The microbiome theme at the 2025 public event beautifully embodies the World Ethic Forum’s vision of radically shared aliveness by revealing how life at every scale — from global communities to microscopic ecosystems — is interconnected and sustained through invisible yet vital relationships. Microbial communities within our bodies, soils, waters, and ecosystems remind us that no being exists in isolation — health, resilience, and regeneration arise through interdependence. This mirrors the Forum’s thematic strands, from stewardship of bioregions and care for future generations to more-than-human kinship and new economic models rooted in reciprocity. By turning attention to the microbiome, we are invited to reconsider scale, agency, and belonging, and to recognize that even the smallest forms of life participate in the web of care that sustains the whole.
In this context, the microbiome refers to the community of microorganisms — bacteria, fungi, viruses, and other microscopic life forms — that live on and within the bodies of humans, animals, plants, soils, and ecosystems. These microbial communities play essential roles in digestion, immunity, nutrient cycles, and environmental balance, illustrating how life is co-dependent rather than separate.
Photos: Joel Sames.
