Consilience

Shaylee Kieffer,
Biochemistry, DNA Damage Response, PhD Student and Reviewer for Consilience

Consilience refers to the linking together of principles from different disciplines especially when forming a comprehensive theory. An important moment of consilience in the climate discourse is the intersection where the sciences and the arts meet. The root of the word is Latin, and means a literal unity or "jumping together" of knowledge.

This can be seen when scientists use creativity to create new methods, or when artists go about making art or poetry in a methodical, 'trial and error' way. This agreement on the approach to disparate subjects, especially in science and humanities, allows for a greater innovation, and for the results to reach wider audiences.

Ecopoetry is a contemporary example of consilience. By embodying the merge of environmental issues with personal relationships it allows the emotional impact of the discussion around climate change to be more accessible. It opens up space to observe our emotions in response to the environment unearthing a range of topics from climate change to pollution, industrialization to urbanization and endangered species to limited resources. Ecopoetry allows us to place ourselves between external information and our internal humanity.