MYCO ECO MYTHO an Ecology of Stories

From where does a story sprout? What specific land and soil did it grow from? What ecology is it seeking to tend to, respond to, root into? How do my stories “tell” me into greater intimacy with the kin outside my door? We can reclaim the ecological nature of myths coopted by patriarchal domination by replanting them in their original biological and social ecosystems. Examining the root systems of popular myths, we see that, below the focus on human exceptionalism, myth is the land talking to itself. The triple lens of MYCO ECO MYTHO guides us into an investigation of how extractive capitalism paired with colonialism has created a “narrative dysbiosis” in the cultural gut, suppressing a biodiversity of more environmentally aware perspectives. We explore what it might mean to compost old stories with contemporary science, philosophy, poetry, and ecology in order to create the new soil that will sprout myths freshly adapted to our current crises.