Simone Schwartz-Lombard

Manifesto of Critical Ecological Ethics

Welcome to the New World…
As dawn sets fire to the rolling pastures of our New World [i], we are called
to follow suit, setting fire to the worn methods of development from our past. We
are called to extinguish modes of linearity, false objectivity, and hierarchal value
systems. In order to achieve our mission, we must reorient our axiology in a most
critical and inclusive fashion. This world belongs to not one creature, but is a
living system in and of it’s self [ii]. We are neither owners nor guests; we are
partners and agents to the system itself. The natives of this planet back the
insurgency against destructive and depleting methodologies. While an ecological
standpoint is beneficial to smart growth [iii] development, it is not enough.
Anthropocentrism is the root cause of the pitfalls that stripped our Old
World of its dignity, magic, and altruism. The dichotomization between Human
and Nonhuman spawned the many binaries that divide humanity; only by
engaging in a critique that allots focus to rejecting subhuman thinking can we
contest the myriad forms of prejudice and leave them to the Old World [iv]. We
have a unique opportunity of not entering a tabula rasa world, but one inherently
holding enlightened ideas that flourish in this world before us.
Our insurgency from the Old Ways does and will face opposition, and we
must rise up against the violent underpinnings of their narrative. There are those
who wish to treat this new world with the same patterns of overdevelopment with
additional and increased efficiency and productivity, no doubt rendering the
planet infertile much quicker than the last. With vastly expanding technological
capacities, our world was wiped out long before it’s time. However, this
apocalypse [v] was not brought about by tools, but rather than the intention of
their maker. Let us not make the same mistake twice, and instead use genealogies
from the past to guide and warn us.
One blossoming new technology in particular will guide us in our
engagement with Gaian Politics: connective radios [vi]. For those who have been
denied knowledge of this, connective radios allow humans to converse with the
Nonhuman and vice versa. This pivotal technology has been withheld from the
general population, covered up by the elites who wish the Nonhuman to remain
Otherized. The elites rendered nature as a resource lacking sentience, creating an
arbitrary spectrum between fully human and fully dehumanized. With this
ability, we can stretch ecological ethics further than giving the Nonhuman a
Human voice by listening to the voice that the Nonhuman already posses.
If human expansion ensures the extinction of not only humanity itself, but
everything it touches, as the past seems to dictate, we thus pose a question: why
should degrees of humanity represent degrees of values? [vii] Species-contingent
paradigms create an unending genocide against Beings deemed politically
unqualified [viii]. This rhetoric is not only morally bankrupt; it also poses a
serious threat to all ways of life.
It might perhaps seem easier to undermine the agency of the natives who
inhabit this New World we are entering than it was to strip Earth of its identity.
These Beings are much more foreign than any we might encounter oversees in
the Old World. The planet itself is strange and new to us. However, we must fight
this temptation to exterminate and fear the unknown, and instead pool our

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Simone Schwartz-Lombard

efforts to understand and appreciate the mysteries that lay before us. Let us
stretch out our arms and embrace the magic contained in the Infinity of Space
[ix].
Let us begin, and let us start by asking the New World of its name.

[i] The New World was finally discovered in 2098 by the supposed last fleet of humanity,
who thrust themselves into the Infinity of Space for decades, losing many of their ranks.
During this time they debated the politics of their new society, causing much turmoil and
division that brought about two new coalitions: supporters of the Old Ways and the
insurgency in opposition to them, those who support Critical Ecological Ethics.
[ii] There is much living systems research and philosophy available, as we have collected
and protected these and other works from the Old World. Some notable works include
essays written by Karen Litfin, “Towards an Integral Perspective on World Politics:
Secularism, Sovereignty and the Challenge of Global Ecology,” and “Thinking like a
planet: Gaian politics and the transformation of the world food system.”
[iii] Smart Growth practices form a response to the growth crisis that plagued the Old
World. It is a mode of environmental and community planning that takes into account a
myriad of factors to produce the ideal density for civilizations. More information on
these ideas of fundamental change can be found in Jonathan Barnett’s work: “Smart
Growth in a Changing World.”
[iv] A notable work referencing the dangers of subhuman thinking is Maneesha Deckha’s
“It’s time to abandon the idea of human rights.”
[v] The apocalypse of the Old World came about in 2029. In 2021 the planet reached a
boiling point, kicking nations into a defensive and hostile stance to protect the resources
they determined to be their property. As a result, more destructive technologies were
created to hoard resources and defend against those who might take them. With
increased emissions and nuclear failures, the Old World responded with a plethora of
natural disasters until the core itself combusted, destroying itself and everything along
with it. By 2022 a group of people left the planet on a mission to find new dwellings,
hoping to send a message back to those on Earth to join them. This mission was lead by a
group who wished to save any and everything they could from earth, coined “the Last
Ark.”
[vi] The connective radios allowing communication between Human and Nonhuman
were unofficially invented sometime in the 1900s, and perfected during the 2000s.
However, no dates can be confirmed due to the high sensitivity and politicized agendas
that accompany this technology. Individuals who knew of this revolutionary technology
were often assassinated in an attempt to keep this information under wraps. Now, the
knowledge is now freely given and the technology preserved by those people who
managed to leave the Old World on the Last Ark mission.
[vii] Rhetoric describing the dangers of anthropocentrism and connecting those
ideologies to the possibility and reality of extinction date back hundreds of years.
Notable works include Roger S. Gottleib’s 1994 work “Ethics and Trauma, Levinas,
Feminism, and Deep Ecology,” and the memoirs describing the Last Days.
[viii] Elaboration on Species-Thinking paradigms can be found in Tarik Kochi and Noam
Ordan’s 2008 work, “An Argument for the Global Suicide of Humanity.”
[ix] The Infinity of Space describes the newer understanding of our relationship with the
greater universe that came about with the normalization of space travel for all walks of
life. However, this normalization of space travel for those people considered to be of
lower class faced much opposition by the elites. The opposition was scarcely overcome,
but the wish to prolong humanity prevailed and all that remained were implored to
joining the Last Ark mission.