The Weird Magic of Becoming Ecologically Aware

Grounded in anthropological fieldwork in Denmark among young climate activists, I explore enactments of nature, and how moments of enchantment might inspire environmentalism. Through the story of Ida, with whom I worked intermittently over five years, I show how she, and a larger group of activists working with her, cultivated an awareness that entailed an acquisition of scientific climate knowledge, training in political and ethical discourses, many forms of voluntary work, and an awareness of what she considers to be a certain kind of magic. This magic, which the activists explicitly differentiated from being religious or spiritual, appeared in very diverse settings across the activists’ spectrum of actions. Inspired by Bruno Latour’s notion of ecologization and Jane Bennett’s understanding of enchantment, I suggest that this political, practical, and sensuous awareness expresses an ‘ecologized magic’ that speaks to broader post-human engagements with ecological being and co-existence.