John Bossard coins a useful concept: Exvironmentalism:
…whereas Environmentalism is focused on conservation and improvement of the environment of the Earth, Exvironmentalism seeks to turn the focus outwards, so that the ideas of conservation, and improvements of terrestrial environments are part of much broader and more inclusive notions regarding life not just on Earth, but also of life in our solar system, and out into the Cosmos.
I think that there is another important distinction between Exvironmentalism and Environmentalism. I believe that Exvironmentalism should see human beings as part of the solution, as opposed to being part of the problem. Humans can and must play an important role in enabling the growth of living creatures, plant, animal, and other, in the otherwise sterile exvironments of the cosmos. As such, human life has intrinsic value and worth, like all living and sentient creatures, and therefore is also worthy of respect and should be valued.
Just the opposite of the misanthropic Deep Eeks. I like the logo, too.
Heh. I can see the coinage of words on this principle going on for quite a ways, simply by changing the prefix. A planet like Jupiter might have what might, for life as we know it, be termed a “xenovironment.”
Humans are how Gaia is going to reproduce. The rest of the solar system is dead, but through humans, Gaia will spread life to all those dead worlds. Forty years ago we brought the first life to the moon in four billion years. That’s an accomplishment you’d think the dirt worshippers would celebrate.
Excellent. Finally some signs that i could carry on a protest.
Mine the sky, not the earth !
Nuke tests go to Mercury, not on Pacific !
No throwaway rockets !
reader – Here’s another one, which (I think) I coined a couple of years ago:
Back Into The Black!
I like the double meaning potential of “Back Into The Black!”
How about:
“Out of the Blue and Into the Black”
Remember, Rust Never Sleeps!
Well, keeping in mind that we try to supersede environmentalism, i’d say
Black is the new green !
I posted there about the shortcomings in the symbol’s ability to “reply” to the recycling symbol.
Dunno what happened to it. It might require review and approval by Mr. Bossard.
If it shows up, I’ll cross-comment it here.
MG:
I did not see your comment posting, and I regret that. I would be very interested in your feedback on symbols, or any related comments. For whatever reason, Typepad is just not making it easy on anyone to post comments. Please try again, and make sure you use the CAPTCHA at the very bottom, sometimes its hard to see.
Rand:
thank you for referencing Exvironmentalism. I consider you a true exvironmentalist! I look forward to further discussion. You always provide a great deal of insight.
Sorry for the delays in responding, just got back from Oshkosh. And yes, WK2 was awesome. It flew a few passes on departure, and it is rather quiet, thanks to it’s four PWC 308 engines.
crossposted from Mr. Bossard’s blog:
If you would like to draw a clearer symbolic contrast between exvironmentalism and environmentalism, I recommend that the exV symbol use the “language” of the enV symbol.
Specifically:
— Use the same color of green
— Same arrowhead style
— same “half-twist” in the arrows
BUT (and this is the “symbolic dialogue”):
— the arrows spiral outward
— in contrast to the triangle of the recycling symbol, the arrows create a circular envelope.
The recycling symbol communicates the idea that Nature (the green color) is a closed system that reuses everything in an endless loop. The equilateral triangle suggests stability and equilibrium.
The exV symbol could use the same color (Nature) to emphasize that the way Nature works is an open system (the spiral), that it succeeds by spreading out to fill all possible spaces.
Finally, the implicit circle is a clearer reference to Earth than the recycling symbol’s triangle, and the arrows more clearly suggest that human agency is behind the functioning of the arrows spiraling outward.
(crossposted at plasma wind in comments)
MG,
thank you for your thoughtful suggestions regarding possible exvironmentalism symbols. These are good comments. I also like your notation “exV” (in contrast to enV).
In some ways, I want to break from environmentalism ideas, and draw a strong distinction between exV and enV. Green is the color of photosynthesis, and as such represents a fundamental base of the terrestrial food pyramid. However, not all life is photosynthetically based, or relies on the solar energy. Even on Earth, thermal vent life has established a fundamentally different energy cycle. In addition, the emergence of consciousnesses in machine intelligence cannot be adequately represented by green, IMHO. So I thought blue and black made for better colors to convey larger, more encompassing notions of what life, consciousness, etc.
The equilateral triangle has deep mystical and religious symbolism, and is echoed in the arrowheads and overall shape. I also thought it looked better than the flattened, 70’s-era type of arrowhead.
I’m glad you brought up the notion of closed vs. open systems. I contend that exvironmentalism is predicated on the notions of open systems (as opposed to closed systems), whereas environmentalism seems more closely aligned with closed systems (i.e. recycling).
Perhaps it didn’t come out clearly in the graphic (thanks to my limited skill in creating graphics), but there is a circle around the Earth symbol, but its a bit jaggy. Also, it’s probably not very clear, but the shafts of the arrows that emerge from this circle are curved and are meant to denote an outward spiraling effect, just as you suggest.
Anyway, its interesting to discuss these symbolic notions. Perhaps I can hire a graphic artist to clean things up. Discussion and the exchange of ideas always helps.
I won’t take up any more space on Rand’s blog. Further discussion can be had at Plasma Wind.