Welcome to Biocentric
The climate crisis. Plummeting biodiversity and the 6th mass extinction. Rampant pollution. Rising inequality and ascendant corporate power. Brutal caste and class oppression. War and resource competition. An increasingly crowded world. Deforestation and dead zones proliferating in the ocean and on land.
Our world is in crisis.
Governments, corporations, and communities, when they’re not complicit, have been rendered powerless.
This way of life is not working. We need change. And no one is coming to save us.
Paradoxically, as these crises unfold, life continues. The trees grow. The fawns come in the spring. There is still beauty and friendship. There is honor. There are people standing against the forces desecrating our world. It is here, rather than in techno-fixes, that hope lies.
This newsletter is about resisting the destruction, and focuses on topics such as greenwashing, degrowth, strategy, ecological collapse, grassroots organizing, people’s movements, deep ecology, and nature connection.
For two decades I’ve been working to save our planet.
My name is Max Wilbert. My father and mother raised me to fight for justice and peace, a tradition which goes back generations in my family.
This work has taken me to the Siberian Arctic with climate scientists, to fossil fuel blockades in Canada and the United States, to solidarity work with environmentalists in the Philippines, and to the front lines of greenwashing at Thacker Pass.
Between dramatic periods of confrontation and direct action, most of my work is quiet: organizing, educating, writing, speaking, and using multimedia for storytelling. I’m currently studying for a Masters Degree in Degrowth.
In 2021, my most recent book (Bright Green Lies: How the Environmental Movement Lost Its Way and What We Can Do About It) was published. Bright Green Lies examines the problems with mainstream responses to the climate crisis, and proposes a whole different set of solutions anchored in defending and restoring the natural world.
The book makes the case that solar and wind energy, electric cars, efficiency programs, and green cities are failing to protect the planet, because in large part these technologies are designed to protect empire from the effects of peak oil and ecological collapse. Rather than sustaining the natural world, these techno-fixes are designed to sustain industrial civilization — the way of life that is killing the planet.
Dr. Vandana Shiva called it “a much needed wake-up call” and Planet of the Humans director Jeff Gibbs has said “is a must read for all who cherish life on Earth.”
The work I do has been featured, begrudgingly, in mainstream media like The New York Times, The Guardian, CNN, NPR, CBC, The Globe & Mail, as well as on movement platforms such as Mongabay, Earth Island Journal, Resilience, KPFA, Last Real Indians, Counterpunch, First Voices Radio, and elsewhere.
I believe in the power of organization, which is why I am part of several grassroots political movements, including the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, Fertile Ground Conservancy, and Protect Thacker Pass, where I co-founded a land defense camp that held off a major mining corporation for several years.
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What is Biocentrism?
Biocentrism (from Greek βίος bios, “life” and κέντρον kentron, “center”) is an ethical, philosophical, and spiritual framework based on reverence and humility in the face of the unfolding miracle of life.
It is rooted in the idea that all living beings have value, and even “inanimate” forms like land, mountains, and rivers have their own integrity that should be respected.
In a biocentric worldview, nature does not exist simply to be used or consumed by humans. The world is not “for us.” Instead, we are one species amongst many others. As Standing Rock Sioux scholar and activist Vine Deloria Jr. said:
“Life is not a predatory jungle, ‘red in tooth and claw,’ as Westerners like to pretend, but is better understood as a symphony of mutual respect in which each player has a specific part to play. So far as humans are concerned, because we came last, we are the younger brothers’ of the other life-forms, and therefore have to learn everything from these other creatures.”
In focusing on inter-dependence, biocentrism stands in contrast to anthropocentrism, which sees human beings as more important and superior to other life, and ethically central to the universe.
Practically, biocentrism leads to a total rethinking of the relationship between humans and nature and calls for us to relate to other life as relatives — quite literally as kin, members of the same family. Thousands of cultures around the world and throughout human history have practiced various forms of biocentrism.
Why subscribe?
Defending the land and advocating for foundational social change is not radical in the sense of “extreme.” It’s actually the only reasonable choice. With this newsletter, I work to mainstream biocentric ideas, normalize resistance strategies, and support frontline work.
Challenging the status quo will always be dangerous. I’ve faced smear campaigns, been detained, and been fined tens of thousands of dollars by the Federal Government for organizing protest camps. The FBI showed up at my front door. I’ve been subject to physical violence and death threats, and I'm being sued by a multi-billion dollar mining corporation.
Under the Biden administration, I began to suspect that social media platforms were shadowbanning my posts due to algorithms or overzealous employees convinced that my criticisms of wind power, solar energy, and electric vehicles mean I am a climate change denier (I’ve been working to halt global warming and shut down the fossil fuel industry since I started bike commuting at age 12, and have gone as far as producing a documentary film about global warming in the Arctic and taking civil disobedience action by blocking coal trains and bulldozers with my body). Predictably, under Trump, social media corporations have flipped, instituting new controls that match the ideology of those in power. Big corporations will never have a conscience of their own.
This censorship was a kick I needed to leave behind the toxicity of social media and start this newsletter.
I publish here about once a week. Almost all the content I share is free and available to everyone who subscribes. But this is a reader-supported publication, meaning your financial support makes it possible for me to continue this work. Because of the choice I’ve made to prioritize activism over work, I’m poor. Every paid subscriber makes a substantial difference to my ability to pay my rent, buy food, and continue organizing.
Paid subscribers also get access to occasional behind-the-scenes material like works-in-progress, photographs from my life, and more. If you want to support what I’m doing, you can also buy my book on my website.
Thank you.
Whether you’re paying or not, I’m glad you’re here.
If you want to subscribe via check, you can reach me via mail at: Max Wilbert c/o FGC, PO Box 11262, Eugene, OR, 97440.
Biocentric is an AI-free publication.
