Restoring the sick earth requires reversing mainstream values and economic priorities

Evidence

Three-Mile Island is a recent symbol of the earth’s sickness caused by radioactive wastes, pesticides, plastics, photochemical smog, and fluorocarbons. The pollution “of her purest streams” has been supported since the Scientific Revolution by an ideology of “power over nature,” an ontology of interchangeable atomic and human parts, and a methodology of “penetration” into her innermost secrets. The sick earth, “yea dead, yea putrified,” can probably in the long run be restored to health only by a reversal of mainstream values and a revolution in economic priorities. In this sense, the world must once again be turned upside down. — Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature, 1084

Categorization

• XREF: Explicitly links mechanism’s sexualized penetration language — Bacon’s ‘yea dead, yea putrified’ echo — to contemporary pollution, closing the causal arc the polyad traces. — connects to: The vitalists’ lost organic value system lies behind today’s ecological crisis — Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology,…, 992; Ecological restoration must also repair humanity’s relationship with the world — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom,…, 709; Environmentally sustainable futures require norm-changing values, not incremental fixes (+5 more)
• ADDENDUM: Could fold into the sacrifice/Ibn Fadlan essay’s concern with which bodies and earths get treated as disposable.

Broader Connections

• Ecological restoration must also repair humanity’s relationship with the world #expands (0.90) — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 709
• Retaking the present remains possible by reversing capitalist priorities #corroborates (0.90) — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 1025
• Environmentally sustainable futures require norm-changing values, not incremental fixes #corroborates (0.88)
• Sustainable economy requires ecology, human welfare, and spirit woven as one #expands (0.85) — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 533
• Moral reform requires economic reform as its concrete form #corroborates (0.85)
• A green future demands lifestyle changes tied to shared moral values #corroborates (0.82)
• Ignoring population growth’s role in environmental harm is a moral failure of omission #qualifies (0.75)