Ecological Solidarity

Political theorists have regarded solidarity as a political relationship that obtains among humans. This essay aims to expand our conception of solidarity to include nonhumans. The distinctive marks of ecological solidarity are: A) It is based in the interdependence, entanglement, and mutual vulnerability among humans and nonhumans. B) It involves a commitment to ecological flourishing, that is, the flourishing of the ecosystem(s) in question. C) It is a political project of cooperation, based in care, among two or more groups toward the end of ecological flourishing in which humans and nonhumans are collaborators, as nonhumans are making an essential contribution to ecological flourishing in the care they exercise, even if they are not consciously aware of it.