is not an important problem. These contradictory views have in common that they are all arguments against taking action to reduce carbon emissions. For the most part, people promoting these views are conservative politicians, dirty energy companies, or supporters of these politicians or corporations.

Beyond denying the reality of climate change, deniers often express fears “that climate change is a Trojan Horse designed to abolish capitalism and replace it with some kind of ‘green communitarianism’”. The first shock in this book is Klein’s assertion that they are right – that business as usual and climate stability are mutually exclusive; that massive economic and cultural change are required if we are to avoid catastrophic climate chaos. That a growth-oriented capitalist economy and a stable climate cannot co-exist.

The people who are in denial, according to Klein, are the progressives, liberals, and environmentalists who believe we can reform the system and get by; that radical change is not required. We are up against a non-negotiable deadline and a rapid and complete makeover of the economic system is needed.

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