No. 9 (2025)

How does environmental change impact language? Who handles our old phones, our discarded clothes? And is anthropocentrism really at the root of the environmental crisis? The ninth issue of Springs offers a dialogue on human nature and the origins of environmental degradation, taking inspiration from tradition and Indigenous practices. In “The Inhuman Condition,” Jonatan Palmblad questions whether anthropocentrism is truly driving the ecological crisis, proposing that socioecological justice can only be achieved by embracing human nature. Jake Goetz’ poem “Der Bartgeier“ is an homage to the bone-eating Alpine bird, who was hunted to extinction in the early twentieth century and reintroduced to the Alps in the 1980s. In “Recycling Cultures in India,” Anwesha Borthakur finds that traditional methods of handling recyclables in the country largely persist. With serious laughs, Rowan Deer’s “How We Got Here” narrates a brief history of the universe, as related by someone older and wiser than all of it. In “Growing Up amid Environmental Change,” Jan David Hauck and Pooja Nayak examine how transformations in subsistence practices shape conceptions of morality and human well-being. “Making Bourdélots and Tasting Terroir” by Rory Hill reflects on how Jersey’s apple products might continue to resonate even after most of the orchards have disappeared from the island.