Becoming aware of the living air: from scientific and indigenous narratives to care ethics

Résumé En

Every day, vast quantities of gaseous effluents and industrial pollutants are rejected into the atmosphere. Although we are fully aware of this, ashuman beings living in Western societies, we continue to ignore the invisible and subtle element that is air, considering it an empty space, aconveniently forgotten dump site. This paper invites us to become aware of the importance of the aerial matrix which intertwines human and nonhuman, recognizing that all forms of existence can be possible only because of the presence of this more-than-human medium, both inside and outside of us. For this purpose, we first consider scientific and indigenous narratives capable of embedding our body-mind into the living air in all its richness and depth. Secondly, we explore the phenomenological approach as a skillful means of activating the participatory nature of our sensoryperception within the weather-world. From these sensuous and narrative experiences, we can see the potential for the emergence of profoundempathy for every living being, grounded in a renewed attentiveness to the living land and atmosphere that sustain us, and that can be the basis forintegrative environmental education and care ethics