Beyond Bestand

Abstract

Humans face wide-ranging and global challenges in the Anthropocene, the most prominent of which is anthropogenic climate change. Our initial pivot as a civilization towards sustainability has been to rely heavily on technological innovation powered most obviously by engineers. Using the climate activist Greta Thunberg’s speech at the 2018 United Nations Climate Change Conference as my inspiration, I try to show how some of the technology-based solutions only entrench what I call our “Bestance” mentality, that is, the fundamental stance or orientation humans have toward the natural world in the Anthropocene wherein all entities show up as mere resources. Having shown the various ways in which traditional ethical approaches and environmental philosophical approaches have proved unhelpful, I try to how a Heideggerian ecophenomenological approach can help us not only understand how the world shows up to us in the Anthropocene, but also what a more graceful way of being might look like. Using specific examples of current technologies, including hydraulic fracturing, horizontal drilling, desalination, and artificial nitrogen-based fertilization, I use Heidegger’s philosophical concepts to show how the land, sea, and air have become Bestand in the Anthropocene, that is, mere materials on hand to be manipulated in order to serve human interests. I then utilize Heidegger’s notion of dwelling as a useful concept to guide a more graceful way of living in which we respect the way in which things unfold on their own terms using examples similarly embedded in the land, sea and air.