Rethinking the Intertwined Biosphere

Abstract

Transformations towards sustainable futures can only be achieved with an advanced understanding of how human life is intertwined with the whole biosphere. Systems of people and nature are not separate entities but inherently connected across temporal and spatial scales. There is a dynamic interplay between the biosphere and the broader Earth system. Life in the biosphere has evolved with the basic building blocks of planet Earth, like water, carbon, nitrogen, and other biogeochemical cycles. Social conditions, such as health, culture, democracy, power, justice, equity, matters of security, and even survival, are interwoven with the Earth system and its biosphere resulting in a complex interplay of local, regional, and global interactions and dependencies. In “The Intertwined Biosphere” project at the Anthropocene Laboratory, we explore empirical evidence of biosphere-Earth system dynamics since deep time and synthesise insights that can foster radical changes towards recognising humanity’s embeddedness in the world. By doing so, we aim to contribute to narratives that bridge human-nature dialectics to foster a deeper understanding of the critical interplay of humans as part of the living biosphere. In this presentation, we share our preliminary conceptual model of the biosphere as intertwined. We invite you to discuss human embeddedness in the biosphere and new directions for guiding human actions in the Anthropocene. What are the ontological and epistemological implications of understanding the Anthropocene biosphere as intertwined complex human-nature entanglements? How to study how life shapes its own living conditions?