Transcript Societal Representations and Environment Perspectives

Societal Norms & Environment
Perspectives
• Policy Agenda / Conflict – The Earth Charter v.
Johannesburg Declaration (WSSD)
• Different Knowledge Cultures
• Dimensions of Society and Citizenship
• Different religious perspectives of nature
How you behave towards each other
/ nature (ie. Social Norms) !?
• What factors of who you are affect the way
you act towards others in society ?
• Do the same factors affect your
environmental impact / decision-making?
Keeping Up with Contemporary
Debates – Observer 1/10/06
• “Will the Organic Dream Turn Sour?”
– Review of envt impact of increasing organic food
sales – “Local as the new organic”
• Edward O Wilson – The Ant king’s latest mission
– Eminent biologists attempts to bring together Science
& Religion from ‘the ground upwards’ in US.
The Earth Charter (2000)
The Earth Charter (2000)
• Developed through extensive public consultation
exercise on identifying what is needed for a “just,
sustainable and peaceful society in the 21st century”
• Endorsed by over 14,000 individuals & organisations
when released, however failed to gain endorsement at
WSSD in Johannesburg, 2002
• “Based on science, indigenous knowledge, wisdom of
the world’s great religions, philosophical traditions &
UN declarations, global ethics movement & NGO
declarations & people’s treaties”
The Earth Charter (2000) cont.
• See - http://www.earthcharter.org/
• Four first-order principles –
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The community of life,
Ecological integrity,
Social & economic justice;
Democracy, non-violence & peace
• 16 second-order principles each with 3 or 4 specific
actions or intentions
• BUT does not yet match global policy or local action!?
WSSD - Key Messages
• Stressed the 3 inseparable pillars of Sust Dvpt – Economic well-being
– Social equity (widely contested)
– Environmental protection
• “Protection of the environment & poverty reduction are
inextricably linked” =>
• Greater social and economic focus than at Rio, 1992
• “Need to move beyond the political rhetoric, brackets &
commas to real action via multilateralism & effective
global governance” – Thabo Mbeki, 2002
• However, has any progress been made to this extent in
last 4 years?
Analysis of Contemporary Policy
Debates
• Handout provided last week with summary of
UN Commitments in Millennium Development
Goals and Johannesburg Declaration.
• Read through & list key contrasting points
• Consider the following essay style Q –
• Briefly outline the views expressed in the UN’s
Johannesburg Declaration and the independent
Earth Charter and discuss reasons for the
differences observed.
How do people think about the
environment?
• Your responses last week show very different views on
what, how and who Q’s!?
• Some key themes –
– Apathy & helplessness over scale of problems – Too big to be any
one group’s problem => Business as usual?
– Technological Hope for ‘Solutions’ – Science?
– Need for higher level intervention – Companies, Governments &
World Organisations (UN) – Politics problem first?
– Recognition of need for ‘bottom-up’ action from individuals (all of
us!) – Society?
• Show different views on environment & who should act!
How do people think about the
environment?
O’Riordan, 2000
Student Views of Environmental
Science 2005
• Key views that env scientists need to –
– “give real solutions to socio-economic solutions”
– “provide models to predict future scenario’s & offer
advice on sustainable futures”
– “educate society about the importance of environment”
– “recognise their limitations as they cannot solve global
environmental problems”
– “provide facts on environmental issues”
– “build bridges between disciplines”
• Shows positivist grounding of (western) scientific culture –
this is however only one form of knowledge!
Different Knowledge Cultures
• “The scientific approach may, quite unintentionally, create a
false sense of security over the freedom we have to play with
the Earth” O’Riordan, 2000; p.2.
• “Scientific knowledge is not objective at all. It is socially
constructed by a host of rules, networks of bias & peer
group pressures that define approval” O’Riordan, 2000; p.4
• Science MUST adapt to outside rules imposed by society,
economy and policy
• Conformity may be regretted if interdisciplinarity is the goal
• More on this on Friday – “Trust me I’m a Scientist”
Views of Society
• Society - the social organisation & associated institutions
that shape human behaviour
• Typically societies have rules of behaviour, division of roles
& punishments (social norms), dependent on
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Gender
Age
Knowledge and skills
Control over means of production
Place of origin
Background (race, class, family)
Wealth ranking
Religion
• Citizenship - “social and moral responsibility to each
other”
Societal Rules
Many forms of control vital to societal functioning
• Religion & creation mythologies
• Political Laws - social consensus
• Culture, customs & fashions
Usually controlled at national level by Institutions - State,
church, market & business, education, police etc.
For individual / communities culture & social values more
important in affecting societies “worldview” & thus
environmental impacts
Governance & Religion
• Political systems across the globe remain greatly
affected by religious or cultural underpinnings of
societies within nation states
• Many argue that ‘Christian Right’ control much of
western decision-making
• Social norms within all societies derived from certain
religious & cultural traditions
• “Religion is a way in which societies use generations of
accumulated wisdom to organise their values,
perceptions & behaviour” (Marten, 2000; p. 125)
Religious Attitudes towards
Nature 1 – (Generalisations)
• Spirit Religions (animism) e.g. indigenous cultures - often
have plant & animal deities and a feeling of ‘belonging’ to
the land, views and nature created by ancestors – holistic
view, not wasteful
• Eastern Religions (e.g. Buddhism, Hinduism & Taoism) view people as part of, & inseparable from, nature – beliefs
preserved in written form
- Multiple Gods including animal & plant deities & sacred rivers,
forests etc.; Reincarnation in any living form; good spiritual
behaviour is not taking more than one’s share & giving to nature;
harmony & balance
Religious Attitudes towards Nature 2
– Western Religions – Judaism, Christianity & Islam
– Based on creation story of one God creating the earth and
universe and then humans in his image, emphasis on
relations between humans & to God => Envt to use
– “Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you, and
as I give you the green plants, I give you everything”
(Genesis 9:3)
– e.g. agricultural expansion in Middle East when Judaism
arose; Industrial Revolution as early Christian belief’s
diminished; Removal of land from American natives to
generate wealth;
– World Council for Churches now promotes human
responsibilities to the whole of creation – see Earth Bible
http://www.webofcreation.org/Earthbible/earthbible.html
Religious Attitudes towards Nature
• Has the current worldview of capitalism & materialism has
driven a social need for consumption far beyond required
for a decent life ?
• Many in society now try to disown Christian views of
nature & emphasise their spiritual connection with nature
(e.g. New Age Movement)
Indigenous Philosophies & Knowledge
• Inter-relationships between different env systems and
appreciation of processes central - “an appreciation of the
whole”
• Now recognised as having great env management
potential - offer insights lost due to the split between
academic disciplines and the search for ‘objective’
scientific facts
• Indigenous Technical Knowledge
now widely recognised used
but even romanticised
Conceptual Basis
• Global citizenship - a community that is both
knowledgeable and has the tools to alter societies and
economies towards greater sustainability
• Becoming a powerful message in West - driven partly by
the ‘Global Problem, Local Action’ ethos
• Interconnectedness of human and environment systems see
– Marten (2002) Human Ecology, Chapter 1 & 9
– O’Riordan (2000) Env Sci for Env Man, Chapter 1 & 2
• Read Marten (2000) Chpt 9 provided & outline the main
human – environment beliefs of main religions
Example Exam Essay Question
• Use Reading exercise to draft an answer to
following Q from 2001 Exam (& others!?) –
• Discuss the ways in which different cultural
and religious traditions influence people's
understanding of the environment
Environmental Science &
Interdisciplinarity
Environmental Science &
Interdisciplinarity
• “Modern environmental science is increasingly
interdisciplinary, preparing people for global citizenship &
training them to be flexible yet competent analysts &
decision-makers” O’Riordan, 2000; p.12
• Raises many difficult Q’s – e.g. How do we value
resources? E.g. biodiversity loss, soil nutrients, air quality?
• “Interdisciplinarity involves a combination of knowledge &
feeling, of measurement & judgement, of information &
ethics, of explanation & participation …. It starts from the
premise that there is no distinction between a natural system
and human interpretation of that system” O’Riordan, 2000;
p.15.
Problems in Adopting
Interdisciplinarity
• Modern scientific tradition does not share its culture with
other cultures of knowing & understanding
• Career advancement in science accelerated if peer review
accepts research & use of scientific method
• Multiple authorship difficult & not held in as high status as
individual publication
• Hard to extend beyond boundaries of single-discipline
departments within University system
• Few truly interdisciplinary training programmes or degrees
Key Readings
• Marten, G.G. (2000) Human Ecology: Basic Concepts for
Sustainable Development. Earthscan, London. Chapter 9
(provided).
• Pepper, D. (1996) Modern Environmentalism: An
introduction. Routledge, London. Section 3.3 – 3.4.
• O’Riordan, T. (2000) Environmental Science for
Environmental Management. Chapters 1 and 2.
• Strong, M. (2000) Where on Earth are we going? Chapter 1.