I want to explore the intersection between people, the environment, and our language. There are so many words and phrases we use every day that come from the natural world. We beat around the bush, monkey around, and go back to our roots. We are love birds and early birds, old dogs and underdogs, and this is only English! Since the beginning, humans have used environmentally-rooted words to better understand the world and ourselves. Unfortunately, we have been losing touch with nature, exploiting its resources as if we are not all connected to one another. I believe language could be a critical way to bring us back down to earth. The fundamental understanding that we are fauna will be crucial to broadening our empathy for the living things around us.

Our capacity for complex language is what makes us human, and might just be our superpower. I want to uncover how our words can help us gain a deeper connection with the environment and rethink our relationship with it, so that we humble ourselves. Ultimately, we are not “saving the earth”, as we are part of it. We are saving ourselves.