The Life of Breath Project’s PI Havi Carel has written this brilliant essay about the characteristics of air and our relation-ship to it. This relation-ship is tendentially a blissful one but one which changes radically when air looses its inherent capacity of nourishment and communication because its qualities have been altered or impaired. She quotes extensively from Terror from the Air by philosopher Peter Sloterdijk who discusses the idea of ‘atmoterrorism’ and makes her case that it’s high time for us to stand up for air.
“Air surrounds us. It is always there, its absence abhorred by nature. Unlike other natural elements, it is invisible, unlimited, and freely available. It is a plenitude, nature’s generosity; it is seemingly endless and expansive. Air is also of and for sharing. We share air when we laugh or talk together, when we breathe together, when we kiss. Air mediates the space between people. Thus air is both plentiful and shared. The atmosphere envelops us, providing oxygen, warmth, and shielding us from radiation. Wrapped around our planet, it is a protective layer within which all life exists. Read More
The uses and abuses of air (1)
