What Is Timothy Morton’s Dark Ecology?

Timothy Morton’s concept of dark ecology is innovative and intriguing. It questions our beliefs about the interplay between humans and the environment. It goes further than the accepted doctrines of conservationism or sustainability, digging into how complicatedly we’re connected to everything else as part of an ecological mesh. In other words, it tells us to embrace what’s dark about our environmental crisis—inherent uncertainty—and reimagine how we might live on Earth more inclusively and cooperatively.

So, what would embracing dark ecology principles mean if we could apply them?

Timothy Morton is a contemporary philosopher, ecologist, and critical theorist who earned immense name and glory through his works in environmental philosophy.

Born in Ireland in 1968, Timothy Morton has held academic appointments at institutions like the University of California, Davis, and Rice University. He has written extensively on topics including ecological thought, metaphysics, aesthetics, and literature.

In this way, Morton seems to be quite interdisciplinary and shows a possible way of bridging wide gaps between distinct fields. What characterizes his work is the combination of insights from philosophy, ecology, literary theory, psychoanalysis, and cultural studies to offer a new interpretation of our relations with the environment.

One of Morton’s key ideas is that humanity’s understanding of nature is fundamentally flawed. He argues that traditional concepts like “nature” or “environment” are limited and anthropocentric constructs that separate humans from the rest of the natural world. Instead, he proposes a more interconnected approach that recognizes the intricate web of relationships between all entities—human and non-human alike.

Morton coined the term “hyperobjects” to describe phenomena that are enormous in scale yet difficult for us to fully comprehend or grasp. Climate change is an example of a highly illustrative hyperobject—it impacts every element of our planet—affecting it while being too large and complex to comprehend.

His dark ecology concept questions conventional notions about environmentalism. Dark ecology emphasizes embracing the uncertainty and darkness of such ecological issues—we will not be able to solve these complex problems with traditional thinking alone. It urges us to alter our view from control to coexistence with nature.

The concept of dark ecology can be traced back to Timothy Morton’s influential 2016 book, Dark Ecology: For a Logic of Future Coexistence. As against previous environmentalist’s focus on conservation and sustainability, Morton argued critically in his book that these approaches are insufficient to address our deeper ecological crises.

At its core, dark ecology rejects existing ideas about nature being something separate from human existence. Instead, it recognizes that humans are enmeshed within the larger ecological web—and our actions have consequences far beyond what we typically consider individual choices.

Morton says acknowledging our interconnectedness with all beings—both human and non-human—is crucial for understanding and addressing complex environmental issues. In his words, “We need a more inclusive sense of coexistence.”

The “dark” in dark ecology refers partly to the shadows or uncertainties surrounding our ecological predicament. Many ecological problems may be poorly understood due to invisibility (e.g., climate change), complexity (e.g., biodiversity loss), or long-term effects (e.g., hormone-disrupting chemicals).

Another shade of meaning concerns how humans relate to nature. The notion that people dominate or control other entities—even those as small as bacteria—is widespread worldwide. However, according to Morton, this belief has contributed seriously to current global dilemmas such as climate change.

Rather than dominating or controlling nature—an approach that aims, among other things, to end death—humanity needs a more cooperative relationship with other entities regarding their environments.

Dark Ecology encourages us to confront rather than ignore the dark aspects of ecological crisis. It offers a radical reimagining of how we might address climate change, one that involves accepting greater connectedness with all forms of life on Earth.

As anthropogenic climate change hits societies around the world, it is clear that such ideas may start becoming mainstream. To move forward, Morton suggests, society needs to establish a new, broader, healthier sense of connectedness to all aspects of life on Earth.

Dark ecology—as defined by Timothy Morton—encompasses several key ideas that challenge traditional assumptions about our relationship with the environment.

Firstly, it points out how all living things are interconnected and interdependent. Far from being separate from nature, humans are enmeshed within a web of life. The idea of “hyperobjects” illustrates this: phenomena such as climate change or nuclear radiation that defy comprehension because they’re so complex and affect us all in ways we can’t fully understand.

Secondly, dark ecology confronts the dark or shadowy aspects of our ecological crisis—acknowledging that much that needs to be grasped or predicted cannot easily be done. Rather than trying to control nature or simplify matters, it is crucial that we find acceptance of this murkiness.

Thirdly, dark ecology rejects an anthropocentric view that concentrates on human beings at the expense of others. Non-human entities have agency, too; their needs and importance should not be overlooked. Nature isn’t just a backdrop or resource; other creatures are valuable members of the ecological community. A more symbiotic relationship between people and other species (rather than one founded on exploitation) is required.

Lastly, perhaps most importantly—given what’s going wrong—is an ethics for coexisting differently through transformative action. We need to take responsibility for our impact on Earth’s systems, live sustainably, and embrace long-term thinking rather than short-termism to ensure viable future earnings.

The Concept of the “Mesh”

The concept of the “mesh” is central to Timothy Morton’s dark ecology. It’s about how everything on Earth is interconnected, both human and non-human. The mesh recognizes that we are all enmeshed with each other: causally entangled.

Morton argues that there aren’t any fixed or clear-cut boundaries between individual entities in the mesh. Instead, they are porous, allowing matter-energy-information exchanges from one thing to another. These exchanges happen simultaneously on multiple scales; for example, molecular-scale things might be happening locally and macro-ecological things globally.

Symbiosis is an obvious instance of the mesh. For example, mycorrhizal networks allow plants and fungi to exchange nutrients mutualistically underground at great distances much more quickly than by normal routes, such as diffusion through soil particles. They are like a living internet made up of thousands or millions of individuals across vast areas.

Trophic cascades in food webs also showcase some of the mesh’s qualities—when you add or remove a top predator from an ecosystem, it has knock-on effects throughout entire food web systems.

The idea challenges anthropocentric views that place humans separate from and above nature somehow—it emphasizes the fact that we’re embedded in something much larger than us. Recognizing this invites us to consider our actions differently.

In the realm of Dark Ecology, Timothy Morton’s concept of “hyperobjects” stands out. Hyperobjects are things that are massively distributed in time and space relative to humans: they’re too big to see in their entirety, even when aided by technology like supercomputers. They include things like climate change, styrofoam, and the internet—dubbed “dark objects” by some thinkers who study them.

Take global warming as an example of a hyperobject. Global warming affects the whole planet. But there is no one place where it happens all at once or even a particular time period during which it happened. In other words, you can’t perceive global warming directly with your senses without help from scientific instruments (such as thermometers).

Here’s another example: nuclear radiation from power plants or test sites isn’t localized just around those places. Its impacts last geologic ages and spread instantly at near lightspeed across air and water currents—not everywhere but potentially anywhere on Earth.

Or consider plastic pollution in oceans; microplastics now blanket entire seas inside seawater, so seafood has become a kind of marine salad bar with dressings made of fossil-fuel waste product packaging rings.

In the face of hyperobjects, we can see our own limits for what they are: artifacts of human scale. We learn to recognize that something can be unbearably real and yet not susceptible by us in our current form—whether it is because the thing is distributed in time, vast spatially, or both at once.

By becoming acquainted with hyperobjects, we also glimpse how deeply interconnected all entities on this planet are. The need for collaboration to confront systemic challenges becomes obvious when faced with a hyperobject.

The problem of uncertainty in ecological contexts forms one of the main threads running through dark ecology. Timothy Morton argues that ecological crises such as climate change or biodiversity loss are shot through with uncertainties: they arise because these issues are complex and interconnected, making it difficult to predict or fully grasp the consequences of our actions or interventions.

Within dark ecology, uncertainty arises from a willingness to acknowledge the vast array of factors at play and their intricate interactions within ecosystems. This makes it hard to reconcile with traditional approaches that seek straightforward cause-and-effect relationships or definitive solutions to environmental problems.

Rather than seeking clear-cut solutions, Morton argues that we must confront and accept this inherent uncertainty—including linear thinking and overconfidence in human ability to control nature—in ecological crises. Instead, he suggests embracing a more humble stance towards coexistence on Earth and being more cooperative.

Confronting uncertainty involves recognizing our limitations as humans when it comes to understanding what is happening in terms of ecological complexity accurately enough so we can be confident about predicting outcomes.

It means accepting that some things may never be known for sure, no matter how much measuring or predicting we do. By doing so, we can foster a more realistic approach to ecological challenges.

Morton suggests embracing an existential-philosophical stance of coexistence to better respond adaptively in uncertain situations and build resilience into ecosystems going forward—meaning ethics based on humility, collaboration, and ongoing engagement with non-human entities.

Timothy Morton’s dark ecology teaches people several important lessons. First, it points out that we need to get past an anthropocentric worldview and see how everything in the ecological mesh is interconnected. This challenges our usual way of separating humans from nature and encourages us to take a more inclusive view instead.

Second, dark ecology reminds us how uncertain and complex ecological crises are. It warns against looking for simple or definitive answers when it comes to ecological issues, which are all connected and often have multiple causes that can be hard to understand fully.

Thirdly, dark ecology highlights the importance of having an awe-struck attitude towards non-human entities on this planet. These aren’t just living things; they might be natural phenomena such as rocks or even whole planets.

They might not be alive in the same way people usually think about living creatures—whatever “life” is—but the point is that they’re real, actual things that exist in time and space just like we do. A rock also behaves according to laws. Its molecules rearrange themselves over time according to physical principles.

Lastly, dark ecology urges us to reconsider our connection with nature critically and question mainstream cultural beliefs about progress and power. It shows us that our choices have long-lasting effects and demands that we own up to the consequences of our actions on Earth.