{"id":182,"date":"2025-08-07T15:45:41","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T15:45:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migration.beingalive.earth\/?page_id=182"},"modified":"2025-09-11T06:58:43","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T06:58:43","slug":"1-becoming-earthlings","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/beingalive.earth\/?page_id=182","title":{"rendered":"1. Becoming Earthlings"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The reading for this introductory session is a short, beautiful essay by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lawrence.edu\/people\/marcia-bjornerud-walter-schober-professor-of-environmental-studies-and-professor-of-geosciences\">Marcia Bj\u00f8rnerud<\/a>, geology professor, in which she describes the transformation of her students encountering the ancient forms of the landscape they inhabit, questioning also the way in which we situate ourselves in the world. We will discuss how our perception of ourselves differs when we see ourselves as part of contemporary society, characterized by distinct roles we hold, in contrast to understanding ourselves as one of the many expressions of life, going all the way to the first living form of life on this Earth, formed over billions of years with elements cycling through the biosphere. The shift of perspective has implications also for the ways in which we perceive and relate to the world we all share. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This first session is also aimed to provide space for participants to introduce themselves to each other, as they will share the journey through this landscape together. We have provided just a few questions that open the space for discussion of both the text, and the experiences that shaped who we are and how we relate to the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:100px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">readings<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Marcia Bjornerud. Becoming Earthlings.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In: <a href=\"https:\/\/humansandnature.org\/kinship\/\">Kinship. Belonging in a World of Relations. <\/a>Vol. 1. \u2013 Planet (p. 13-20)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:100px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">questions for discussion <\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What have you found interesting in this text?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">How would you describe who you are?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What were the influences on your life, from childhood to adulthood, that have shaped your views on the relationship between humans, other forms of life and the world of nature?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What are the situations in which you experience most intensely the connections within the living world? What are the factors that tend to obscure it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What are Marcia Bjornerud&#8217;s thoughts on the shift of perspective to encompass the history of Earth? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What are the possible implications of seeing ourselves as part of a planetary history?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:100px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">additional resources <\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Robin Wall Kimmerer<\/strong>. <a href=\"https:\/\/emergencemagazine.org\/essay\/ancient-green\/\">Ancient Green. Moss, Climate, and Deep Time. <\/a>Emergence Magazine (essay\/audio)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Marcia Bjornerud<\/strong>. <a href=\"https:\/\/emergencemagazine.org\/essay\/wrinkled-time\/\">Wrinkled Time. The Persistence of Past Worlds on Earth<\/a>. Emergence Magazine (essay\/audio)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Marcia Bjornerud<\/strong>. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hachettebookgroup.com\/titles\/marcia-bjornerud\/reading-the-rocks\/9780465006847\/?lens=basic-books\">Reading the Rocks. The Autobiography of the Earth<\/a> (book)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Henry Gee<\/strong>. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.panmacmillan.com\/authors\/henry-gee\/a-very-short-history-of-life-on-earth\/9781529060591\">A (Very) Short History of Life on Earth<\/a>\u00a0(book)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Lynn Margulis, Dorion Sagan.<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/whatislife0000marg\">What Is Life?<\/a> (book)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Nick Lane. <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/profilebooks.com\/work\/the-vital-question\/\">The Vital Question. Why is Life the Way It Is?&nbsp;<\/a>(book) <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The reading for this introductory session is a short, beautiful essay by Marcia Bj\u00f8rnerud, geology professor, in which she describes the transformation of her students encountering the ancient forms of the landscape they inhabit, questioning also the way in which we situate ourselves in the world. We will discuss how our perception of ourselves differs [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-182","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beingalive.earth\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beingalive.earth\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beingalive.earth\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beingalive.earth\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beingalive.earth\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=182"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/beingalive.earth\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/182\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":793,"href":"https:\/\/beingalive.earth\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/182\/revisions\/793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beingalive.earth\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}