austen camille

Through workshops, publicly interactive spaces, research and deep inquiry, the Ecotopian Toolkit project calls on each of us to intentionally imagine what we and this landscape can be—and to then actively build the tools we need to become. In 2024, the Penn Program for Environmental Humanities (Philadelphia PA) partnered with the Morris Arboretum to support tools for multispecies flourishing.

"It is very possible that over half of the world’s species live under the surface of the soil" is a way to visualize the intricacy of soil, and understand its foundational role in multispecies flourishing. Community-created drawings of imagined soil species will be animated and turned into augmented reality experiences around the city of Philadelphia.

At the first toolmaker event, I worked with soil scientist Dr Joni Baumgarten to teach people about the varied soils of Philadelphia. This documentation is from our first community outreach event, where people started to imagine the multitude of life in their soils.

Photos courtesy of Nan Hu for the Penn Program in Environmental Humanities.