Layne Hartsell, in discussion with ecophilosophers Derrick Jensen and Lierre Keith
Part I: Coming to Terms with Civilization
Civilization—many associate it with lofty ideals of human progress, high development, and a network of cities brimming with culture, innovation, sophistication, and excitement. Others are less precise, unsure - civilization means development, to be basically polite, and something to do with cities. In this discussion, we attempt to come to terms with civilization as a pattern of culture and human ecology through logic and through real-world examples, including a visit to the current fire region in the Palisades, Los Angeles, and on back to ancient Mesopotamia, Greece, and Rome, and then to modernity with London, the Pearl River Delta, and Lagos, Nigeria.
The meaning of civilization is far from straightforward, though in his two-volume book series called ‘Endgame’ ecophilosopher Derrick Jensen begins with the terms and logic: “We can begin with the term ‘civitates’ or Latin for city-state and then for the ideology we can look at the literature and for the cultural pattern.” Environmental activist and thinker Lierre Keith added, “All humans have cultures, but civilization is a certain kind of culture,” as she went on to explain the specifics of agriculture and extraction.
Civilization is a concept shaped by the intertwining of technology, culture, environment, and societal norms. As a way to look at civilization in order to reorient ourselves, in his research on energy, economy, and environment, Layne Hartsell explores bioregionalism as a theoretical ecology based on an extensive study of Jensen, delving into the nuanced relationship between technics (technology) and civilization, offering valuable insight into the building up of urban centers. By tracing the origins of civilization and looking at both ancient and modern cities, we can better understand its multifaceted definition. Hartsell says “Cities or ‘[V. Gordon] Childe’s agglomerations’ or urbanization as the influx of people and resources into urban centers, are core to civilization as an interaction sphere that encompasses a hinterland and now the Earth. Catastrophic extraction for urban centers has now moved from the megapolis or massive city to megapolitron or acceleration of the megapolis, causing havoc with the geophysical and biophysical systems, which we are dependent upon.”
Civilization, in its ‘blueprint or DNA, is drawn with the building up of cities. The city, as a space for socialization, commerce, art, and governance, symbolizes the pinnacle of cultural and technological achievement in the classical sense. It is also a physical place and space made up of materials extracted, catastrophically so, from a hinterland. Further back, ancient Mesopotamia represents one of the earliest instances of urbanization, where the Sumerians developed agriculture that would be used for building up large, organized urban centers based on large-scale extraction, such as cutting the cedar forests of the Levant.
Moving westward, Ancient Greece emerged as a powerful force in shaping Western civilization, hence Aristotle’s Ethics starts with the polis or city as core and the philosopher as the highest man of the city. Plato’s philosopher king from earlier. The Greeks' embrace of philosophy, science, democracy, and art helped define the intellectual and political systems that many modern societies still reference. City-states like Athens became symbols of intellectualism and civic engagement, where a small group of citizens debated, voted, and created lasting institutions that laid the foundation for modern Western thought.
Rome, the final piece in this classical triangle, took the urbanization principles of Greece and refined them on an imperial scale. The Roman Empire built a sophisticated system of roads, aqueducts, and cities designed to facilitate trade, governance, cultural exchange, and war for the hinterland, resources, and slaves. The latter is the absolute necessity for the culture of civilization, “non-negotiable,” says Jensen.
Modern Urban Metropoli: New Frontiers of Civilization
London, the heart of the British Empire, was once the symbol of industrial and cultural supremacy. Today, it, along with New York and other megapolis, represents a civilizational dynamic where tradition and innovation coexist, and many from across the globe look to them for a model.
On the other side of the world, the Pearl River Delta, encompassing cities like Guangzhou, Hong Kong, and Shenzhen, is an example of rapid urbanization in modern China. Here, a tech-driven economy thrives in a region that has seen explosive growth in the past few decades. The Delta has transformed into a hub for innovation, manufacturing, and digital economies, dramatically altering both the landscape and the lives of its inhabitants.
Meanwhile, Lagos, Nigeria—Africa's most populous city—demonstrates how civilization and urbanization are inextricably linked with economic disparity and environmental challenges. With millions of people living in sprawling, informal settlements, Lagos presents a complex interplay of modernity and tradition in civilization. It highlights the tension between the dream of technological progress and the reality of poverty and environmental degradation, where rapid growth has outpaced the capacity for infrastructure development and resources.
Hartsell argues that citizens, or people of cities, are grappling with challenges of urban density, social inequality, pollution, and growing environmental collapse, and all of that imposed on the rest of the planet. He says ‘the biosphere is under tremendous stress’.
Bioregionalism: A Shift in Perspective
In his work on bioregionalism, Layne Hartsell offers a critical perspective on how civilizations can better orient themselves toward sustainability and ecological balance. He suggests that civilization must be understood in relation to its environment, rather than simply focusing on the technological feats of cities, which are indeed “astounding”. He emphasizes that we must also consider how these spaces interact with the natural world – human ecology and other biotic communities up to the bioregions and biomes. The reorientation from civilization to bioregionalism, as proposed by Hartsell, is a call to rethink urban spaces not as isolated entities of technological innovation, but as situated in biotic communities embedded in a larger, interdependent virtually infinite complex biosphere. This bioregional lens challenges the traditional notion that civilization is merely an achievement and desirable since its core is the city or urbanization, pushing us to explore alternative forms of societal progress that respect the natural world and its limits. He says, agreeing with Derrick Jensen and Lierre Keith that ‘we as scientists, thinkers, activists…are concerned that civilization will take down the biosphere before civilization is brought closer to nature intentionally or brings itself down, and…we have to find a way towards a bioregionally-based system bringing civilization closer to nature. In fact, this thinking is core to the Chinese state policy and Mencius from the last decade.” He says, “I don’t think it will be achieved fully and then some aspects of civilization will have to remain in place if people are going to survive, however, the move by the Chinese would be like having Derrick Jensen’s work at the core of U.S. policy, which is nowhere near the case. US politicians will not even talk about climate change in the national debates.”
Conclusion: Reexamining the City and Civilization
The history of civilization, from Mesopotamia to modern-day Lagos, London, and the Pearl River Delta, and Los Angeles illustrates that cities are not merely passive symbols of human achievement. They are dynamic spaces where technology, culture, environment, and human values converge. As we continue to grapple with the complexities of modern urbanization and its environmental impacts, we must reconsider what it means to be civilized. The suggested reorientation to bioregionalism may provide the necessary framework for rethinking how cities can be adjusted to a direction more in harmony with the planet. Lierre Keith says, “yes, there is an avalanche of grief that must be dealt with and there is tremendous possibility and potential for us as the biosphere is highly regenerative, we need only realize the ecological situation and act en masse.”
Part II (Upcoming): A Reorientation from Civilization to Bioregionalism: we will delve into the rational and sound positivity and even joy of bioregionalism as a reorientation to live well, to salvage as much of wild nature as is possible, and to participate in the regeneration of human communities and the biosphere.
For in-depth study of the discussion, here is the paper:
Layne Hartsell, “Bioregionalism as a Theoretical Ecology and a Possible Reorientation,” SES J of Appl Philos 9 (June 2023): 114–60, http://ses-journal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/SES-Journal-Volume-9-Article-5-2023.pdf.
Derrick Jensen is an American ecophilosopher and environmentalist. He is a co-author of Deep Green Resistance and the author of Endgame, The Culture of Make Believe, A Language Older than Words, Bright Green Lies, and many other books. He was named one of Utne Reader’s “50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World” and won the Eric Hoffer Award in 2008. He has written for Orion, Audubon, and The Sun Magazine, among many others.
Lierre Keith is an American writer and food and environmental activist. She is the author of the novels Conditions of War and Skyler Gabriel. Her non-fiction works include the highly acclaimed The Vegetarian Myth: Food, Justice, and Sustainability, and is coauthor, with Derrick Jensen and Aric McBay, of Deep Green Resistance: Strategy to Save the Planet (Seven Stories Press, 2011) and Bright Green Lies: How the Environmental Movement Lost Its Way and What We Can Do About It (Monkfish, 2021). She lives in northern California.
Layne Hartsell, USA (雷恩∙哈特塞尔 - 마이클레인핫셀) - 3E: Energy, Economy, Environment – research fellow at the Center for Science, Technology, and Society, Department of Philosophy, Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok and at the Asia Institute in Tokyo. Past affiliations: assistant professor, convergence studies, Sookmyung Women's University and Research Institute for Asian Women - Asia-Pacific Women's Information Network Center in Seoul. Research professor, Sungkyunkwan University and the Advanced Institute of Nanotechnology, Seoul/Suwon. Lecturer at Mahidol University, Siriraj Medical Center, Department of Molecular Biology and Bioinformatics, Bangkok. Researcher at the University of Virginia College of Medicine, Charlottesville.
