Okay, so this Morton Dark Ecology thing kept popping up in my feeds. Sounded super fancy, like you need a PhD just to pronounce it. But I got curious – what's this "dark ecology" about? Decided to dig in headfirst. Here’s how it went down.
Grabbing the Shovel (My First Attempt)
Started with Morton's own stuff. Big mistake. Opened one of his books and bam – walls of text with words like "hyperobjects" and "mesh." Felt like decoding alien hieroglyphs. Noped out after five pages. My coffee went cold staring at sentences longer than my grocery list. Needed a simpler angle.
Switching to Training Wheels
Hopped onto YouTube. Found some explainer videos. One guy rambled about "nonhuman agency" while petting his cat. Another used a plastic bottle in a river as an example. Okay, that clicked a little – how trash we ignore is part of the whole messed-up system. But still fuzzy. Felt like everyone was dancing around the big idea.
Tried breaking it into dumb questions over lunch:
- Why "dark"? Is it evil? (Nah, just means hidden or uncomfortable stuff.)
- What's "ecology" here? Not just trees and birds, but everything tangled up together, including human junk.
- Seriously, what's the point? Basically: we’re stuck in a messy relationship with nature, not separate from it.
The "Oh, Duh" Moment
Stared at a dead houseplant on my windowsill. I killed it (forgot to water it). Usually I’d just toss it, feel guilty, buy a new one. But Morton’s idea? Made me really look at it. That crispy fern wasn’t just "dead." It was decomposing, returning to soil, feeding microbes. The plastic pot? It’ll outlive me, leaking microplastics into dirt somewhere. My guilt? Also part of the "mesh." Felt weirdly heavy. Like realizing your shadow’s glued to your feet forever.
Slapping My Own Label On It
After all that head-scratching, here’s my takeaway: Morton’s Dark Ecology is saying, "Hey, wake up – there’s no clean escape hatch." We can’t just "fix" nature like a broken app. Our pollution, extinct species, plastic oceans? They’re proof we’re knotted into this system, like it or not. Instead of pretending we’re separate heroes, face the ugly knots. Sit with the discomfort. That dead plant? Yeah, that’s part of your legacy too.
So yeah. Not a cheerful theory. More like biting into a sour candy that makes your jaw ache. But it sticks with you. Now when I see trash on the street, I don’t just see litter. I see the "mesh" – the oil rig, the factory, my phone made from minerals, all wired together. Dark? Maybe. But definitely real.
