Belonging to Humanity

Maybe our sense of global belonging is a matter of perspective. Zoom out, and a viewer might see something as complex as a sprawling ant colony: humans building infrastructure and working collectively, laying foundations for homes where they hope to live safely on the singular haven we call Earth, spinning on its axis in a cold, heedless universe. Inhabitants must surely be united in the protection of one another on the planet they share.

But zoom back in, and our viewer might be shocked to see violence directed at people because of where they live and the destruction of homes, schools, and communities: people killing other people.

It's all about perspective.

For much of history, humans lived in small groups, as families, clans, and tribes. The need for a sense of global belonging may have been less apparent to people who lived their lives close to their birthplaces. Pre-industrial humans had limited impact on their planetary home and its inhabitants. Still, a sense of global belonging was probably high for people exposed daily to both the providence and the cruel indifference of their earthly surroundings. Earth was a protector and a threat, and living disconnected from it was not an option.

Looking back, though, we see long histories of belonging disruption, displacement, and dispossession. Modern society’s issues with belonging are not new. Belonging to one group can mean believing we must destroy another. In my chapter, “Global Belonging: From Conflict and Exclusion to Untapped Potential,” I describe such tension: “Conflicts and violence of this nature could arise from individuals who feel a strong sense of belonging rather than those who lack it, as one might assume” (Allen, 2026, pp. 235–236).

Feeling Ourselves as Part of the Earth

Those of us who study belonging cannot always assume that strengthening belonging within a group will make people’s lives better, safer, or happier. We tend to study belonging in dyads and triads, in groups and organisations. But what if we consider our collective home, Earth? Does sharing a planet mean feeling that we all belong to it?

Global belonging means experiencing ourselves as an integral part of the Earth. It is the feeling that Earth is somewhere we belong. A sense of belonging to the Earth should encourage care for the planet and our fellow humans. It should help engender concern for others’ safety and belonging, even when our own remains unthreatened.

Feeling part of the Earth need not displace belonging to a nation, culture, or community. These attachments remain important. But the atmosphere does not care where the carbon dioxide came from. At an existential level, we must strengthen our sense of global belonging, regardless of what those preaching fracture and disruption would have us believe. Our very survival depends on it.

The Overview Effect

Zoom out again, this time far enough to see the Earth as a whole. Astronauts describe feeling more connected to the Earth and its inhabitants after viewing the planet from space. These connections offer a way to imagine the planet as somewhere we all belong. My chapter describes this change in perspective: “This cognitive shift, termed the Overview Effect by Frank White in 1987 based on his interviews with astronauts, describes the awareness that emerges from viewing Earth as a shared home” (Allen, 2026, p. 242). This experience is linked to changes in values, environmental concerns and behaviours, and identification with humanity as a whole and with the planet.

We do not know whether this type of belonging can be encouraged in everyday life, or whether it creates an enduring sense of global belonging. Researchers will need to examine if global belonging influences the choices we make, particularly in times of war, conflict, and suffering.

Our belonging to family, culture, and country can coexist with the understanding that those outside these constructs also belong to our shared humanity. Exclusionary nationalism, for instance, often comes at the cost of ignoring how others can belong in the same spaces. We do not need everyone to agree or share the same political beliefs. From above, we might still look like a collective, cohesive ant colony, but zooming in reveals people whose global belonging is not only threatened but annihilated. What could the world look like if we cared enough for humanity not to destroy our world or the people in it? And would that not be the type of world most of us would want to live in?

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