The Earth is Our Home


As I continue researching for my final paper about the ecofeminist, Elizabeth Johnson, I came across a section in one of her articles explaining the word “oikos”. “Oikos”, is the word for ecology, illustrating household or home. This word has helped create a language to communicate and conceptualize to other humans where one another is from. In a broader sense, the earth is home to all humans, plants, animals, fungi, soil, minerals, and resources. It is where life itself can flourish and adapt. It’s where these organisms and sources of life can interact with each other to create vastly intricate and distinct ecosystems. The layers of ecosystems work in equilibrium and cast somewhat of an order that needs to have the ability to flow in order for the world to not fall astray. 
            I had never heard of the word “oikos” other than used as a yogurt brands logo, but I think it resonates with just how important it is to know where we come from. When we care about a place and see it as our home, maybe there would be less destruction and commodification of land and more appreciation towards it. Knowing we only get one home should be a wakeup call to humankind, that we now need to start giving back to the lands rather than exhausting them more and more every day. 

            

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