Tomorrow let’s all be pangolins! Western affirmation of a relational ontology in thinking and acting for a multi-species future

Abstract

How should we envision the future of environmental justice in a context where the imbalances between part of humanity and other living beings seem irreversible and could compromise the survival of the majority? The scientific world and activist movements, both in the West and among indigenous peoples, are making their voices heard to denounce an industrial, productivist and extractivisit lifestyle that is predatory and incompatible with ensuring the well-being and intentionalities of all living beings. The ontological framework of the Anthropocene era seems to support this type of social relationship of domination. Indeed, naturalism puts humans as distinct from the rest of the animal kingdom and as having the right to use the different components of the environment as material resources. Due to the succession of environmental and social crises, whether worldwide or local, these power relationships need to be re-examined. The study of scientific results and observations from the last forty years, listening to people’s accounts of their attachments to their living environment, and the observation of new social and environmental movements all point to the emergence of hybrid ontologies that question naturalism, opening the door to the possibility of multi-species justice as an alternative to inequality.