The "Web"

In 2025 when we talk about "The Web” most folks think of the internet, rather than any number of webs that exist in the natural world.  This “World-Wide Web” offers us instant access to information and a kind of two-dimensional connection that captivates and hypnotizes us, pulling us out of our bodies and presence with the environment. In the words of Christopher Marley - Visual Artist and creator of the “Exquisite Creatures” exhibit “I have done my share of talking about the dangers of our society careening into an increasingly digital world. The damaging effects of living in only two dimensions can easily be seen in both the macro and the micro, from social isolation to gaming addictions. Once we discover moving images on screens, all too often, the solid, substantial realm of (minerals) is forgotten in favor of flash. Five second clips and five word texts take the place of the observation, study, and contemplation of the timeless elements of our earth. We permit it at our peril.  It is clear to me that we are meant to experience as much of the natural world as possible with all of our senses. There is a grounding, satisfying, and nourishing effect when we do. Perhaps the answer is to return to basics. Unplugging and going outside. I couldn’t recommend throwing rocks into a pond more highly. And if you can bring a child along, all the better. That is, after all, how revolutions have often begun. With a single thrown rock.“ If The “Web” has offered itself today, it is inviting us to break our text-email-news-reddit-YouTube doom scroll spell and tap into life through the “Wood-Wide Web” - the interconnected network formed by mycelium, facilitating communication and resource sharing between plants through the mycorrhizal network. In a time where world leaders in the highest positions of power are waging unapologetic attacks on the most vulnerable beings and precious ecosystems in an attempt to satisfy the unquenchable thirst of their egos, it is essential that we remember how to TRULY connect with one another and all life IRL.  To keep ourselves safe there will be communication that will need to happen underground and in person, and we will have to turn away from the current methods we have become addicted to and rely on.  In a time when the Wi-FI, 5G, Bluetooth Stream threatens to sweep us away in its powerful current, we have to rediscover how to be sensitively attuned to one another and the earth - in ways many of us never have - breaking a cycle and taking a leap of faith. Mycelium has been at it for millenia, and is still here. It is a worthy model to emulate.  They pit us against one another, frame the most vulnerable and extraordinary as the enemy, reward those who adhere to their “norms” and hunt  those who deviate. All of this at a time when we could be harnessing all of the creativity and innovation of human evolution to reduce suffering, to heal, to generate and share resources, and to live in communion with the planet that sustains us. Can you see why they feel threatened? We have the power to do this with or without them. Join me?