ABSTRACT
Ecologists and conservationists acknowledge the fact that we have entered an age of triage, where we might have to decide which species may truly be saved. This dangerous trajectory, if not checked quickly will only result in a further irreversible impoverishment of the planet earth. The denuded ecological patterns at all levels and the worldwide breaking down of ecosystems threaten not only the extinction of hundreds of species, but also ultimately our presence as a species of animal entwined in the ever-unfolding web of life. The Australian environmental philosopher Glenn A. Albrecht (2003) employed the term “solastalgia” to describe the environmental distress caused when people are separated from their oikos due to dire external factors. The eco-documentary Under Another Sky (2020) talks about this climate grief caused by consistent marble mining in the desert village of Piplantri in Rajasthan in North West India. This unique village in India, plants 111 trees for the birth of every girl child in the village, to celebrate womanhood and to revive their lost ecosystems. The film foregrounds the alternative voice of the male protagonist Shyam Singh Paliwal, who leads this socially equitable and environmentally sustainable journey, which has transformed into a reflective movement in the desert. This film is the story of our own vulnerability as individuals on a fragile planet. This paper seeks to analyse the film as a text, using the psychoterratic lens of Solastalgia and Soliphila alongside Eco masculinity—where masculinities advocate and embody broader, deeper and wider care for the global through to local (or “glocal”) commons (Martin Hultman and Paul M. Pulé 2018, Ecological masculinities: an emerging conversation.” Ecological Masculinities: Theoretical Foundations and Practical Guidance. Routledge, 2018, pp. 187–246), juxtaposed as triptychs against each other and set against each other and set against the backdrop of the Anthropocene Desert landscape of the Thar Desert in India.
