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2021: Creating a Lexicon of Future
E is for Endemophilia
The particular love of that which is locally and regionally distinctive as felt by the people of that place. Endemophilia is derived from the English word, ‘endemic’, is based on the French word, endémique and has the Greek roots, endēmia (a dwelling in) and endemos (native in the people) and philia (love of). ~ Psychoterratica, Glenn Albrecht
We could say, then, that the tales of Pooh and his friends are a celebration of ‘endemophilia’, a deep at-homeness in place and time.
The Winnie-the-Pooh stories express the powerful and intimate connections that we form as children, not only with our toys, which we imbue with life, but also with place, which serves as both cradle and companion. A larger inspection of the books (and the real life of their central character) manifests both the delights and the discomfiting aspects of our relationship with place. Connections with nature that many of us nourish in memory are hard to retain in adulthood. An inspection of Christopher Milne’s story brings to mind that we grow up and we change, as do landscapes, as do our relationships. We leave our childhood places behind us, sometimes literally, by thousands of miles, traversing several biomes before alighting like storm-tossed petrels in deeply unfamiliar territory.
Discovering how to develop an affiliation for new places might be the major environmental task of our age. Even those who do not move at all will find themselves in places that feel new, as habitat damage and climate change take effect. And, if we do leave, we need to learn to love the places in which we find ourselves. ~ Ecology of Pooh
