Mourning Nature: Hope at the Heart of Ecological Loss and Grief ed. by Ashlee Cunsolo and Karen Landman

The social connectivity of subsurface flows: Towards a better integration of the vertical dimension in socio‐hydrosystem studies

“…During fieldwork, often in collaboration with watershed organizations, researchers have observed that social recognition of the exchange between surface and subsurface is often rooted in the profound sense of loss—or the opposite notion of resurrection—triggered by the disappearance or reappearance of specific fish species or riparian trees. These transformations are readily visible to those intimately acquainted with the river, as highlighted in previous studies (Cunsolo & Landman, 2017; Eppehimer et al, 2021; Wölfle‐Erskine et al, 2017). In places where cultures, livelihoods, and landscapes are undergoing significant transformation or even eradication due to groundwater depletion and contamination (Bessire, 2022; Bierkens & Wada, 2019; Konikow & Kendy, 2005), studies focusing on intermittent streams affected by lowering water tables have shown that drying is often associated with cultural constructs surrounding death; both of beloved environments, but also the associated aquatic and riparian ecosystems (Cottet et al, 2023; Webb et al, 2014).…”

Climate anxiety as posthuman knowledge

“…In relation to climate change, this refers to our inherent ability to live productively and to reject self-destruction, even as it cannot be forgotten that great variability exists in the capacities of different peoples and places for such productive, re-constructive living. Cunsolo (2017) draws similar conclusions by valuing the productive work of mourning, which involves shifting away from vulnerability (fear) and towards affirmation (value). Mourning affirms the value of the relationship with the thing that we have lost, or are in the process of losing, and reframing climate anxiety as a version of ecological grief therefore makes sense as a psychological intervention.…”

“…Such an argument is only one kind of response to grief. Cunsolo and Landman (2017) elaborate more fully the potential and witnessing work of grief and what it can achieve. Arguing for further understanding of the political and ethical capacities of 'mourning' -connected to the difficult, raw openness that comes with griefthese authors take on the challenge of 'moving mourning beyond the human', cautious that this is different to human grief and involves complicity with and sorrow for species that are lost or being lost.…”

The Weight of a Bird

“…3). This approach responds to Ashlee Cunsolo and Karen Landman's question in Mourning Nature: Hope at the Heart of Ecological Loss and Grief : “How do we make visible our connections to the more‐than‐humans that are hidden, silenced, marginalized, and which we are not taught to see?” (2017, 7).…”