Word to the Wise

I attended Carolyn Merchant’s talk on transforming the ethic of control of nature to an environmental ethic of partnership. She described the Scientific Revolution as the turning point away from the perception of nature as Mother, provider, and sustainer towards the notion of nature in bonds, able to be captured and fully understood through the new-found wisdom indebted to science and technology. The controlled scientific experiment enabled the experimenter to posit questions to nature, as if nature can be put on trial with scientists as judges. The goal of the Scientific Revolution thus became the extraction of Earth’s knowledge and inner-workings through the controlled experiment and technological underpinnings. Philosophers and scientists of the time, such as Bacon and Newton, assumed a mechanistic view of nature; once seen as organic and active, nature was now taken as inert and that of a machine, able to be controlled and dominated. This marked the inception of what would become a centuries-long conversion of forests, deserts, and marshes to pasture lands; of foraging a new reliance on inorganic energy sources; of human expansion and pollution; of species extinctions; and of the collapse of ecosystems all in the name of man to “recover control that is his through divine bequest” (Newton, Novum Organum).

Next she traced the challenges to this mechanized view of nature, from Ernst Haeckel’s introduction of ecology, to Einstein’s Chaos Theory, to the conservation and environmental movements. At this juncture she proposed her vision of an ethic of partnership with nature, craft through an alliance with the Earth to bring equity between human and non-human communities. Whereas our society’s inherited ethic of control of nature is wrought through human domination over the environment, partnership is based upon relation and conceiving the Earth as a respected agent and partner of humans. Moreover, her proposed testament has both utilitarian and ecological undertones along with espousing moral consideration for both humans and other species, respect for cultural- and bio-diversity, and a method that includes women, minorities, and non-human actors.

Merchant’s speech correlated well with my own considerations of and engagement with the Earth, although it left me feeling somewhat hallow, knowing well that it is one thing to philosophize and expound upon ideals and an entirely different thing for those ideals to be implemented society-wide.

We have learned throughout this semester both historic and modern renderings of what “nature” is, our relationship with this concept, and the ways in which various mediums influence how we think of and position ourselves with the natural world. This analysis serves well in the arena of rhetorical critique and as a focal point around which to develop and perfect the art of argument and essay writing. For me, though, this theoretical realm of books and “knowledge” is not enough; I know that environmental liberation and justice is an activity above all else and requires concerted effort on an everyday basis, from the choices I make as a consumer, to the principles and parties for whom I vote, to the bike I ride, to the recycle and compost bins I fill, and to the professional aspirations I am currently pursuing here at Cal.

I am an economics and environmental studies major. Current markets attach a price to resources while there is no monetary value associated with the environment. There is something conceptually flawed with this disparity, and I consider this to be an extension and reinforcement of the control of nature of which Merchant describes. I argue that as responsible members of our society and of the Earth it is imperative to take a more critical look at the various ways we value the environment. Through this understanding, it is my personal prerogative to encourage and help mobilize economics of sustainability. My way is not The way, however, and it is up for each of us to decide how, what, and where we want our education to take us along with the moral character to which we ascribe.

Just as Food Inc. left us with the message of using our consumer privilege to make conscientious food choices in order to advance the food industry towards more sustainable, healthy practices, so too do I encourage all of you to make it a daily endeavor of making environmentally respectful decisions and to treat the nature that surrounds you with an ethic of partnership: to treat the Earth as part and parcel of our own kin.