Inviting the More-than-Human World

Description

While CCAs seem to place climate concerns first, they continue to be trapped in a human-centred perspective, taking decisions on nature but not in collaboration with. Plants, animals, and rivers are rarely mentioned, let alone involved. Strict boundaries between ‘natural’ and ‘technological’ limit imaginaries on human–environmental interactions and perpetuate the old idea of humans and nature as separate alive, despite this idea being one of the causes of many of the challenges the world is currently facing see Future Visioning.

For CCAs to effect real change, they must imagine and embrace ‘more-than-human’ democracies. Perspective-shifting exercises that decentre human viewpoints, as well as multispecies storytelling, help foreground relational knowledge by sharing narratives of human–environment entanglements and local ecological change. This would involve recognising other life forms as part of the political whole, exploring models of more-than-human governance, and drawing on traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), as well as innovative research, creative practices, and legal initiatives. Imagination and long-term thinking can be effectively enhanced by combining the deliberative process with various foresight methodologies. Democracy can also entail making decisions in collaboration with the environment, because ultimately we are all interconnected.

How-To & Examples

Participants of Germany’s Bürgerrat Klima selected 20 terms to be considered throughout the CCA, symbolizing whose perspectives should shape climate policy. Inspired by Latour’s “Parliament of Things” these more-than-human actors, these silent participants, were rendered visible in meetings. Similarly, the Convention Citoyenne pour le Climat’s suggested to include the crime of “ecocide” in the French constitution. DemNext M-T-H Governance

Use performative role-play formats to embody interspecies perspectives by inviting participants to act as animals, plants, or landscapes in facilitated sessions. Southampton City Council holds aInterspecies Democracy Meeting.

Integrate material artefacts (“speaking objects”) by bringing water samples, soil, or sensor data into the deliberation space. Material Participation

Facilitate sensory field visits to cultivate embodied ecological awareness through observation and affective experience. Unsettling Participation, KNOCA_How-does-it-feel

Align deliberative timelines with ecological rhythms to foster long-term and cyclical thinking by structuring assemblies around seasonal or environmental cycles. Facing the Planetary

Create institutional interfaces for non-human representation to embed ecological voices in governance by establishing dedicated forums or “embassies” for ecosystems. Embassy of the North Sea Organism Demokratie

Literature & Sources

Tønder, L. (2024). Citizens’ climate assembly, sustainability, and democratic innovation in an Anthropocene world. Politica.