Atmospheric warfare - Staying with the trouble

Other-than-human animals are true masters of atmospheres. On our planet, there are millions of sensory, spatial, and rhythmic practices based on atmospheres. Most of them are rather limitedly - and without technical devices, often not at all - accessible by human senses. In fact, the atmospheres that shape the worlds of other species are, to a great extent, beyond our abilities to know and imagine.

Dwelling in other-than-human atmospheres brings us to challenging questions of co-living. Atmospheres can be engineered - modified and used for many purposes. Thinking about the ways in which insect pests are controlled through their atmospheres, it is justified to speak about “atmospheric warfare”. Intensive agriculture uses chemical interventions that alter the composition of the air, changing it unpleasant for certain species. In this manner, human activity has become the cause of radical changes in electromagnetic, sonic, and chemical processes that are vital to more-than-human ecosystems (Lorimer et al. 2019).

This kind of multispecies atmospheric design brings to mind Donna Haraway’s (2016) book Staying with the trouble that illustrates the tensions and contradictions in multispecies relations. Disengaging from the human-centric utilitarian thinking leads one to problems for which no quick solutions can be found. While the atmospheric interventions of agriculture have reduced starvation and child mortality, and hence suffering, they have substantially contributed to producing the Anthropocene. Instead of universal solutions, staying with the trouble gestures us to carefully exploring local situations and testing best possible practices.