Is There An Ecological Unconscious?

I am currently enrolled in a class at the University of Utah entitled: Intro to Urban Ecology with Professor Stephen Goldsmith. In the course he asks us to turn in a journal entry for each class period. Over the next few weeks you will see my responses to the topics we discuss in the class.

Today's topic is on solastalgia, topophilia, or specifically Is there an ecological unconscious?

Solastalgia - "is a neologism coined by an Australian; The philosopher named Glenn Albrecht in 2003 with the first article published on this concept in 2005. It describes a form of psychic or existential distress caused by environmental change, such as mining or climate change." In other words it's the feeling you have when your home is being changed negatively in front of you.

Topophilia - "(From Greek topos "place" and -philia, "love of") is a strong sense of place, which often becomes mixed with the sense of cultural identity among certain peoples and a love of certain aspects of such a place." It is the love of place.

Ecopsychology - "studies the relationship between human beings and the natural world through ecological and psychological principles."

Today's Journal:
Growing up in Independence, Missouri, in the family I did, helped to establish the solastalgia I feel today. I will have to build upon this Idea to help others really understand my thoughts on this subject.

My parents both went to Brigham Young University. My older brother did as well, and my oldest brother despite going to UVU loves BYU just as much as the rest of my family if not more. In Missouri there are MU fans and KU fans, and the deal there is you either love MU, and hate KU or vice versa. Can you stay out of that battle? Yes, but it can be difficult with others trying to make you choose, or being so staunch in their own opinion and distaste for the other option that it bleeds over to you. (As if there are only two opinions.)

As I said before growing up in Independence, Missouri meant for me that the only influence I had in the battle between BYU and U of U was a love of BYU, and a distaste of U of U. In a neutral environment, meaning an environment where either an equal amount of U of U fans and BYU fans reside or where neither influence exists, it is easy to stay aloof or unbiased toward one or the other; however that wasn’t my background.

In addition to that upbringing I have lived in Utah Valley for 4 years, and continue to receive the same message from the vast majority of BYU supporters. I went to Utah State University and loved it. USU is a school packed with outdoorsy people and nature. It allows one to relax and be close to mountains, rivers, lakes, fields, etc. I have lived in Utah for 8 years now, and this has adapted to be my environment. In other words no matter where I go in Utah, it feels like home.

Fast forward to today and how all of the above stated background applies. We have been challenged to answer the following question with this paper: “As our environment continues to change around us, the question Albrecht would like answered is, how deeply are our minds suffering in return?”, and base it on the ideas of Topophilia, Solastalgia, Ecopsychology, and I am adding a 4th term of Technological Nature.

(Technological Nature - All things are nature, from the computer screen in front of me to my backpack and the building I am sitting inside. They might not be nature in its original state, but all the parts to make every thing we have came from nature. Technological Nature as I am coining it is nature + invention. In other words everything designed is technological nature. As everything is nature in one form or another.)

Everyone no matter who they are, are adaptable. Most feel, whether consciously or subconsciously, that the world changes around them, and that they are constant or not moved. I am one who feels that way consciously. I am still in the same city, and people and relationships surround me, nature, in its original state, is still almost everywhere with a backdrop of mountains. My local natural environment hasn’t changed. I live in Utah Valley still, and commute to the U.

As listed above we feel like things move around us and we are constant. Following this my environment is constant, yet due to my commute I have been feeling moderate to extreme solastalgia. Not in the sense that the mountains are being torn down and nature ripped from me, but my peers’ distaste for the U over the years has sunk in at least in part. No matter how good you are at staying aloof from a side, with years and years of anti-persuasion toward something it is hard not to feel it at least a little.

The crazy thing is I enjoy the U, and have nothing against it, but I find it difficult to fully immerse myself in the University and its activities because of all the years of negativity toward the school. I didn’t attend the game on Thursday, despite the love of football, because strangely in my mind I felt frowned upon, or rather felt I would be frowned upon for going to the Utes football game. I am a true blooded Aggie and my family was ok with that. They know I am attending the U of U, and getting a degree is great, but it just doesn’t seem as sweet as it would have been at a different school, any other school.

My Solastalgia or “pain experienced when there is recognition that the place where one resides and that one loves is under immediate assault” comes from the school I attend. It is ridiculous to feel this way and yet I feel I have little control over feeling a homesickness by going to the U. It isn’t USU where I fit in perfectly and people seemed to love being in the outdoors as much as I did. We avoided the BYU, U of U discussion altogether. We were Aggies and didn’t care. BYU could keep their “Zoobies”, and U of U their “Apostates”. That is what everyone else believed, but at USU it didn’t matter! We had animosity toward no one because we had nothing to prove. If we beat one of the schools it was an upset. If we lost it was normal. We loved USU and had a pride in it.

What adds to this solastalgia is USU’s main color is blue, as is my life long favorite color. Blue is motivation by intimacy or friends and closeness. Red is motivation by power. I always avoided the Red answers in personality tests because Red to me seemed that I would be prideful and power hungry, and I am not, or at least I don’t want to be.

This is where all of my thoughts and feelings come together. In High School I was a Fort Osage Indian, and our colors were Red, White, and Black. I should feel at home here, so why do I feel all this unease? I guess because my norms of the past 7 years are what are under attack, and it is a really odd feeling. I am still at a University, despite the colors being different, the people for the most part are the same or similar. Solastalgia is a real thing, and I am definitely going through it.

How do you experience solastalgia?