#46,5

Today, on my way back to Stavanger from Oslo, I have had an article writing day devoted to finishing my article "Prolegomena to lifeworld-oriented studies of contested climate pasts and futures", which I have now submitted to a special issue of Journal of Cognitive Historiography about "Cognition and Evolution in Historical and Social Research". In the process I added 2.058 words to the manuscript - making this the most productive writing day so far this year in terms of words written. This brings the number of writing days so far this Spring up to 46,5, including 29 article writing days.

#45,5

Today I have had an article writing day devoted to my article "Prolegomena to lifeworld-oriented studies of contested climate pasts and futures", which is aimed for a special issue of Journal of Cognitive Historiography about "Cognition and Evolution in Historical and Social Research", with some 1500 words added to the manuscript - making this the most productive writing day so far this year in terms of words written. This brings the number of writing days so far this Spring up to 45,5, including 28 article writing days.

#44,5

Today I have had an article writing day devoted to my article "Prolegomena to lifeworld-oriented studies of contested climate pasts and futures", which is aimed for a special issue of Journal of Cognitive Historiography about "Cognition and Evolution in Historical and Social Research", with some 900 words added to the manuscript. This brings the number of writing days so far this Spring up to 44,5, including 27 article writing days.

#43

Today I have had an article writing day, with some 1.000 words added to my article "Prolegomena to lifeworld-oriented studies of contested climate pasts and futures", which is aimed for a special issue of Journal of Cognitive Historiography about "Cognition and Evolution in Historical and Social Research". This brings the number of writing days so far this Spring up to 43, including 25,5 article writing days.

#37,5

Today I have had an article writing day, with some 1.500 words added to my article "Prospective lifeworld-oriented studies of contested climate pasts and futures", which I have now remaned "Prolegomena to lifeworld-oriented studies of contested climate pasts and futures". In terms of words written, this was the most productive writing day so far in 2026.

This brings the number of writing days so far this Spring up to 37,5, including 24,5 article writing days.

#36

Today I have had half an article writing day, with some 450 words added to my article "Prospective lifeworld-oriented studies of contested climate pasts and futures". This brings the number of writing days so far this Spring up to 36, including 23,5 article writing days.

#26,5

Today I´ve had what ended up as half an article writing day, with some work done on my book review of Interpreting, Communication and Animal Welfare for Biosemiotics and some initial work done on my climate change-themed article for a special issue of Journal of Cognitive Historiography, work-titled "Prospective lifeworld-oriented studies of contested climate pasts and futures". I also rearranged my writing plans for the next few weeks.

This brings the number of writing days so far this Spring up to 26,5, including 18 article writing days.

Abstract for 26th Gathering in biosemiotics: "Life in Earth – a new look at the nature of life"

I have just composed and submitted the abstract below to the organizers of the 26th Gathering in Biosemiotics, which will be held in Sheffield, UK, July July 27-31st.

***

Life in Earth – a new look at the nature of life  

Morten Tønnessen  

The global survey of biomass by Bar-On, Phillips and Milo (2018) has shown that subterranean life occurs at far greater depths, and is more abundant, than previously assumed. Life in the marine deep subsurface, i.e., subterranean life under the oceans, is actually more abundant than life in the oceans (ibid., see also Ruff et al. 2024). The existence of microbial, fungal and animal subterranean lifeforms raises ethical and political questions about the consequences of human activities in the marine deep subsurface and other subterranean environments.

As Dunn (2021) narrates, human beings are biased towards the organisms that look the most like us and inhabit a similar environment, while we habitually ignore the majority of odd and unfamiliar lifeforms. We know relatively little about the life that dwells in deep-sea environments – and even less about life in the deep subsurface. As is well known, photosynthesis is the dominant source of oxygen for most organisms. However, recent research documenting the assembly of ‘dark oxygen’ in deep-sea environments in the Pacific Ocean has revealed that photosynthesis is not the only source of oxygen on Earth (Sweatman et al. 2024). A further source appears to be ‘geo-batteries’ related to seawater electrolysis in seafloor areas covered by polymetallic nodules, i.e. multimetallic lumps. This discovery might change our outlook on how life has developed, and particularly our understanding of life in deep-sea and seafloor environments.

Recent research has further established that subseafloor cavities beneath hydrothermal vents are inhabited not only by microbes and viruses, but also by animals such as tubeworms and mussels (Bright, Gollner et al. 2024). Three tubeworm species included in the study of Bright, Gollner et al. (2024) uniquely rely entirely on a bacterial symbiont, which in turn “live off the chemicals released by the vents” for nutrition (The Economist, 2024). These tubeworms living in a subsurface environment below the seabed do not rely on nutrition originating from the surface – and ultimately photosynthesis drawn from energy from the sun – but rather on nutrients originating from deep inside Earth. This recent discovery of animal habitats in the subseafloor “expands the known macrofaunal biosphere” to new depths that was entirely unknown until a couple of years ago (Bright, Gollner et al. 2024: 2).

Based on these recent scientific findings, I will briefly discuss these core questions: To the best of our current knowledge, what is the full range of liveable environments on Earth, and the full spectrum of lifeforms on Earth? How do these discoveries change our outlook on the lifeworlds and biosemiosis of animals and other organisms, and how can they inform our efforts to develop more representative lifeworld models in biosemiotics?  

REFERENCES 

Bar-On, Y. M., R. Phillips and R. Milo (2018). The biomass distribution on Earth. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), 115 (25): 6506–11. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1711842115. Includes Supplementary Information Appendix, https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1711842115#supplementary-materials. 

Bright, M., S. Gollner et al. (2024), ‘Animal life in the shallow subseafloor crust at deep-sea hydrothermal vents’, Nature Communications, 15: 8466. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-52631-9 

Dunn, Rob (2021). A Natural History of the Future: What the Laws of Biology Tell Us About the Destiny of the Human Species. Basic Books. 

The Economist (2024), ‘Life finds a way: Tubeworms live beneath the planetary crust around deep-sea vents’. Available online: https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2024/10/16/tubeworms-live-beneath-the-planetary-crust-around-deep-sea-vents 

Ruff, S. E. et al. (2024), ‘A global comparison of surface and subsurface microbiomes reveals large-scale biodiversity gradients, and a marine-terrestrial divide’, Science Advances, 10 (51): eadq0645. 

Sweatman, A. K. et al. (2024), ‘Evidence of dark oxygen production at the abyssal seafloor’, Nature Geoscience, 17: 737–9. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-024-01480-8

Abstract for Lund conference: "Prospective studies of contested climate pasts and futures"

I have just composed the abstract below for the organisers of the upcoming conference "Cognition and Evolution in Historical and Social Research", which is to be held September 23–24, at Lund University, Sweden (I have been invited to contribute). 

***

Prospective studies of contested climate pasts and futures  

While most researchers in relevant fields of study may agree that the current scale of human impact on current ecology is massive and unprecedented, there is no agreement on the time frame for the Anthropocene. Like the epoch itself, the current conceptualisation of the Anthropocene remains a work in progress. We are currently situated in the middle of an ongoing climate crisis. On this background, it may come as no surprise that both how we should understand recent modern history, and how we should understand possible climate futures, is contested. In this presentation I will outline how biosemiotics and Umwelt theory can contribute to prospective studies of past and future lifeworlds. I will then proceed to discuss how climate futures may be construed by way of a few examples. The presentation will draw on my articles «The study of past Umwelten» (Discipline Filosophische, 2023) and «What can be known about future Umwelten?» (The American Journal of Semiotics, 2019) as well as my forthcoming book Captured: CCS and the fight for the soul of the environmental movement (Bloomsbury Academic). In relation to Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), I will touch upon the influence ideas about CCS have had on envisioned climate futures over the last 30 years or so. Disturbingly, there is no consensus among researchers or regulators on the relevant time scales for CO2 storages. Short retention times for CO2 in CO2 storages (<10,000 years) may delay rather than solve the problem of climate change, in effect exposing future generations to the risk of anthropogenic climate change caused in our time. Lastly, I will look into the challenges of long-term waste management in the contexts of radioactive waste and CO2 storage, respectively, including the challenge of communicating across multiple generations.  

Short bio: Morten Tønnessen (born 1976) is a professor of philosophy at University of Stavanger, Norway. Academic (b)log: https://utopianrealism.blogspot.com 

Ecological semiotics paper scheduled for presentation June 12th in Tallinn at NASS XIV

My paper «Ecological semiotics, lifeworld perspectives, and sustainability» has been scheduled for presentation On Thursday June 13th at around 14.30-15.00, in the preliminary program of The 14th conference of the Nordic Association for Semiotic Studies along with the 15th Annual Lotman Days, “Creativity – Complexity – Intelligence“ (NASS XIV), which is to take place at Tallin University, Tallinn, Estonia, June 11–13, 2025. My paper will be part of the session «Complexity in Ecological Thought» (involving four papers by skilled biosemioticians).

3 hours of condensed teaching in environmental psychology master course

Today I have given two one-hour lectures and a one-hour seminar digitally in the environmental psychology master course (MPS180) that is part of University of Stavanger´s master degree in psychology. The lectures (which were originally scheduled as two hours each) and seminar was earlier cancelled due to sickness. The topics were ecological psychology with emphasis on affordances, and lifeworld perspectives on human and animal perception and behaviour.

This concludes my teaching this Spring term.

Ecosemiotics paper "Ecological semiotics, lifeworld perspectives, and sustainability" accepted for presentation at NASS XIV

I have been informed by the organizers of the 14th Conference of the Nordic Association for Semiotic Studies, organized jointly with the 15th Annual Lotman Days with the theme “Creativity – Complexity – Intelligence”, which is to take place in Tallinn, Estonia, June 11–13, 2025, that my paper "Ecological semiotics, lifeworld perspectives, and sustainability" has been accepted for oral presentation.

PS: I am part of the scientific committee of the conference, but of course we don´t evaluate our own abstracts.

Abstract for NASS XIV: "Ecological semiotics, lifeworld perspectives, and sustainability"

I have just composed and submitted the abstract below to organizers of The 14th conference of the Nordic Association for Semiotic Studies along with the 15th Annual Lotman Days, which has the theme “Creativity – Complexity – Intelligence“ and is held in Tallinn, Estonia, June 11–13, 2025.

***

"Ecological semiotics, lifeworld perspectives, and sustainability"

Abstract

Morten Tønnessen 

Drawing on my recently published encyclopedia chapter “Ecological semiotics” (Tønnessen 2024), in this presentation I outline how ecological complexity is underpinned by sign use and sign systems. Ecological semiotics, or ecosemiotics, can be understood as the study of sign use by organisms in an ecological context. In ecology, semiotic phenomena and sign processes occur at different levels of biological organization, and distinctive kinds of sign use is characteristic of different kinds of interspecies interaction. Ecosemiotic studies help to explain how ecological complexity can be understood in semiotic terms, and how sentient organisms interpret their environment and make choices that are informed by their sign use. I will present the basic theoretical outlook of ecological semiotics with an emphasis on lifeworld perspectives, particularly represented by the Umwelt theory of Jakob von Uexküll (2010). This implies relating ecosemiotics to phenomenology, subjectivity and agency. In a more rudimentary sense, even plants, fungi and microorganisms have agency which can be framed in semiotic terms. In my work, I stress the relevance of a semiotic approach for human ecology and contemporary discussions concerning environmental sustainability. While ecosemiotics is amply informative applied to general ecology, it is especially pertinent in the context of understanding how human agency and sign use affects the environment at large. Ecological semiotics can help us understand how genuinely human sign use stands out from non-human sign use, and the ways in which human sign use is subject to cultural variation. Crucially, a semiotic approach to environmental issues can be informative with regard to understanding how human behaviour and sign use affects non-human lifeworlds by triggering environmental change which is experienced in sign-mediated ways. This positions ecosemiotics to address issues of environmental sustainability.

REFERENCES 

Tønnessen, Morten 2024. “Ecological semiotics”. Chapter. Encyclopedia of Ecology (3rd edition) (Reference Module in Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-443-21964-1.00018-5.  

von Uexküll, Jacob 2010. A foray into the worlds of animals and humans with A theory of meaning. O’Neil, J. D. (transl.). Minneapolis, London: University of Minnesota Press.

"Ecological semiotics" chapter in press; abstract now online

The abstract for my chapter "Ecological Semiotics", which is part of the 3rd edition of Elsevier´s Encyclopedia of Ecology, was published online on October 19th.

https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-443-21964-1.00018-5

Abstract:

Ecological semiotics, or ecosemiotics, is the study of sign use by organisms in an ecological context. This chapter provides an outline of semiotic phenomena in ecology and sign processes at different levels of biological organization and explains how complexity can be understood in semiotic terms. It presents the basic theoretical outlook of ecological semiotics, with emphasis on lifeworld perspectives, particularly represented by the Umwelt theory of Jakob von Uexküll. Studies of sign use can help us to understand how sentient organisms interpret their environment and make choices that are informed by their sign use. In a more rudimentary sense, even plants, fungi and microorganisms have agency which can be framed in semiotic terms. The chapter also outlines the characteristics of sign use in different kinds of interspecies interaction. Finally, the relevance of ecological semiotics for human ecology is stressed. While ecosemiotics is amply informative applied to general ecology, it is especially pertinent in the context of understanding how human agency and sign use affects the environment at large. Ecological semiotics can help us understand how genuinely human sign use stands out from non-human sign use, and the ways in which human sign use is subject to cultural variation. Crucially, ecological semiotics can be informative with regard to understanding how human behavior and sign use affects non-human lifeworlds by triggering environmental change which is experienced in sign-mediated ways. This positions ecosemiotics to address issues of environmental sustainability.

3 hours of seminar teaching

Today I have been teaching for 3 hours. First I gave a 1-hour digital seminar in the department´s master course in environmental psychology, the topic was ecology and lifeworld. Then, straight after, I gave a physical 2-hour seminar in the department´s bachelor course in law and ethics, for bachelor students in psychology, focussed on occupational ethics and summary of the ethics teaching in the course. This concludes my teaching in both courses this Spring.

Two oral presentations scheduled for the 15th World congress of semiotics

I have been scheduled to give two online talks at the 15th World congress of semiotics, with the theme "Semiotics in the lifeworld" (Thessaloniki, Greece, August 30 - September 3), both to be given on Friday September 2nd:

— 09.00-11.30 session “Biosemiotics, Umwelt, and the Lifeworld” with my presentation “Umwelt theory for practitioners: Semiotic guidelines for application in a more-than-human descriptive phenomenology” (room 1) 

— 15:00–17:30 session “Semiotics in the Disciplines: Progress and Priorities” with my presentation “Semiotics in ethology and zoology” (room 5)

I never received any formal answer concerning my 2 other submitted abstracts. 

Talk on biosemiotic perspective on human lifeworld given for Norwegian school of sport sciences

Today I have given an invited online talk for the philosophy group at Norwegian school of sport sciences (Norges idrettshøyskole), titled "Biosemiotikkens perspektiv på menneskets livsverden" (A biosemiotic perspective on the human lifeworld).

Appointed as member of the scientific committee of the 15th world congress of semiotics

I have been asked, and agreed, to be appointed as a member of the scientific committee for the 15th world congress of semiotics, which is to be held in Thessaloniki, Greece on August 30th - September 3rd 2022 with the theme "Semiotics in the lifeworld". The congress is held in association with the International Association for Semiotic Studies (IASS). See list of world congresses here.