Volume 16, Issue 2, Fall 2019
Gerard Kuperus
Pages 379-395
Listening to the Salmon
Latour’s Gaia, Aboriginal Thinking, and the Earth Community
When salmon disappear, their loss is felt among many species of animals, trees, and plants. This essay suggests listening to the salmon when it comes to learning how to become better members of the earth community, so that not our presence, but our absence would be a loss to the ecosystems that we dwell in. This argument is made through a discussion of Latour’s Facing Gaia and the Native American philosophy of the Tlingit. Albeit in different terms, both suggest ways to become better participants in a greater unity.