Fertilizers and composting: local and global action chains in the Anthropocene

Human beings regulate collective existence by organizing themselves through politics (the social contract of Hobbes), while nature is changing independently in the sense of geological time. Modern politics “rule” the relations among men, while science “studies” nature. Nature does not need to be controlled, for it is independent from humanity and its contingent forms of political organization. As the wanderer observes a distant nature, he feels admiration or a little fear (the sublime). Although this painting has become a symbol of Romantic culture over time, it confirms the separation of modern roles and the same paradigm of modern science. The man, after all, has no access to nature, he can only try to follow his own emotions.