Notice the Absence: Ecological Loneliness, Local Attention, and Interspecies Connection / Laura Marris (SOLO Part 2)
Consider human ecological loneliness and our longing for reconnection with all creation. What healing is available in an era defined by environmental loss and exploitation? Can we strengthen the fragile connection between modern society and the space we inhabit?
“Loneliness is the symptom that desires its cure.”
In this episode Macie Bridge welcomes writer, translator, and poet Laura Marris to reflect on her essay collection The Age of Loneliness, a meditation on solitude, grief, and the ecology of attention. Marris considers what it means to live through an era defined by environmental loss and human disconnection, yet still filled with wonder. She shares stories of tardigrades that endure extreme conditions, how airports reveal our attitudes toward birds, and the personal loss of her father that awakened her to “noticing absence.” Together, they explore how ecological loneliness might transform into longing for reconnection—not only among humans, but with the creatures and landscapes that share our world. Marris suggests that paying attention, naming, and noticing are acts of restoration. “Loneliness,” she writes, “is the symptom that desires its cure.”
Episode Highlights
- “Loneliness is the symptom that desires its cure.”
- “There are ways, even very simple ones, that individuals can do to make the landscape around them more hospitable.”
- “I don’t believe that humans are hardwired to exploit. There have been many societies with long traditions of mutual benefit and coexistence.”
- “It’s really hard to notice an absence sometimes. There’s something curative about noticing absences that have been around but not acknowledged.”
- “Ecological concerns are not a luxury. It’s actually really important to hold the line on them.”
Helpful Links and Resources
The Age of Loneliness by Laura Marris — https://www.graywolfpress.org/books/age-loneliness
Underland by Robert Macfarlane — https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393242140
E.O. Wilson on “Beware the Age of Loneliness” — https://www.economist.com/news/2013/11/18/beware-the-age-of-loneliness
About Laura Marris
Laura Marris is a writer and translator whose work spans poetry, essays, and literary translation. She is the author of The Age of Loneliness and has translated Albert Camus’s The Plague for Vintage Classics. She teaches creative writing and translation at the University at Buffalo.
Show Notes
- The Ecology of Loneliness and Longing
- Laura Marris discusses The Age of Loneliness—“Eremocene”—a term coined by E.O. Wilson to describe a speculative future of environmental isolation.
- Fascination with poetic form and environmental prose emerging during the pandemic.
- Ecological loneliness arises from biodiversity loss, but also offers the chance to reimagine more hospitable human landscapes.
- Extreme Tolerance and the Human Condition
- Marris describes tardigrades as metaphors for endurance without thriving—organisms that survive extremes by pausing metabolism.
- “How extremely tolerant are humans, and what are our ways of trying to be more tolerant to extreme conditions?”
- Air conditioning becomes an emblem of “extreme tolerance,” mirroring human adaptation to a destabilized environment.
- Birds, Airports, and the Language of Blame
- Marris explores how modern air travel enforces ecological loneliness by eradicating other species from its space.
- She reveals hidden networks of wildlife managers and the Smithsonian’s Feather Identification Lab.
- Reflects on the “Miracle on the Hudson,” where language wrongly cast geese as antagonists—“as if the birds wanted to hit the plane.”
- Loneliness, Solitude, and Longing
- “Loneliness is solitude attached to longing that feels painful.”
- Marris distinguishes solitude’s generativity from loneliness’s ache, suggesting longing can be a moral compass toward reconnection.
- Personal stories of her father’s bird lists intertwine grief and ecological noticing.
- Ground Truthing and Community Science
- Marris introduces “ground truthing”—people verifying ecological data firsthand.
- She celebrates local volunteers counting birds, horseshoe crabs, and plants as acts of hope.
- “Community care applies to human and more-than-human communities alike.”
- Toxic Landscapes and Ecological Aftermath
- Marris recounts Buffalo’s industrial scars and ongoing restoration along the Niagara River.
- “Toxins don’t stop at the edge of the landfill—they keep going.”
- She reflects on beauty, resilience, and the return of eagles to post-industrial lands.
- Attention and Wonder as Advocacy
- “A lot of advocacy stems from paying local attention.”
- Small, attentive acts—like watching sparrows dust bathe—are forms of resistance against despair.
- Cure, Absence, and Continuing the Conversation
- Marris resists the idea of a final “cure” for loneliness.
- “Cure could be something ongoing, a process, a change in your life.”
- Her annual bird counts become a continuing dialogue with her late father.
- Wisdom for the Lonely
- “Take the time to notice what it is you’re lonely for.”
- She calls for transforming loneliness into longing for a more hospitable, interdependent world.
Production Notes
- This podcast featured Laura Marris
- Interview by Macie Bridge
- Edited and Produced by Evan Rosa
- Production Assistance by Alexa Rollow, Emily Brookfield, and Hope Chun
- A Production of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School https://faith.yale.edu/about
- Support For the Life of the World podcast by giving to the Yale Center for Faith & Culture: https://faith.yale.edu/give
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