Lessons from a Third World Perspective on Environmentalism Essay

Lessons from a Third World Perspective on Environmentalism Possibly more than any of the other articles we gull read so far,Ramachandra Guhas article Radical Environmentalism and WildernessPreservation A Third World Critique made me think. In analyzing theWestern thickheaded bionomics movement, he criticized its focus on preservation ofwild areas. By doing this, he was directly criticizing what I have longthought of as my main mark as an environmentalist. One of the firstthings that turned me on to environmental issues when I was younger was myhorror at the soaring rate of rainforest destruction so dramatic anyyportrayed to us in 9th grade biology class. Since then, by following abiology track through college, my focus has been on bionomical goals suchas the preservation of biodiversity. The study of ecology has served me asa way to understand wilderness so I might be satisfactory to help protect it orrestore it. My patterns of thought are often not far off from those ofDaniel J anzen, which Guha quotes in his paper as imperialist glowing ofWestern biologists and their financial sponsors to claim land in ThirdWorld countries for protection by ecologists (Guha 272). He states hisopinion that the radical conclusions drawn by deep ecology, in particular,that intervention in nature should be guided primarily by the need topreserve biotic integrity rather than by the of necessity of humans areunacceptable (271). He also claims that the two fundamental ecologicalproblems facing the globe are (i) overconsumption by the industrializedworld and by urban elites in the Third World and (ii) growingmilitarization (271), whereas the biological perspective would c... ...growth instead of material wealth--The values of caring, cooperation, nurturing and sharing must beencouraged to replace the values of competitiveness, domination andaggression which have characterized our society for so long--polices must reflect the interdependence of all living things and theinterconn etedness of all political and social activity(http//www.greenparty.org.uk/principles/values/htm) The list was impressive. And although the discolour seem more prevalent inEurope than in the U.S. - there is an American Greens party - which hadRalph Nader as their presidential candidate in 1996. Maybe the Greensmovement could help us meet a wide range of environmental and social goalsthrough its philosophy of humility, instead of following deep ecologysbiocentric proposal. I am encouraged to look further into it...