"Annelid"ical Philosophy

I recently finished reading a book by Amy Stewart, The Earth Moved: on the remarkable acheivements of earthworms. I enjoyed the read, especially since a large portion of my PhD will be dedicated to earthworms and soil processes.
The book presented some interesting philosophical points and being paired with my recent trip to a Native American reservation, I now have a whole different view of the earth and earthworms.

One thing the author said included the fact that earthworms can regenerate themselves and humans cannot. "I am left with the troubling conclusion that the worm's survival may, in the grand scheme of things, be more important than my own." I also learned that part of the Native American view of earth and nature puts humans at the bottom of the food chain, so to speak. Nature and earth are on the top of the food chain. It's a chain of dependency really and respect. The earth, soil, is self dependent and hence deserves the most respect. Humans on the other hand are solely dependent on the ground we walk on. Earthworms have to be pretty high on that food chain because they only depend on soil and plants for nutrients. This Native American view sort of matches the "troubling conclusion" of Amy Stewart. The survival of the earthworms is in a sense more important than our survival. The earth would survive without humans, but humans would not survive if the soils of the world died. (I'm reminded of the series "Life After People" from the History Channel.) So in that sense, human survival is not as important as that of our soils.

Another thought provoking quote from the book included one from Adam Philips, Darwin's Worms, 1999, "What would our lives be like if we took earthworms seriously, took the ground under our feet rather than the skies high above our heads, as the place to look, as well, eventually, as the place to be? It is as though we have been pointed in the wrong direction." While I think the heavens are a glorious place to look, I see the point and purpose of this quote. Our earthly bodies will eventually rest in the ground. I don't think we realize the, dare I say, the significance of this. "By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return" Genesis 3: 19.

The word human has its origin in the latin meaning earth or ground. Humus, a term used when discussing soil, has the same latin origin. Humus is degraded organic matter in soil or stabilized organic matter. Humans are made of organic matter. "For dust we are and to dust we return."

I have a lot more to learn about earthworms and Native American culture, but for now I'm developing a deeper respect for the processes of soil science.

I'm still amused by the title I came up with for this post! I think I'll resurrect it for some of the presentations I have coming!