Development begins the moment of conception and continues throughout the entire lifespan. the human body goes through many transformations. Psychologists, Erikson, Peck, and Levinson all contributed different theories expanding on adult development.
According to Erickson development occurs in eight stages beginning at birth and ending with death. Each stage consists of a task or crisis that we must complete. The sixth stage, intimacy vs. isolation, occurs during young adulthood and focuses on searching for intimacy. Erikson describes intimacy as more than a sexual relationship, intimate relationship that can be with others at work, in your social circle as well as love life it is about connecting, sharing feeling, and ideas without the fear of sacrificing yourself. An intimate relationship can occur in both social and love lives. Failure to complete this stage results in feelings of isolation that places barriers between them others. The seventh stage, generativity vs. stagnation, middle adulthood, around the age of 40. Generativity involves concern for, helping, and contributing to the development others, often by having children and caring for others and participating in meaningful work which contributes positively to society. Failure to master this crisis results in stagnation, prolonged period of little or no growth, and a feeling of not contributing to the world. (Zastrow, Kirst-Ashman, K.K., 2016).
Peck believed development during young adulthood consisted of four adjustments. The first is socializing vs. sexualizing, meaning giving a value to people in their lives, instead of seeing them as sexual objects (Zastrow, Kirst-Ashman, K.K., 2016). The second is valuing wisdom vs. valuing physical powers. In middle adulthood, people have many years of wisdom Peck is mental flexibility vs. mental rigidity. This is where people make the ultimatum for being content in the life they’re living, and not learning any new skills or information, and feeling life is unfulfilling. The other side of that is seeking new experiences and feeling their life is meaningful and rewarding. The third is emotional flexibility vs. emotional impoverishment. This means people can shift their emotional investments in people, in middle adulthood people get use to loss, they are losing friends and parents as well as their children moving away (Zastrow, Kirst-Ashman, K.K., 2016). Finally, the fourth adjustment according to Peck is mental flexibility vs. mental rigidity. This is where people make the ultimatum for being content in the life they’re living, and not learning any new skills or information, and feeling
life is unfulfilling. The other side of that is seeking new experiences and feeling their life is meaningful and rewarding. Peck’s theory gives people the choices they desire for their lives that will prepare them up for middle adulthood. Each era had different building blocks to transition these men into the next era of life.
Levinson’s theory of adult development, referred to as the Seasons of Life theory, which identified stages and growth that occur well into the adult years. His theory is composed of sequence-like stages. Each stage is shaped by an event or action that leads into the next stage. Between the ages of 35-45. According to Levinson, young adults’ motivation is driven by an image or dream of the future.
By applying these theories to the case being worked on is a way of understanding different theories in the field. This would include doing studies on different ages and researching how people in middle adulthood have come to be in the place they are in. Learning how they worked and held relationships is a way of seeing how their transition would be. Utilizing other people’s knowledge and skills in these areas would help human services professional assist their clients. Basing only one person’s knowledge is not an effective way of helping come up with a solution. If a client is having a hard time handling the transition it is best to find alternative views on helping this person, especially if the human services professional hasn’t experienced that transition previously. The final way of gaining an understanding of multiple theories would be critiquing the theories. If there is a question in the theory, and it doesn’t seem to fit the client at hand, then it is reasonable to find alternatives to that theory.
References
Zastrow, C.H., & Kirst-Ashman, K.K. (2016). Understanding Human Behavior, and the Social Environment (11th ed). New York, Belmont, CA 94007-3098 Brook/Cole, Cengage Learning.
There can be very little doubt as to the fact that experiences do play rather important role in defying the essence of one’s identity and also in how a particular individual perceives such an identity. Nevertheless, the application of strictly environmentalist approach to dealing with identity-related discourses cannot be considered fully appropriate. In this paper, I will aim to explore the validity of an earlier statement at length.
Analytical part
Nowadays, it became quite fashionable among ‘progressive’ social sciences to come up with a suggestion that is namely people’s experiences that define who they are, as individuals. But what is experience? Experience is nothing but one’s memory of how he or she had dealt with existential challenges at certain point of its life.
And, as the recent breakthroughs in the field of genetics indicate – it is namely the specifics of a particular individual’s biological makeup, which characterizes the qualitative subtleties of how he or she addresses these challenges, more than anything else does.
For example, regardless of how ‘underprivileged’ a concerned individual may be, in social context of this word, for as long as the rate of this person’s IQ is above 110, the chances for him or her to attain social prominence would still be rather high – after all, in post-industrial world, it is specifically one’s endowment with an ability to operate with abstract categories (intellect), which reflects upon his or her value, as society’s member.
And, once this individual succeeds with setting itself on the path of attaining social prominence, his or her life-experiences are going to positive – hence, contributing to the construction of this individual’s identity as someone whose very existence benefits the society.
Alternatively, for as long as the rate of one’s IQ is within the range of 70-80 or below, as it is often the case among students and employees, qualified for ‘affirmative action’ programs, it would be very unlikely for such person’s life-experiences to be positive, because it is namely the acuteness of this individual’s animalistic urges and not his or her analytical abilities, which will define the qualitative essence of how he or she would be reacting to existential challenges.
Given the fact that, during the course of last fifty years, Western societies became almost completely secularized, it makes perfectly logical sense for citizens to think of making money as foremost priority in their lives.
After all, it is not a secret that, as of today, a particular individual’s identity is being assessed through the lenses of his or her ‘monetary value’ – the more money we have, the more our identity is being appreciated. Had it been otherwise, people would not be buying expensive ‘brand name’ products in an attempt to emphasize their identity as successful individuals, who can afford buying these products, in the first place.
Yet, there are essentially only two ways towards attaining social prominence, and consequentially becoming rich – pursuing a well-paid professional career, or pursuing the career of a drug-dealer. And, it goes without saying, of course, that only people that are being biologically predisposed towards studying, due to the high rate of their IQ, who may choose in favor of the first option.
For the rest, there is simply place under the sun in this world, unless they had proven themselves lucky enough not to get caught, while peddling drugs on the streets or scheming to take an advantage of social assistance programs.
Conclusion
As we are well aware of, it is not utterly uncommon to hear people complaining about the bad choices they had made in the past. Nevertheless, only few of these complainers seem to understand that the choices, they had made during the course of their lives, were dialectically predetermined – at the time of making a particular choice, this choice appeared for them being the most logical.
And, it is namely who we are, in biological sense of this word, which reflects upon the qualitative essence of our life-choices, which in its turn defines the essence of our life-experiences – pure and simple.
Whereas, for one person it might appear that, the easiest and therefore most logical way to achieve financial security would be robbing a bank, another person, capable of operating with abstract categories, would be more likely to think of the easiest way towards becoming rich along the lines of doing something else, such as trading on stock exchange, or getting a patent on its science or industry related invention, for example.
This research paper examines the meaning of anthropocentrism and biocentrism. It tries to explain the reasons why environmentalists advocate for anthropocentrism and biocentrism. It creates understanding on what is anthropocentrism and biocentrism. The paper further examines the major differences, as well as similarities between anthropocentrism and the biocentrism. Throughout the paper, discussions will be based on the ethical issues involved, which are the moral issues governing behaviors. The paper goes a notch higher to discuss the possible consequences of anthropocentrism and biocentrism, which are the possible effects of the belief and advocacy in either anthropocentrism or biocentrism. Finally, discussions in this paper touch on values involved, which are the factors that influence individual attitude towards government policy or towards nature and environment at large. Attitudes influence the perceptions of an individual towards environmental conservation and preservation of nature. For some individuals, nature is special and has to be taken care of, but some are of a different opinion since they believe nature exists to support their socio-economic activities.
Anthropocentrism
The human centered view of the world is known as anthropocentrism. The cultural tradition of western mainstream has shown that only the humanity has been treated morally. This depicts a conservative approach to the environmental ethics in regards to the fact that nature does not only consist of human beings, but other creatures as well hence everything deserves moral treatment. Nevertheless, the ecologically conscious environmental ethicists have taken a hastier than a proactive approach in defending the western traditional culture against a broader perspective of bolder thinkers to increase their environmental ethics view to incorporate the non-human species and nature in general. Kristin Shrader-Frechette and John Passmore were among the first advocates of strict anthropocentric approaches. Shrader-Frechette for example, had a view that it will be difficult to take an action that will do an irreversible damage to the ecosystem, but will not threaten the lives of the humanity A number of the western anthropocentric environmental ethics could not criticize the behaviors that threaten the well-being of humanity. Shrader-Frechette suggested that there is no reason to implement newfangled environmental ethics that are not anthropocentric.
Evidently, a number of the environmental damages caused by humans threaten their well-being. Depletion of the ozone layer and global warming are just but crucial examples. However, there have been other damages that have been done by humans that do not threaten the human well-being. David Ehrenfeld asked for contemplation of the demise of the endangered Houston toad, a victim of urban encroachment, and others such as white Rhine because of poaching. They have been endangered because they have no reasonable value to man. Ehrenfeld however added that hundreds of thousands of other species are non-resourceful and therefore not important. Such acts of morally censuring the extinction of some species because they do not pose any kind of threats to human kind has however raised the question about abandonment of anthropocentrism by the people. Mark Sagoff argued people should enlarge their conception of the well-being of humanity instead of amplifying the question. In addition to goods and services, the downgraded natural environment also contributes to the well-being of the humanity in some way.
Clean air, clean water, beautiful landscapes, game parks, other natural environment, and others have religious, aesthetical, and social benefits to the well being of the humanity and even though the absence of some of them will not make human being worse off, Sagoff noted that taking care of them will also be important in the well being of the humans. Sagoff also argues that humans should show an intergenerational justice by ensuring that future generations also enjoy the bountiful ecosystem and availability of natural resources since downgrading some species available within the ecosystem would surely undermine the functioning ecosystem and therefore grounding the adequacy and the effectiveness of environmental ethics without wading away to non-anthropocentrism. Sagoff converging hypothesis moreover, looks ahead a significant variation in the way anthropocentric and non-anthropocentric ethics on environment support the same environmental policies Sagoff, (1997)
There is a growing number of environmentalists who are seemingly denying the philosophical principles of anthropocentrism in the sense that human beings are not uniquely self- conscious as purported in the western traditional culture hence the questions of the openness of the anthropocentrism remains open in the sense that anthropocentric principles are philosophically defensible. At one point Sagoff argued that if in the non-anthropocentric world is considered to be instrumentally dependant and valuable, then the humans are allowed to use and interfere with whatever they need. It is understood that ethics are commonly concerns of the human beings well-being and that ethics rotates around human happiness and epistemology. The concerns with humans are moral and natural and hence are expected to every human being despite the fact that indefensible metaphysics for example anger, a show of no mercy as well as hatred are not natural and sometimes cannot be contained by human beings. This has sparked criticism from the biocentrism wing as they view this portrays the fact that humans cannot be special and superior if they cannot control such metaphysics and therefore can be the same as animals.
Biocentrism
Biocentrism is an ethical point of view that extends its inherent values to human kinds, ecosystem, and other non-human species. It can easily be noted that the animal welfare falls under environmental ethics, biocentrism has been launched from the animal welfare, but both try to expand the anthropocentric principles, which prohibits humans from harming others, which include the non-humans. In other words, biocentrism ethics is the environmental ethics for all living things and not human beings alone. Peter Singer and Tom Regan were the masterminds of the animal welfare ethics who exposed the anthropocentrism ethics to a dilemma. They stated that if the moral criteria pitch human kinds high enough to exclude the non-humans, there is some of specifies that would be excluded from the moral standing. If it is pitched low, some of the non-humans will be included in the sense that, some non-humans have much higher moral standing that some humans. They suggested that if the morality standing is to be measured by how people speak and reason, then those who do not speak, for example the senile and the infants are way low below the morality stands and are to be treated the same ways animals are treated for example, slaughtering and processing them as dog food and so forth.
They further argued that the need to set up a moral standard should be narrowed to ability to experience pleasure and pain as had been suggested by Jeremy Betham, the director of Utilitarian ethics. They said that pleasure and pain would ensure a standard moral standing for the isolated cases and therefore be a relevant qualification for moral standard since it is less hypocritical. This assertion is based on the illusion that if both irrational and the unintelligent people as well as the no irrational and the intelligent are capable of experiencing pain and pleasure, then it is open to the membership of the community as a whole (Betham, 1999).
If Betham therefore asserted that pleasure is good and pain is evil, then it is suitable to be used as a moral stand as no harm will be inflicted to both humans and animals hence harmony and respect will stand right between them. The pleasure will be maximized and the pain will be minimized between the human kinds and the non-human kinds regardless of whoever is experiencing. Therefore, the animal pleasure will be equal to the human pleasure and their pain will be similarly equal in our moral deliberation. Other biocentrism environmentalists advocated for vegetarianism in the sense that animals should not be slaughtered mercilessly to satisfy human crave for meat and dietary. However, this Bethamic animal welfare has been powerless over time to censure the raising of living animals in comfort. This welfare would be mistaken that its human obligation to consume meat so long as some animals are bred for human consumption but were it the case, then fewer animals would be bred by human thus denying other animals the opportunity to live whilst other would have very few time in the world to chase happiness.
Some ecologically-conscious socialists like Tom Regan who advocated the ‘Rights approach’ argued that there are some animals with inherent values just like humans and are hence subjects of life meaning they are self conscious and experience frustrations. However, both the Regan and the Betham animal welfare ethics serves as environmental ethics because they do not provide a moral stand for plants and other animals that are either salient or do not have aesthetic purpose to man- leave alone the ecosystem, the atmosphere and waters.
Moreover, the interests on animal welfare and that of the environment at large do have more contradictory indications to the policies and practices of a given place. Activists for animal rights for example may oppose to extermination of certain species that compete with feral animals of degrade a certain community of plants and may demand for a stop in hunting or trapping and suggest for the endangered species of the plant community become extinct, whether it affects environmentally or not. At some point, however the animal welfare ethics and the environmental welfare ethics do have some convergent views regarding some point of practices and policies. Both oppose the factory farming and other issues such as drainage of factory wastes into the river since it affects both the plant and animal community living around the factory and threatens their well-being. Both therefore support the preservation habitat for the endangered species of plants as well as the wildlife reserves and parks for animals and hence the integrity of the ecosystem is preserved on the process.
Some biocentrism environmentalist appeared to inspire biocentrism by arguing that all living things; including human beings, animals, as well as plants have interests. They further stated that those human kinds that have interest therefore require moral consideration to show the moral and the ethical status of the patients who are on the receiving ends of their actions as a feature from those who are giving the actions.
This is to say that those people who do bad things to others should know that they are humans and are entitled to pain and in fact, they should learn to perceive animals the same way. In other words, animals also have pain and therefore need to be treated with moral standing and respect they give to their fellow human kinds. They further added weight to their argument giving a questions that how much weight should be given to plants by people when human conflict with plants or animals. This depicts the fact that all living things are equal. Furthermore, some biocentrism activists have argued that as much as human beings are independent and anthropocentric in the sense that they largely depend on water, availability of fertile soils or fresh air. They should also consider the fact that animals strive to mature and keep themselves alive, therefore should be respected at all quarters, and not just be predated upon to satisfy the humans’ hunger and thirst. It is therefore important to respect the life of other living things so long as they do not conflict with the lives of the humans.
In that manner, biocentrism may not only be worthless to environmental concerns, but it might help make the environment worse. It can lead to the revulsion of the nature considering that nature does not make it any good for human welfare since it degrades most of the things that human are doing to help sustain them. In Summary, the contradiction of nature maintains the survival of creatures underneath. It allows all the horrible things happening inside it yet looks beautiful.
Observations
There has been a holistic debate between the ecologically conscious environmentalists and the biologically conscious environmentalists about what is superior between anthropocentrism and biocentrism with both sides accusing and counter accusing each other on mislead. Biocentrism activists have argued that their point of view is more superior to that of anthropocentrism and cannot go along with socialism and Marxism. For example, David Orton the late, refused to be part of the signatory to Belem Eco-socialist Declaration in 2008 arguing that the declaration was human centered rather than earth centered. However there has been a trend of criticism by the ecologically-conscious socialists who have hit back to David Orton refusal to sign the declaration by arguing that they are simply anthropocentric which has been simply understood since nobody would like to publicly declare him/herself an anti nature.
The major difference between the anthropocentrism and the biocentrism is that biocentrism has majored its focus on the living elements of the environment which include plants animals and human beings and have so far tried to harmonize the view in terms of moral standards arguing that all living things are equal and should be respected equally. They argue that humans should stop hurting other animals or plants by polluting the environment or either hunting and killing the animals and instead focus on creating a better habitat for the plants so that they enjoy their own environment and at the same time ensuring animals have their reserves where they can reproduce and graze without interference.
On the other hand, anthropocentrism stands on its belief that a man has a faculty of thinking, the capacity to understand and act upon nature and the ability to discover the possibility of modifying nature. The anthropocentrisms environmentalists therefore believe that other species are incapable of doing the same and hence man should be above them since the species cannot think above the level of the human.
Anthropocentrism therefore gives the humans an upper hand in the hierarchy and do not consider other species and in making of the environmental ethics, man is considered first. Anthropocentrism further states that its only humans that poses the capability to pay attention, create attention and act on situations. Anthropocentrism centers itself spiritual world in that, if a man does good deeds, his spiritual being is strengthened while if he does evil, he dehumanizes himself. In essence, if he does evil, he falls into animalism. However, the anthropocentric environmentalists cannot prove this yet they believe and act upon it as it is done on western cultural traditions. Therefore, anthropocentrisms put themselves in a central cosmic and even special significance with a belief that it is only humans that were made in the image and likeness of God.
Both the anthropocentrism environmentalists and the biocentrism environmentalists however have a common ground and similarities in some ways. They both hold the belief that the tangible reality is the only reality and that there exists so many different realities that cannot be simply explained scientifically or by mathematical formulae. For example, the relationships in humans form non-material part of the sphere and it applies to love, emotions, and respect. They also have a common agreement that there is also a need for the availability of scientific data and that there is a need for speculation in order to enjoy the world’s consciousness. Also working out on the philosophies of the environment allows humans to live together with harmony. The anthropocentric minded environmentalists and the biocentrism environmentalists are also both in agreement that humans enjoy a special status on earth regardless of whether they are superior or not.
In addition, besides other living things, the anthropocentrism believers and the biocentrism believers observe that a human being is very powerful and can harness nature with his or her inviolable hands and distinctive mind. In other words, humans are capable of exploitation of natural roles to favor his ends. In this regard, people have the power in their hands either to conserve or destroy nature. For people, conservation of nature is a prerequisite based on their religious and cultural values, but for some, economic practices dictate whether to conserve or destroy nature.
What I learned from this paper is that both factions hold that human beings, unlike any other living things humans are endowed with consciousness and conscience. Although the biocentrism environmentalists believe that other higher groups of animals have consciousness too. The levels of human consciousness are much higher than that of other animals and the comparisons can never be near equal. This gives a man a higher moral stand and hence making a man a moral agent. In this view, the biocentrism and anthropocentric philosophers share one thing. They observe that the idea of conservation have both been adopted by people who have similarity in concerns for nature and its wellbeing.
References
Betham, J. (1999). Environmental Ethics and Medical Ethics. Some for End-of-life Care, 8(2), 250–256
Sagoff, M. (1997). Earth’s Insights: A Survey of Ecological Ethics from Mediterranean Basin to the Australian outback, reprint edition. London: Berkeley.
Environmentalism engrosses campaigning for the buttressing and improvement of the environment (DeLong). The natural environment is the resources, the climate and all that is found on planet earth. The natural environment provides a superior setting if well protected. Usually there are certain bodies such as the Green Movement, which gear up in protecting the environment.
The main goal of environmentalism is controlling the use of available resources, protection of nature and controlling the population on the planet. This protection and improving the environment is viewed as religion. The following reasons elucidate why environmentalism is a religion.
Environmentalism is a religion, in that people fear for the planet’s future, similar to religion where believers fear for their ending if they do not follow the commandments. The green movement is an example of an organization that has significant concern for the future of planet earth that is why it has measures to control and protect the environment.
New age supporters base their arguments on environment as more of religion than science. They combine old beliefs and traditional religion in the study of the environment. The explanation on changes in climate and the weather are believed to be controlled by a Supreme Being and not just science.
Calamities like floods, some environmentalists explain, are caused by unexplainable factors. Some people believe the models the scientists use to predict weather bring ambiguity in explanation of the climate. Scientists can neither explain the forces that cause clouds nor the chemical equation of the cloud.
Environmentalism is a matter of believing, whereby if one does not believe, he is a sinner. It is also believed that God punishes those who do not believe in Him. In the environment, those who do not believe and protect the environment are also punished. Examples of these punishments can include floods, global warming or even floods.
This is similar to the bible where the Egyptians were punished for not obeying the commandments. God was angry with them and sent the plagues that made their environment hostile. People affected by the natural calamities also pray to God to ease their burden on them, clearly exemplifying that environmentalism is a religion.
Environmentalists have a lot of faith in their predictions of the climate (DeLong). Science cannot be accurate in predicting the environment, as there are other factors beyond their knowledge. There is a lot of faith involved in making predictions. Scientists also use reality on their models in foretelling the weather. The predictions are not purely scientific, hence; there is usually a lot of faith in them making environmentalism more of religion than science.
There is the belief that natural hazards are retributions for wrongs committed. Releasing of poisonous gas to the environment is a form of wrong, hence; the natural consequences are the global warming. Environmentalism has also prosecutors, similar to religion. However, there usually some people who criticize the warnings and the predictions of these environmentalists.
These people end up being punished by the hazards. In the biblical history, there is the issue of climate. People in those ages enjoyed invigorating climate unlike nowadays. It is believed that one creates his own climate. Areas that shield the environment enjoy a healthful environment unlike ones who destroy nature by pollution.
Environmentalism is a religion in the way that people need to forecast their future in order to control behavior. Almost every fraction of the planet is facing Global Warming. If the populace had earlier believed in environmentalism and adhered to the rules and warnings of global warming, we would not be experiencing these adverse consequences.
Ray Bradbury is deservedly known as one of the greatest masters of American science fiction who pioneered the genre in many ways and established it on a par with the older and more respectable literary counterparts. His writings are often cautionary takes that warn the reader about the dangers of neglecting essential aspects of human existence. The danger Bradbury warns about may include unrestrained militarism, as in “Martian Chronicles,” suppression of culture, as in “451 Fahrenheit,” and, of course, predatory exploitation of the environment, as in “A Sound of Thunder.” The short story’s characters learn the hard way that even the seemingly insignificant and mundane actions can have great and even grave consequences in the long run. Weaving the narrative, Bradbury uses the butterfly effect to showcase that technological development should not cause arrogance and carelessness that can eventually lead to neglecting the environment humanity inhabits.
Before analyzing the story as a metaphor for environmentalism, a brief summary is in order. “A Sound of Thunder” takes place in 2055, when Time Safari Inc. offers rich hunters an opportunity to go back in time to hunt famous creatures. The story begins with a hunter named Eckels who paid to hunt a Tyrannosaurus Rex (Bradbury 2). Eckels is going on this trip soon after a certain Deutscher, described only as “a militarist, anti-Christ, anti-human, anti-intellectual” have lost the Presidential election, which puts Eckels and others at ease (Bradbury 2). Time Safari Inc. goes to great lengths to minimize the time travelers’ involvement in the distant past – for example, they deliberately choose animals who would have soon died to natural causes anyway (Bradbury 5). Yet this careful preparation almost goes to waste – Eckels panics and runs away, and only the actions of his guide Travis save the day. However, upon returning to the future, the two find out that the world has changed for the worst – and then, much to their horror, see that Eckels has stepped on a butterfly while in the past, supposedly causing the irrevocable change.
The central plot device of the story is the so-called butterfly effect – the idea that seemingly insignificant changes may have an outstanding impact on the long-term stability of a given system. The name quite obviously refers to the fact that the death of a single butterfly “leads to the spreading perturbation until it reaches the size of the system” (Aleiner et al. 2). The term has proven so influential that it was eventually appropriated by physics – but it is still remembered as one of Bradbury’s greatest contributions to the field of science fiction (Hoffman 238). In this case, though, the system changed by the death of the butterfly is not a purely physical concept but, rather, the entire human society in its many aspects. The effect ranges from changing the spelling of Modern English to massively altering the sympathies of the American population, who now vote for “the iron man” Deutscher en masse (Bradbury 11). To summarize, the butterfly effect as employed in “A Sound of Thunder” is the main literary device that drives the author’s point across.
It is quite significant that the author has chosen the butterfly as a vehicle for the enormous historical change described in the story. If the story operates on the premise that “a little error here would multiply in sixty million years, all out of proportion,” any slight alteration of the past would suffice. Eckels’s fateful intervention could have been turning over a stone, disturbing a mound of dirt, or even dropping some sweat into a pond. Instead, Bradbury chooses the butterfly – a living creature – as a metaphor for the unintended change brought by irresponsible actions. It is this choice that makes the story an environmentalist parable, as Bradbury not merely warns the audience against acting irresponsibly but also stresses the environmental implications of such actions specifically. The fateful butterfly – “glistening green and gold and black, was a butterfly” – might have been extremely beautiful, but no beauty can save it from the casual stomp of Eckels’ foot. Its two defining features are being beautiful ad being vulnerable – and that largely applies to the environment as a whole, being utterly at the mercy of industrialized humanity.
One crucial point that Bradbury seeks to drive across is that no amount of technological development can serve as a foolproof guarantee of safety against environmental troubles caused by human intervention. The humanity of 2055, as depicted in the story, is immensely technologically superior to the humanity of 2021, not to mention Bradbury’s contemporraies from 1952 when the story was written. Time travel is not merely a matter of fact – it has become accessible enough to use it for rich people’s entertainment. If anything, the pinnacles of progress depicted in “A Sound of Thunder” may serve as a textbook example of how a sufficiently developed technology is indistinguishable from magic. This is the point Panasenko makes when noting that the story’s characters “easily move from one epoch to another with the help of the magic tool” (230). Yet all this immense technological might proves no match for the death of a single butterfly that sets the history of Earth on a profoundly different course. “A Sound of Thunder” stresses that, no matter how developed humanity is, environmental damage can always go beyond its control.
Another way in which the author emphasizes his environmentalist message is by pointing out that humans cannot predict with sufficient certainty what effect their seemingly mundane actions can have in the future. Eckels is not a villain and does not harm the butterfly of sheer malignancy. He does not even want to shoot the dinosaur he came in the past for upon seeing its dreadful form, showing that his concern for self-preservation outweighs his desire to inflict harm (Bradbury 7). Yet while he is not a malignant character, he definitely does not think too much about the implication of his actions. When Travis explains that his carelessness can get eliminate entire species, his initial response is: “So they’re dead. So what?” (Bradbury 4). Even when seeing the fundamental changes that his intervention has brought, his first response is that of denial, as in “Not a little thing like that! Not a butterfly!” (Bradbury 11). Eckels symbolizes humanity’s inability to predict the outcome is its actions, which transits to the author’s point: people must consider their actions that can affect the environment before acting.
Finally, yet another aspect in which “A Sound of Thunder” functions as an environmentalist parable is its warning against carelessness. The key factor in kicking off the plot is the invention of accessible and reliable time travel. Bradbury’s humanity of 2055 has mastered one of the fundamental aspects of existence – and the best use it finds for it is entertainment for rich hunters. Admittedly, the characters remark that the government keeps a close eye on time travelers and demands that none of them violate the natural course of the past (Bradbury 9). Yet all these claims pale in comparison to the sheer fact that time travel is used recreationally for commercial purposes. It is hard not to draw parallels with exploiting the Earth’s environment for momentary material gain without much, if any, consideration of the ripple effects it can cause in the long run. It is not merely the actions of Eckels that bring the catastrophe – it is the same careless gain-oriented mindset that is all too evident in humanity’s approach to the environment.
As one can see, Bradbury’s “A Sound of Thunder” functions as a cautionary tale against the dangers of irresponsible and predatory exploitation of the environment. The central plot device used for this goal is the butterfly effect – the notion that a small initial alteration can cause tremendous changes in the long run that would be utterly out of control. The story’s environmentalist message is clear in the fact that Bradbury chooses the death of a vulnerable living creature as the trigger for fateful changes that happen in its course. The author also showcases that even the greatest level of technological development should not serve as a basis for arrogance because environmental damage can always overcome people’s ability to react to it. With this assumption, Bradbury points out that humans can hardly predict the outcome of their actions and cautions the audience against careless decisions affecting the Earth’s environment.
Works Cited
Aleiner, Igor L., et al. “Microscopic Model of Quantum Butterfly Effect: Out-of-Time-Order Correlators and Traveling Combustion Waves.” Annals of Physics, vol. 375, 2016, pp. 378-406.
In the past few decades, environmentalism has been a global term and one of the major issues of concern around the world. Since the beginning of the nineteenth century, this issue has been a matter of public debate in Australia. Environmentalism can be considered as an environmental movement for protecting the environment by reducing human impact. This protection includes flora and fauna. In other words, this movement’s activities revolve around the human impact on the native flora and fauna (Pakulski and Tranter, 2004). Moreover, that environmental movement (environmentalism) is a public concern that has affected the town planning system in New South Wales and other Australian states is not an understatement. The rise of environmentalism in Australia is discussed in this essay, followed by focusing on its impact on environmental planning legislation in state and local government planning practice in New South Wales. This is demonstrated by focusing on the historic aspects of environmentalism and its stages.
Impacts of Environmentalism on environmental Planning Legislation
In terms of the rise of environmentalism in Australia, many have considered it an unusual movement. Pakulski and Tranter (2004) believe that Australian green activism, which focused strongly on conservations, was the main reason that made this movement unusual. In addition, there were various phases of environmentalism in Australia. Hutton and Connors (1999) divide the rise of environmentalism into two main waves. The first wave was from the 1860s until World War Two (the early twentieth century). This wave seemed to be a reaction to the environmental impact in that period.
At the end of the twentieth century the development in Australia recorded a remarkable increase, which required more land and extended urban sprawl over green lands. Accordingly, the environmental conflicts as a result of the foreign investment boom renewed the movement of environmentalism, which was the second wave after World War Two to 1972 (Hutton and Connors, 1999). However, after the second wave, environmentalism was still considered a groups activity. In other words, in the 1970s the public concern was weak (Pakulski and Tranter, 2004). Then, after 1972 several campaigns had appeared. Hence, according to Hutton and Connors (1999), the period between 1973 and 1983 was known as “the campaigning movement”. In addition, these campaigns were basically intended to boost protection of the environment and preserve flora and fauna (wildlife). Issues surrounding the environment became a major concern to the populace in the post-war public opinion (McAllister, 1994). The campaign initiated to protect Franklin River is an example of that movement. This campaign was against erection of hydroelectric power station schemes across the river. It intended to stop damming the Franklin River in the South-West of Tasmania (Pakulski and Tranter, 2004). After the success of some of these campaigns, environmentalism had wide extension acceptance across myriad Australian states. Therefore, there was widespread public concern and awareness that epitomized in 1989 (Pakulski and Tranter, 2004). Then, the environmentalism got more political support from the government. This was a major boost to this movement. Thus, environmentalism has impacted affecting various levels of livelihoods of citizens of Australia. Although some viewpoints believe that environmentalism is a positive movement providing beneficial factors to encourage development in many sectors, other dissenting opinions consider it as a type of limitation that would slow improvement in Australia.
Turning to the impacts of environmentalism on environmental planning legislation, there are several Federal Acts that were introduced because of it. For example, the Environmental Protection Act 1974, the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act 1975, the Whale Protection Act 1980, and the Endangered Species Protection Act 1992 can be considered as part of environmentalism impact. In addition, according to Williams (2007, p.96) these federal Acts have been harmonized to become the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, which “regulates ‘actions’ of national environmental significance.” Environmental planning legislation and the development of state and local government planning practices in New South Wales (NSW) have been affected by environmentalism as well. In other words, increase in the usage of the term ‘environment’ seems to be the main impact of this movement. Additionally, according to Cole (1981) in the last two decades the term ‘environment’ has been used in all levels including Commonwealth and NSW levels and has become more of a household term in these territories. Moreover, the environmental law seems to be another part of the impacts of environmentalism. According to the former Australian Environment Council (AEC) (1986, cited in Williams, 2007) the environmental law includes four parts of legislation, which are the environmental planning and protection legislation (involve land-use planning legislation, environmental impact legislation, and pollution legislation), resource allocation legislation, development legislation and legislation concerning the conservation of natural and cultural resources. Moreover, national environment protection has received a major boost from other state legislation and the Environmental Protection Act of 1994 that enhanced the environment protection council’s efforts in managing pollution and proper disposal of wastes (Farrier and Stein, 2006, pp. 14, 15).
Impacts of Environmentalism on New South Wales
In terms of impacts of environmentalism on NSW, Farrier and Stein (2006) state that the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) was established by state government to protect and enhance the environment in NSW. As a matter of fact, (Farrier and Stein 2006, p. 12) NSW parliament is mandated to come up with legislations that touch on environmental issues. In addition, the Land and Environment Court established in 1979 can be considered as an impact of the environmental movement at the state level. The court has dealt with the development and environmental issues to ensure that development has not affected both the surrounding area and the environment negatively. It is worth noting that precedence has been set when NSW Land and Environment Court applied the principle of ecologically sustainable development as a protective principle in some of its previous rulings. This has become a reference point in jurisprudence (Farrier and Stein, 2006, p. 5). Furthermore, the change in the planning system and development assessment in the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 are part of the impacts of environmentalism on state governments. A major preoccupation of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act should be assessing environmental issues in national parks and the built environment (Farrier and Stein 2006, p. 4). Planning decisions must reflect the input of the general public as this is a major impact of environmentalism. Williams (2007, pp.110, 111) reiterates that modernization of the planning system in Australia in the 70s and 80s was enhanced by public participation. It is the intensified public participation in the planning and assessment of the environment that mid-wifed the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act of the 1980s.
Dalton and Kuechler (1990, cited in McAllister, 1994) report that myriad changes have been witnessed in the government’s (especially the local governments) policy agenda because of rising environmental concerns from the public. Hence, there are many policies and plans that have been provided to develop the process of environmental planning. They include State Environmental Planning Policies (SEPP’s), Regional Environmental Plans (REP’s), and Local Environmental Plans (LEP’s). These are summarily known as the Environmental Planning Instruments. In addition, Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), ecologically sustainable development (ESD), Local Environment Protection, and water management are other examples of these policies and plans. Moreover, development assessment and control have also been influenced by environmentalism. Local governments have come up with various environmental plans and legislations like the zoning to weed out environmental degradation in their areas of jurisdictions (Farrier and Stein, 2006, p.15). Consequently, environmentalism has impacted the local government’s contribution towards the preservation of environment in NSW. It is the discretion of these plans to establish whether developments are harmful or not. The plans help in preservation of the environment.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the rise of environmentalism in Australia had two main waves since the nineteenth century. The first wave was between 1860 and the Second World War. This wave was occasioned by a reaction to environmental impacts. The second wave occasioned by the foreign investment boom occurred between the Second World War and 1972. Then many campaigns appeared and the public concern about the environmental impact became greater to provide more protection and preservation for flora and fauna (wildlife). Moreover, this issue played an important role in influencing the environmental planning legislation. This was characterized by coming up with myriad Federal Acts. These included Environmental Protection Act, National Park, Wildlife Conservation Act, and much other legislation. These were later harmonized to become Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act of 1999. Its impact on the legislation can be seen in Environmental Planning and Protection Legislation, development legislation and the legislation concerning the conservation of natural and cultural resources. Furthermore, both state and local government organizations have been affected by that environmental movement (environmentalism). The establishment of Land and Environmental Court and introduction of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 are part of this impact on the NSW state level. An aspect of the impact on the local government, the introduction of LEP’s, EIS and changing development assessment can be considered as another effect of environmentalism in the NSW.
Reference
Cole, J. 1981, “Environmental Law and Politics”, UNSW Law Journal, Vol. 4 no. 2, pp. 55-71.
Farrier, D. & Stein, P. 2006. The Environmental Law Handbook, 4thEdition, Redfern Legal Centre Publishing, Sydney.
Hutton, D. & Connors, L. 1999, A History of the Australian Environment Movement, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
McAllister, I. 1994, ‘Dimensions of environmentalism: Public opinion, political activism and partysupport in Australia’, Environmental Politics, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 22 – 42.
Pakulski, J and Tranter, BK 2004, “Environmentalism and Social Differentiation: a paper in memory of Steve Crook”, Journal of Sociology, vol. 40, no. 3. pp. 221-235.
Williams, P. 2007, “Planning and the Legislative Framework”, in Thompson, S (ed.) Planning Australia: An Overview of Urban andRegional Planning, Oxford University Press, Port Melbourne: pp. 91- 114.
Environmental deterioration has become a topical issue in recent decades. Its manifestations are evident in water and air pollution, depletion of natural resources, a loss of biodiversity, and climate change, and human activities appear to be the main cause of these effects (Gkargkavouzi et al., 2019). In order to contain further degradation of the earth, scholars and activists developed environmentalism, which is a philosophy and a social movement focused on protecting the environment (Heidmets & Raudsepp, 2001). One important area of research in environmentalism is human pro-environmental behaviors and what contributes to those behaviors or hinders them. This literature review aims to synthesize scholarly findings regarding factors that affect human pro-environmental behaviors. Researchers argue that people’s willingness to protect the environment is influenced by their identities, social norms, attitudes, values, and beliefs.
A literature review has helped identify several scholars who focused their research on exploring factors related to human pro-environmental behaviors. In particular, Dietz (2020), whose scholarly interest lies in the field of human ecology and environmental policy, traced a history of environmentalism in his article and emphasized the importance of integrating social science in environmental research. Heidmets and Raudsepp (2001) support this view by proposing a conceptual framework consisting of two major concepts: “environmental behavior” and “environmental mentality” (p. 198). Gkargkavouzi et al. (2019) also focus on the social dimension of environmentalism by integrating a range of environmental theories to study the determinants of environmental behavior. Likewise, Milfont et al. (2019) used such theories to investigate the impact of political ideology and morality on people’s environmental behaviors. Finally, Yang et al. (2021) conducted a similar study with important practical implications for practitioners responsible for crafting pro-environmental campaigns. Each of these scholars made an important contribution to understanding factors that influence human behaviors in relation to the environment.
There are a number of theories aiming to explain people’s behaviors toward the environment. These theories use two main broad terms: environmental behavior and environmental mentality (Heidmets & Raudsepp, 2001). For example, according to the theory of planned behavior, individuals demonstrate environmental behavior if they strongly intend to do so (Gkargkavouzi et al., 2019). This intention stems from their “attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control,” which are components of environmental mentality (Gkargkavouzi et al., 2019, p. 148). The norm-activation theory posits that individuals display environmental behaviors when they feel morally obligated to do so (Milfont et al., 2019). In this theory, moral obligation stems from problem awareness, a feeling of responsibility, outcome efficacy, and self-efficacy. Yang et al. (2021) used a theory of the influence of presumed influence, according to which people will engage in pro-environmental behaviors reinforced by media if they perceive that others will act on this media message. Overall, a common feature of these theories is that they assume that individuals’ environmental behaviors stem from their mentality, which includes attitudes, beliefs, and social norms.
Although no disagreement on the importance of studying factors influencing environmental behaviors has been found in the literature, it has been identified that researchers focus on different aspects when integrating social science in environmental research. For example, Dietz’s (2020) main argument is that political affiliation, which is part of personal identity and values, plays a significant role in people’s support of environmental policies and engagement in sustainable behaviors. He argues that Democrats tend to have more pro-environmental attitudes than Republicans and Independents. Similarly, Milfont et al. (2019) found that liberal political attitudes were more likely to be associated with pro-environmental behaviors than conservative ones. They also discovered that care- and fairness-based morality predicted individuals’ involvement in sustainable behaviors. In contrast, Gkargkavouzi et al. (2019) focused on personal characteristics related to environmental behaviors. They discovered that individuals who felt morally obliged to preserve the environment, conformed to social expectations, had positive attitudes toward environmental conservation, and were confident in their ability to protect nature were more likely to exhibit pro-environmental behaviors (Gkargkavouzi et al., 2019).
Yang et al. (2021) provided a different perspective, investigating a social dimension of environmental behavior. Researchers found that individuals were more likely to engage in sustainable behaviors after receiving a media message if they believed that others were influenced by this message and were going to take action (Yang et al., 2021). Finally, Heidmets & Raudsepp (2001) summarize various factors that were explored by mentioned scholars. Heidmets & Raudsepp (2001) note that environmental behaviors are shaped by an interplay of personal and social factors, including social norms, dominating value systems, and personality traits. These ideas can help policymakers develop policies that will take the mentioned factors into account to encourage people’s engagement in environmental behaviors.
The ideas in this research field come from different geographic regions. For example, the influence of political identity on environmental behavior was noted in the work of the US scholar Dietz (2020) and New Zealand researchers Milfont et al. (2019). The idea of media influence on environmental behavior was evident in work by Asian scholars Yang et al. (2021). Finally, ideas originating from European countries – Estonia in the case of Heidmets & Raudsepp (2001) and Greece in the case of Gkargkavouzi et al. (2019) – were more concerned with personal characteristics and social expectations.
The area of consensus in the field lies in scholars’ understanding of the importance of studying environmentalism from the perspective of social science. It means that researchers realize the significant role that humans and societies play in protecting the environment, so they make efforts to understand what leads people to engage in pro-environmental behaviors. Although various scholars may focus on different factors, the common idea is that uncovering impacts on sustainable behaviors will help policymakers develop more effective campaigns to encourage people to demonstrate pro-environmental behaviors.
Yang, X., Wei, R., & Ho, S. S. (2021). If others care, I will fight climate change: An examination of media effects in addressing the public goods dilemma of climate change mitigation. International Journal of Communication, 15, 3315-3335.
Within the modern environment of industrialization and globalization that expanded the barriers of what was possible before, the concept of environmentalism (or eco-consciousness) has become more prominent. Despite the fact that many associates the term with reusable products such as plastic bags and the utilization of energy-efficient light bulbs, real environmentalism do not place nature in the position above people. Essentially, environmentalism is about preserving and conserving nature, keeping it as untouched as it used to be two thousand years ago. However, the destruction of the nature that took place during the last millennium cannot be turned back; therefore, all the current global society can do is preserve what is left.
Scholars from around the globe were trying to explore the damage globalization caused to nature and identify specific efforts that could be targeted at resolving the current issues and promoting the concept of environmentalism in the political and social lives of the worldwide community. The key four authors that expressed their views on environmentalism and fought against the status quo chosen for the analysis are Vandana Shiva, David Harvey, Nicole Shukin, and Anna Tsing. Each of them studied environmentalism within a different context, which will allow for an extensive analysis of their work.
Review of Research
Vandana Shiva and Earth Democracy
Dr. Vandana Shiva is a world-renowned ecologist and physicist who dedicated her research to the protection of women’s and farmers’ rights. In her academic writing, Shiva strongly pointed out at the economic and ecological crises of modern times, their origins, and a way for achieving a sustainable and democratic future for the global societies. In her article “Earth Democracy: Beyond Dead Democracy and Killing economies,” Shiva stated that the will of people is no longer relevant when it comes to the considerations of economic growth or political affairs. As a positive example, Shiva mentioned Canada as one of the few countries committed to global justice and environmental sustainability.
The key idea of her article revolved around large corporations taking over natural resources as if they had a monopoly on them. She stated that the modern life is a “manufacture […] an invention; therefore, life is the monopoly of companies, and companies can now collect rents from life itself” (Shiva, “Earth Democracy: Beyond Dead Democracy and Killing Economies” 85). In her opinion, the biodiversity of the planet subsequently turned into property, and large corporations are collecting natural resources as if they were collecting rent. The concept of patenting in life was also broadly discussed in Shiva’s writing. Patenting on life may be considered one of the most unethical and disturbing actions large corporations ever undertook. For example, companies began to patent crops so that those planting them independently had to pay a significant fee. This can be considered as the privatization of natural resources, which should not be limited or controlled in any way.
Large corporations deciding to patent crops were predominantly targeting farmers that would be forced to pay fees in order to survive. This led to “farmer suicide on an epidemic scale” (Shiva, “Earth Democracy: Beyond Dead Democracy and Killing Economies” 87). Essentially, that was the plan and logic behind corporations patenting crops – there should be no small and independent farmers that grow organic products. This was supported by the illusion that industrial manufacturing can produce more food and, subsequently, benefit the economy, but in reality, it can’t. In reality, all that was left from industrialization was a “selfish man over-utilizing the resources of nature to satisfy his own ever-increasing needs” (Shiva, “Earth Democracy: Beyond Dead Democracy and Killing Economies” 95). Despite the fact that the planet can provide everyone with enough resources for life, the greed of large corporations is what destroys the natural resources and turns into ‘cancer’ of the societies.
In “Earth Democracy: Creating Living Economies, Living Democracies, Living Cultures,” continued to explore the devastating effects of nature’s privatization and assessed the concept of globalization as similar to terrorism. While for some, equating globalization to terrorism may seem a far stretch, Shiva went to great effort to explain her position and show how globalization does not support environmental sustainability, nor does it care about true economic prosperity. Globalization was equated to terrorism due to the devastation of vital resources such as water, food, and biodiversity. The author contested that in this sense, globalization could be considered not only genocidal but also suicidal (Shiva, “Earth Democracy: Creating Living Economies, Living Democracies, Living Cultures” 5).
The key idea of the article was that globalization was going against the poor, excluding and alienating societies in order to establish a climate of fear and demolish economic and ecological freedom. However, Shiva’s argument did not only persist on the criticism of the globalization policies since she offered an effective solution to the problem of the devastation of the biodiversity and the exhaustion of the natural resources. The proposed solution was ethical globalization, which should be grounded in the concern for all lives, participation in the preservation of cultural, social, and economic integrity, as well as the policies of compassion and caring.
Ethical globalization, in Shiva’s opinion, will facilitate the emergence of Earth’s democracy that will ensure the support of living cultures, democracies, and economies (“Earth Democracy: Creating Living Economies, Living Democracies, Living Cultures” 9). Again, apart from extensively criticizing the actions of the major political and economic players, Shiva offered a list of recommendations as to how Earth Democracy could be achieved. Among the advice were the protection of all species’ rights, defense of the cultural and biological diversity, promotion of sustainability, conservation of earth’s resources, etc. Overall, in her writing, Shiva strongly advocated for preserving what nature gives to people and the abandonment of the ‘terrorist’ ideas to globalize and privatize what belongs to every person and every animal on the planet.
Harvey’s Imperialism, Capital, and Nature
The main idea Harvey wanted to convey in his writing was the abuse of nature by humans because of the perception that the earth’s resources are a commonality. With respect to this, Harvey aimed to challenge the status quo and provide an ecological perspective for interpreting socialist politics (The Ways of the World 162). In chapters 7 and 9 from The Ways of the World, the author explored the value of money within the modern capitalist society, questioned whether money could be substituted for other ways of expressing value, discussed the contradictions surrounding global capitalism, and provided commentary on the idea of ‘new imperialism.’ In Harvey’s writing, the concepts of capital and nature are not opposed to each other in any way; this, in turn, sparks a discussion about environmental values, a moral community, and the rapid pace of technological domination over the natural values.
One of the most interesting insights Harvey gave in his wiring was the understanding of the shifting global dynamics of capital accumulation through the concept of ‘accumulation by dispossession” (The Ways of the World 270). This term began to gain extensive recognition in many global capitalist economies, especially in those where the predatory practices on land ownership and housing were of great popularity. In Seventeen Contradictions and the End of Capitalism, Harvey further explored the capital’s relation to nature and asserted that capital had been successfully used for dealing with ecological problems (246).
Despite the fact that the popular opinion is that nature and capital are two separate entities, Harvey contested that they were in constant interactions with each other, and there was nothing suggesting that one should completely dominate over the other. According to him, capital is a “working and evolving ecological system” (Harvey, Seventeen Contradictions and the End of Capitalism 245), in which nature and capital are constantly growing and developing. Furthermore, the author put forward an argument that capital reshaped the nature of environmental problems in such a way that they became key sources for big businesses (for example, environmental solutions and technologies), so nature acquired some qualities of an accumulation strategy. This may subsequently lead to the circulation and accumulation of capital in the environment of spreading ecological issues. Therefore, despite the fact that capital has a full potential to resolve environmental problems and facilitate the preservation of nature, human greed, and the desire for wealth chose money over environmental integrity.
Anna Tsing’s Matsutake
In her book Mushroom at the End of the World, Anna Tsing explored the most unexpected places where capitalism manages to prevail by studying the unique nature of the Matsutake mushroom, one of the most sought for and valuable fungi on the planet. In Part 1, “What’s Left,” she explained how capitalism and industrial transformation deeply damaged the precious landscapes and took away the hope of restoring the ‘mother nature’ to its past glory. She contested that with the advent of modern capitalism, the diverse ecologies and landscapes began to be destroyed for the sake of technological progress (Tsing 19).
Tsing also explored the concept of contamination, which drastically changed the world from what it used to be. However, the author offered to equate contamination to collaboration, which may lead to the evolution of the society as well as its diversification. By providing an example of Oregon’s national forests’ devastation, Tsing explored how the efforts to preserve the forest consequently turned into efforts to capitalize the natural resources. The qualities of the Matsutake mushroom (the ability to nurture trees even in the most heavily devastated forests) became invaluable to the forest services that wanted to capitalize on the fungi and acquire gain from it. Overall, the ideas presented in Mushroom at the End of the World turned out to be an in-depth examination of the connections between the capitalist destruction and devastation of the natural resources and the ‘collaborative survival,’ a prerequisite to continuing the life of nature on this planet.
Shukin’s Animal Capital
While the research of the three scientists explored above examined the relationship between capital and nature in broad terms, Nicole Shukin went farther to challenge the philosophical idealism and examine how animal life and the politics of capital collided with one another within the environment of modern market cultures. The relationship between capital and the animal resources available on the planet has long been a subject of a heated environmentalist debate that seems never to come to an end. In her research, Dr. Shukin aimed to discuss the process of “rendering,” which referred to the cultural phenomena and economic principles of the carnal business that recycled animal remains. The discrepancy in the logic of boiling down the animal resources was critical for evaluation and tracking of Shukin’s research since, in her opinion, animals should not have become “forms of capital” (7). As Harvey discussed the interdependence between capital and nature, Shukin explored the historical predicament of the connections between capital and animals as pivotal to the analysis of biopower.
In her exploration of animal capital, Shukin put forward a notion of zoo politics, which implied an inescapable adjacency between the politics of human social life and the politics of animality (Shukin 9). The author’s work has taken a strong trajectory towards criticizing zoo politics and challenging the already established assumption that only the human ‘social flesh’ is at stake in the logics of biopower. Shukin further explored the violent nature with which animals were treated as experimental subjects to testing. Through providing an example of 28 Days Later, a popular thriller movie, Shukin, also examined the trope of mobility, a threat to the social flesh of a globally connected life world (Shukin 182). The technological efforts to somehow secure the human health through abusing the animal life were also widely criticized in Shukin’s writing, contributing to the argument of animal capital being subjected to various sorts of an experiment for the sake of the prosperity of the human ‘social flesh.’
Research Question
The analysis of the key ideas presented by Shukin, Shiva, Harvey, and Tsing has shown that there is a strong connection between capital and earth’s resources, which points at the need to further exploring their interdependence in the context of the social and political theory. While these key authors explored in the analysis discussed the processes that surround the global social and political environment with regards to issues such as globalization or climate change, there was a lack of research as to the reasons for humans wanting to dominate over nature and capitalize all resources that can bring some gain (for example, crop patenting). Therefore, a research question developed for further study will be “What are the implications for the human’s social and political domination over nature and how the efforts to capitalize natural resources could be diminished?”
While the research question was formed on the basis of the analyzed materials that explored the notions of globalization, animal capital, Earth Democracy, accumulation, and climate change, it is also associated with Bookchin’s idea that the desire of humans to dominate over nature stemmed from the desire of some humans dominate over others (qtd. in Eckersley 148). Furthermore, the ideas of humans’ domination over nature were also raised by the philosopher Francis Bacon who supported experimentation and scientific progress in order to take advantage of what the Earth had to offer. It is important to explore the desire to control the natural resources to the fullest extent since the established social and political practices significantly contributed to the ideas of globalization and capitalization.
While some may regard the exploration of human’s desire to dominate over nature as a question for historians, the ideology of domination should be analyzed within the context of political and social practices since culture can be considered human’s second nature. Furthermore, the research question should predominantly focus on the analysis of the Western cultures since the bulk of technological progress and the move towards globalization occurred predominantly in Western societies (Pattberg 2). It will also be important to discuss the impact the Western societies had on the rest of the world in terms of industrialization and globalization practices since the rise of capitalism further manifested itself even in the most remote locations such as Siberia. The patterns of nature’s devastation should also be examined when it comes to the exploration of domination practices since the advent of the Western financial systems caused the increased spreading of various resource devastation activities such as mining and deforestation that had an adverse effect on the environment.
Apart from exploring the social and political practices that directly impact the integrity of earth’s resources and the demolition of the ecosystems, discussing the forms of human domination over nature (e.g. genetic engineering, construction of dams, fire control practices) will also be a fruitful area for research. Such forms of human domination over nature should be explored within the context of social and political theory since the efforts to somehow influence the natural flow of events stem directly from the desire of the society to have a certain level of security and control over the events that may not be controlled to the fullest extent. Moreover, it will be interesting to incorporate Shukin’s ‘animal capital’ argument into research since it directly relates to the efforts to capitalize on natural resources and use them to the advantage of society.
While globalization is one of the key facilitators of progress and technological advancements, such environmental issues as pollution, global warming, overpopulation, the depletion of natural resources, climate change, and the loss of biodiversity should become main reasons for why the society should rethink its views on globalization and start taking the emerging environmental issues seriously. As mentioned by Shiva, globalization became to be associated with environmental terrorism that devastates natural resources and does not allow some layers of the society to use the resources to which they have a right. Therefore, the hypothesis that human beings have a desire to dominate nature because of the desire to dominate over other less powerful humans may be true.
The proposed research question is especially relevant within the context of the modern political and social environment since the desire of some cultures to dominate nature and capitalize on natural resources is still prevalent, for example, patenting of crops. It can be asserted that those cultures that have a desire to dominate nature also present themselves as those superior to others, once again supporting Bookchin’s hypothesis. Lastly, it will also be important to incorporate the notion of capital into the discussion about human domination over nature since it was concluded that capital has the capability to resolve the arising environmental issues but chooses to exploit biodiversity for monetary gain. Overall, the proposed question take have a variety of directions for exploration since the issue of men exhausting nature has already been extensively researched by scientists. The summary of the scientific research conducted by Shiva, Harvey, Shukin, and Tsing will provide a background for the proposed question since each of them explored the broad context of environmentalism from different angles.
Works Cited
Eckersley, Robyn. Environmentalism and Political Theory: Toward an Ecocentric Approach. Suny Press, 1992.
Harvey, David. Seventeen Contradictions and the End of Capitalism. Profile Books, 2014.
The Ways of the World. Oxford University Press, 2016.
Pattberg, Philipp. “Conquest, Domination, and Control: Europe’s Mastery of Nature in Historic Perspective”. Journal of Political Ecology, vol. 14, 2007, pp. 1-9.
Shiva, Vandana. “Earth Democracy: Beyond Dead Democracy and Killing Economies.” Capitalism Nature Socialism, vol. 21, no. 1, Spring 2010, pp. 83-95.
“Earth Democracy: Creating Living Economies, Living Democracies, Living Cultures.” South Asian Popular Culture, vol. 2, no.1, Spring 2004, pp. 5-18.
Shukin, Nicole. Animal Capital: Rendering Life in Biopolitical Times (Posthumanities). University of Minnesota Press, 2009.
Tsing, Anna. The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins. Princeton University Press, 2015.
Living in the globalized community, environmental issues have become increasingly important because the threat human activities constitute to the Earth. In this respect, greater control of contamination, deforestation, and irrigation should be taken to eliminate critical situations. Marketing arena has also undergone significant change and has taken the course on monitoring the ecological setting through their techniques.
The above-presented concerns are heavily discussed in the article called Free Marketing Versus Political Environmentalism that represents an outlook at the problems and conflicts appeared on the ground of the current events with Montana’s Ruby River. Negligence and failure to adhere to existing regulations led to ecological catastrophe. Many species of fish have been perished because of inability to properly tackle the problem. Water destined for irrigation could have saved the situation.
In my opinion, the article provides exhaustive overview of urgent problems connected with inconsistency of governmental policy toward water flow control as well as incompleteness and ineffectiveness of existing laws and regulations directed at monitoring the usage of water resources.
The author has managed to provide analysis of a free market environmentalism approach to correlating marketing strategies with the political ones. I believe that, despite the fact that article precisely describes the essence of these techniques, it does not provide sufficient explanation concerning how these strategies can be implemented to reduce contamination problems. Therefore, the latter can be a tangible implication for further analysis and research.
Regarding perspectives and development of free-market environmentalism, I believe that this approach will be extremely beneficial for the world economy as well as for the improvement of existing ecological environment. Therefore, this new tendency should be supported, but not ignored, by all world governments. While analyzing all the advantages, including shifts in legal and moral vision, the given strategies will have a significant impact on the sphere of social and political life.
What is more important is that, though free-market environmentalism does not provide all possible solutions to existing concerns, it still creates a solid platform for introducing new, alternative ways for approaching the problem of water consumption. Specifically, the use of property rights is a viable solution to eliminate the problem of global warming. In addition, due to the fact that marketing has become more important on the global arena, the introduction of this brunch will be beneficial by all means.
Ecofascism: An Enduring Temptation
The development of private policy could have positive outcomes for solving the existing environmental concerns. In this respect, a careful examination deserves the tight connection between politics and ecology, particularly new ecological positions and terms.
While discussing the latter, it is purposeful to address the article called Ecofascism: An Enduring Temptation that discloses the essence of recently appeared phenomenon of eco-fascism. Before analyzing the main aspects connected to this term, the author succinctly describes juxtaposed terms that also have an unconventional meaning.
For example, I believe that the term ecosophy is more helpful in describing the contemporary situation. In particular, while defining the term, the author consistently explains why the industrial world ignores the natural laws and contaminates the environment. The emphasis is made on the analysis of current perception of social and political structures that exclude their harmonious co-existence with natural settings.
Returning to the term eco-fascisms, I think that this one of the most grounded explanations of the deplorable situation in the world. Global warming, acid rains, deforestations, and species extinction are the result of inappropriate and one-dimensional governmental policy whose regulations are not consistent enough to cope with existing environmental dangers. In this respect, the ideas of free-market environmentalism seem to be increasingly attractive for the supporters of the environmentalism.
However, ecosophy has nothing in common with eco-fascism whose methods are not congruent with the goals that contemporary environmentalists are pursuing. On the other hand, the traditional methods of fighting with ecological situations are not effective enough. Here is the point when the problem occurs. At a glance, military methods for fighting with environmental disasters can be quite effective, but their outcomes will not contribute to the creation of safe and secure environment for people.
The connection with National Socialism and environmentalism is also considered effectively in this article. The author successfully renders historical and theoretical aspects of eco-fascism through the postulates of the past. Through Nazi worldview, the nature is nothing more but a place, land where humans are living.
Therefore, because humans should be under the protection of law, the environment should also be strictly protected from destructed activities. This explanation is one of the justifications for introducing extremely aggressive foreign policy against other economies neglecting the ecological threats.
In whole, the connection between politics and ecology, national and ecology is evident and the above-considered article proves that. Nevertheless, I believe that eco-fascism should not be committed to practice because the problem of war and piece is also among the most urgent ones.
To begin with, it is necessary to mention, that the humanity (especially progressive humanity) is living more and more distant from the nature, and from the values of savage rest. Environment is the ecosystem which we occupy and that supports our survival. Human survival depends on the environment, as we get all the necessary natural resources that are used as food, fuel, shelter and others. Therefore, if humanity fails to take care of our ecosystem the life of the plants, animals, and humans will be endangered.
Environmentalism is the movement that popularizes the importance of environmental conservation and maintenance. Environmentalists, who support this movement, call for a sustainable management of resources, and protection of the physical environment, as this may be achieved through changes in public policies, which are implemented by the government or local authorities as well as changes in individual behavior. This essay is aimed to address the relations between environmentalism and community planning.
Discussion
People, who live in urban areas, can not be regarded as people who are out of contact with environment, as their daily activities affect the environment in which they live in. Actually, these contacts happen mainly by visiting forest parks, located within the cities, but unfortunately, increasingly more urban dwellers get to know about the existence of nature only by the means of mass media.
It is necessary to emphasize, that some people prefer moving from urban districts, and dwelling somewhere in rural areas. The environmentalist movements start from the urban areas and get to the rural because of radiation, pollution and contamination in these urban areas. Bhatia (2007), arguing on the same point, asserts that ‘the initial plan was to demolish the existing flats in order to pave way for construction of more housing units.’ The new houses were built with the aim that more people would be utilizing the same resources in the environment and this would have asserted more pressure on the ecosystem forcing people to reject it.
Relating the issues of health and welfare, it should be emphasized, that the link between health and the place of living is obvious; consequently, people aim to move to cleaner areas, especially if the city is industrial.
This forced city planners to come up with better ways of dealing with the matters of planning the cities. For instance, changes in economic and social welfare may cause deterioration of public health infrastructure resulting in emergence of new diseases in the city. The districts are planned to be distant from the plants, factories, airports etc. If there is an opportunity, the green parks are planted in the cities, and the trees along the streets add to the esthetic view, and slightly improve the ecological situation.
Environmentalism is determining the future of various fields such as community planning, engineering among others. Environmentalism have gained prominence in these fields, as more people are now aware that any action that is geared toward altering the balance of their ecosystem should be treated with caution, otherwise the wellbeing of the society may be compromised. Therefore, environmental impact assessment needs to be carried out before any development project is implemented. For instance, in San Francisco, the department of city planning continuously implements land use planning and zoning and provides oversight for all local public agency environmental impact (Bhatia, 2007).
The requirements set by the environmentalist are very demanding and are continuously calling for changes in the structure of public and community planning. The government is forced to accept laws that are very difficult to implement and interpret. For example, the 1969 US National Environmental Policy Act is very demanding since it has to be fulfilled before any project is approved by the federal government agencies. Bhatia (2007) notes, ‘the federal agencies are supposed to identify and analyze potentially adverse environmental effects of public agency’. This is a time consuming activity and may not help very much thus hindering the development of the discipline.
The challenges of this matter come up with new ways in planning, which may be used to cater the future climatic changes. This is not an easy task, since climate change is not a predictable course. However, community planners have to come up with guidelines, which can be implemented by various local authorities in order to reduce future impact of climatic changes. Therefore, by providing these guidelines, the community planners act as experts on various environmental issues. The policies by various authorities have to be examined and analyzed in order to make sure that they are in line with government regulations.
The future of community planning is rather bleak. This is due to the fact, that urban planning is becoming a very complicated issue and a single plan may not accommodate all the necessary environmental issues. In addition, urban environmental problems are multi-sectoral, which makes them very complex. They range from air pollution, poor sanitation, and poor waste disposal. These problems are aggravated by lack of adequate data and analyzed information related to urban environmental problems. Due to these complications, urban dwellers do not know who is supposed to address their environmental concerns. In case they want to group up and initiate their own project, they are often left confused on which institution to rely on in order to promote their agenda. Thus, it is the work of community planners to make sure that this vacuum is filled in order to make it easier for urban dwellers to participate in environmental management.
Conclusion
Environmentalism started as a social movement, which aimed to stop environmental destruction in the world. Its followers have coped to spread its philosophies to different fields such as community planning. People living in urban areas are always aware of environmental issues around them, and they are always eager to raise the question of environmental improvement in the corresponding institutions. They do this by donating to local organizations, which take care of environment on their behalf. However, much has to be done for the full realization of these efforts, as these efforts applied serve the common good, but not the good as of some particular interest group. It is necessary to highlight, that the matters of environmentalism should be constantly developing, as currently, the principles of regulation of the environmentalist issues are not perfect.
Work Cited
Bhatia, R., ‘Protecting Health using an Environmental Impact assessment: A case study of San Francisco Land use Decision Making’. American journal of Public health, Vol. 97, No. 3, 2007
Beatley, T. and Manning, K., The Ecology of Place: Planning for environment, Economy, and Community, Washington DC., Island press. 2007
Graham, R., Assessing the neighborhood retail environment for community planning: Food availability and tobacco advertising in low-income Brooklyn neighborhood 2005.
Parker, J.D. and McDonough, M.H., ‘Environmentalism of African Americans: An Analysis of the subculture and barrier theories.’ Environment and Behavior, Vol. 31, No.2, 2002