Terra Anima: Terra Infirma: Our Quaking, Shaking, Baking, Ailing Earth

For centuries, terra was firma: solid ground on which edifices could be built. These days, “the environment” is said to be ailing. Kath Weston (University of Virginia, Anthropology) considers whether this shift can be reconciled with recent work in the arts and sciences that features happier depictions of a terra laced with pollinating beetles, industrious earthworms, and immunity-building bacteria.