Moderated by Dr. Erin Hollenbaugh

For most of human history, we have placed ourselves at the center of the world. This human-centered view is the foundation of the anthropocentric perspective and dictates how we relate to the world around us. This, however, has resulted in historical mismanagement and lack of understanding of our place within the natural world and our ability to disrupt it. The repercussions of this perspective have been severe ecological imbalance and short-sighted solutions because human interests were often the single priority. Instead, a holistic approach is presented to solve these significant environmental issues that utilizes and incorporates an ecocentric perspective shift with regard to nature, connects nature and social issues that is rooted in hierarchy and domination, and exploring new governance structures that encourages more cooperative conservation that links economic action, community well-being, and citizen engagement. Dynamic solutions that consider the multidisciplinary nature of these problems and a bottom-up community healing could reconnect us with nature and each other.