Societal Norms & Environment Perspectives

1. 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

2. 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?

3. 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.

4. The Earth Charter (2000)

5. 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”

6. The Earth Charter (2000) cont. • See - http://www.earthcharter.org/ • Four first-order principles – • 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!?

7. 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?

8. 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.

9. 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!

10. How do people think about the environment? O’Riordan, 2000

11. 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!

12. 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”

13. 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 • 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”

14. 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

15. 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)

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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)

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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

22. Environmental Science & Interdisciplinarity

23. 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.

24. 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

25. 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.