Fragility

[frəˈdʒɪl.ə.t̬i]

Related terms: Critical Zone, Equilibrium, Skin, Unpredictability, Vulnerability

»Fragility« comes from the Latin fragilitas and means »weakness« or a »quality of being easily broken«. It is described as a material quality that we often only become aware of through experience. We do not see how thin an egg shell is from the outside; we only become aware of it in the moment when the egg slips out of our hand and breaks.

       The fragility of the Critical Zone requires another form of experience. Both the view of the planet from the outside (the Blue Marble, Google Earth, etc.) and our view from the inside as earthbound life-forms obscure the precarious equilibrium of which we are a part. Wee therefore need another form of learning how to deal with fragility without the Earth’s slipping out of our hands.