ESSERE NATURA

An anthropological manifesto to change our relationship with environment.

Are we really so different and superior to all the other species on Planet Earth? For centuries we have regarded the planet as an inexhaustible resource, to be exploited and bent to our own interests by diverting rivers, mining fuels, covering the ground with cement, filling the air with chemicals, not caring about the consequences these activities had on other species. We proclaimed our dominance by turning ourselves into predators of the entire world. Anthropologist Andrea Staid traces the evolution of European anthropocentrism, and how this determined the dualism between nature and culture, allowing man to use the environment and its ecosystem as a productive resource to enrich himself. The challenge of our century is to develop an ecological approach that protects the environment, even at the cost of reducing economic growth. Critical gardening, sustainable shopping and waste recycling are just some of the possibilities that Staid proposes to start converting the drift of anthropocentrism in our daily lives towards an idea of world and ecosystem interconnected with our lives, an idea of world and ecosystem interconnected with our lives, an idea to be preserved, if we want to safeguard iven our own survival on Earth. Andrea Staid teaches Cultural and Visual Anthropology at Naba, and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Genoa. Among his works: I dannati della metropoli (Milieu 2014), Gli arditi del popolo (Milieu 2015), Abitare illegale (Milieu 2017), Le nostre braccia (Milieu 2015), Senza Confini (Milieu 2018), Contro la gerarchia e il dominio (Meltemi 2018), Disintegrati (Nottetempo 2020), La casa vivente (ADD 2021). His books have been translated in Greece, Germany, Spain, China. He collaborates with several newspapers including 'Il Tascabile'.