Mentalité and the Annenberg Bridge

Under construction right now in Ventura County, California is the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing. Once this is completed (expected Fall of 2026) this will be the largest wildlife crossing in the world, 200 feet long, 165 feet wide, and fully vegetated. It crosses the 10 lane freeway Highway 101 near Agoura Hills. Its function will be to connect the Santa Monica Mountains with open space to the north of the freeway, especially to provide passage for mountain lions, but also to benefit bobcats, coyotes, badgers, bears, and other animals. The project is costing about $90 million, with about 60% of the funding coming from private donors.

I am thrilled that this project is taking place, and hope it inspires the construction of other large-scale wildlife crossings in California and beyond. But I am struck by how such a project would not even be dreamed of fifty or so years ago, let alone funded at such a level. In other words, there has been a shift in mentalité over the past decades such that the movements of large animals across urbanized wildlands have entered public consciousness.

What is mentalité? Here’s a scholarly definition, from Daniel Little.

A mentalité is thought to be a shared way of looking at the world and reacting to happenings and actions by others, distinctive from other groups and reasonably similar across a specific group.¹

This is a concept from French historiography, and it seems like an important way to understand the world. But what is a methodology for recognizing change in mentalités over time? That is a great challenge.

A long time ago I picked up a compilation of poetry, News of the Universe, edited by Robert Bly. The poetry in this book has been selected to illustrate a shift since the 18th century towards the awareness of consciousness in nature. Following this example, perhaps looking for changes in artistic expression is a methodological way forward.

¹ Little, Daniel. New Contributions to the Philosophy of History. 1st ed. Vol. 6. Methodos Series. Springer Netherlands, 2010. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9410-0. Page 196.