Welcome to Biocentric: a community for people challenging the status quo and loving the planet.
Hi.
My name is Max Wilbert. I was born in Seattle, Washington, but for nearly a decade I’ve lived in rural western Oregon. I’m madly in love with our planet. Wild places make me absolutely giddy. I find it deeply meaningful to guide people — especially young people — into the wilderness, and to introduce them to deeper relationships with the natural world.
Some of my favorite things to do are foraging for wild mushrooms, swimming with native fish in rivers and streams, climbing trees and rocks, and playing sports of any kind with my friends. I am a fanatic for NBA basketball, but my shot needs a lot of work.
I’m in recovery from the psychological and spiritual trauma of civilization, patriarchy, whiteness, and inter-generational trauma, and work every day to develop a deeper relationship with my soul, shadow, ancestors, and the universe.
What do you do?
For two decades I’ve been working to save our planet. This has taken me to the Siberian Arctic, fossil fuel blockades in Canada and the United States, solidarity work with environmentalists in the Philippines, and to the front lines of greenwashing at Thacker Pass. Between dramatic periods of confrontation, direct action, and travel, most of my work is quieter: organizing, education, strategizing, writing, photography, video production, and podcasting.
I am part of several grassroots political movements, including 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. I believe in the power of organization and working together, but I also work hard to not be dogmatic, and to understand and learn from people who I disagree with or have differences with.
I’m co-author of the book Bright Green Lies: How the Environmental Movement Lost Its Way and What We Can Do About It (Monkfish, 2021), which Dr. Vandana Shiva called “a much needed wake-up call” and Planet of the Humans director Jeff Gibbs said “is a must read for all who cherish life on Earth.”
Bright Green Lies (which was also made into a documentary film) explores how tech companies, governments, and mainstream environmental organizations are lining up behind a narrative that green technology will prevent global warming and ecological collapse — despite overwhelming evidence that consuming industrial products is the problem, not the solution.
The work I do has been featured in The New York Times, The Guardian, CNN, NPR, Mongabay, Earth Island Journal, CBC, The Globe & Mail, Resilience, KPFA, Last Real Indians, Counterpunch, and elsewhere.
I’m currently studying for a Masters Degree in “Degrowth.”
Why this newsletter?
Between extinctions, pollution, global warming, deforestation, population overshoot, inequality, and many other problems, our world is in crisis. Our governments and communities are mostly failing to address this.
There are concrete reasons behind this: inertia, corporate power, learned helplessness, cycles of trauma, and more. But the truth is inescapable. This way of life is no longer working. We need change.
Paradoxically, at the same time as this crisis is unfolding, life is trying relentlessly to live, and there is beauty and joy to be found in every day. There is love. There is friendship. There is laughter. There is honor and fear and betrayal. There are still spring flowers and winter snowfalls. I am convinced that it is in a return to the Earth — to the real world outside our doors and away from our screens —that we will find salvation.
This newsletter — and all of my work — is an attempt to create positive change by working to understand our world, telling the truth as I see it, and taking action based on those truths.
Content here focuses on topics of greenwashing, degrowth, strategy, grassroots organizing, relationship building, deep ecology, and nature connection.
Here are some of my most popular articles:
What is Biocentrism?
Biocentrism (from Greek βίος bios, “life” and κέντρον kentron, “center”) is an ethical, philosophical, and spiritual framework based on reverence and profound 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, all equals. As Standing Rock Sioux scholar and activist Vine Deloria Jr. said, we are not here to rule, put to participate:
“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, as kin, as 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 a reasonable choice. With this newsletter, I seek to mainstream biocentric ideas.
But challenging the status quo will always be dangerous. The FBI has a hefty file on me. I’ve faced smear campaigns and been fined by the Federal Government for organizing protest camps. Right now, I'm facing ongoing legal action for fighting a major mining corporation that’s destroying a biodiverse natural landscape in Nevada. Last time I tried to get into Canada I couldn’t get across the border.
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 taking civil disobedience action by blocking coal trains and bulldozers with my body. Despite this, I recently began to suspect that social media platforms were banning my content 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. Nothing could be further from the truth, but this censorship was a kick I needed: eager to leave behind the toxicity of social media, I migrated to Substack.
I publish posts here once or twice 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.
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: 2852 Willamette Street #363, Eugene, OR, 97405.
