Looking back on the Fire Pit Debate

Last Friday afternoon we hosted another of our known Fire Pit debates. It was on a cozy afternoon, with a cloudy yet comfortable climate. We were happy to welcome about a dozen of participants that consisted not only of artists and scientists, but also curious visitors who took seats and prepared for a heated discussion around our fireplace. 

We were glad to be once again joined by the philosopher Laurens Landeweerd to take the role as mediator and host of the debate. However, during this event Laurens was accompanied by Phd student Inge Dekker form the Radboud University. Together they mapped out the course of the event. Laurens kicked off with a poem from J.C. Bloem called De Dapperstraat to set the mood, after which he began introducing the topics of the evening. 

The subject of this fire pit debate was nostalgotopia, a self-created concept which describes the sensation of nostalgia towards loss of nature, referring to the feeling of environmental mourning. This is a concept inspired by the work of philosopher Glenn Albrecht, who previously introduced solastalgia, a feeling of pain which is experienced whenever nature around one’s home is corrupted. In order to explain a bit more about these concepts the floor was given to promovendus Helen Verploegen. In her research she studies the role of environmental mourning and the emotional responses it causes. She beautifully explained how grief may trigger hope and has proven to cause new developments and ideas to arise. A brightening perspective on grief, a generally negative concept. 

In order to draw the subject more towards home, Inge followed with a short description of her Phd research. She analyses the movement of animals and human-made boundaries, studying the beaver population of Eindhoven. Her research provided a relatable example of the human-nature relationship and triggered the first theorem to open the debate. It became a passionate and personal debate in which participants tackled the theses from different perspectives. The concept of nature and the human position towards it was questioned, asking if our Dutch ‘nature’ can still be considered natural. 

With much food for thought, the debate was wrapped up by Jalila Essaïdi after which the floor was opened for some informal discussion over drinks. The warm atmosphere was stimulating and encouraging to engage in much more debate. So soon it was decided that room for more debate will certainly be provided soon!