: This identity suggests a reciprocal relationship with the wind, the fruit we eat, and the soil beneath us.

Thinking as an earthling changes how we approach justice and governance. In his work , philosopher David Miller argues that justice should be rooted in the actual social contexts and "real-world" conditions of human life rather than abstract, universal ideals.

: The term helps collapse artificial divisions—nationalism, race, and creed—into a single "global subjectivity".

David Miller, Justice for earthlings: essays in political philosophy