The life of each and every being in the world is very valuable and at the same time nature is a treasure house for all beings and because of this reason no one has the right to diminish the richness of nature. Eco feminism, pluralism and environmental pragmatism are some of the concepts governing environmental protection.
The word ‘Ecofeminism’ was formed as a result of a socio-economical and political movement , fighting for women’s rights, arguing its co-similarity with nature that both are in need of protection. It states that woman and nature are interrelated because from the historical period the main role of women is to provide the need of men, same as the role of nature is to provide the basic need of the people. Women have no freedom to do anything and they have to depend on men for everything. Men are not giving any importance or consideration for women’s thoughts and needs. Just like that, people are not maintaining and giving importance to the environment and they just fulfill their requirements from nature. This similarity between woman and nature makes them interrelated and if this demolition of nature and women is not controlled it will lead to environmental destruction. So, the feminists have preferred various policies against this destruction. Some of the principles of ecofeminism are.
- “The oppression of women and the domination of nature are fundamentally connected.
- This is because patriarchal dualism places women and the concept ‘Nature’ in the same classification, which is deemed to be of less worth than the ‘Culture/Masculine’ classification.
- Therefore, any process that makes humanity more ecologically aware must also overcome the oppression of women.” (Ecofeminism critique, n.d.).
All these policies are followed for the social welfare, that is, mainly for the liberty of women and nature which is the straight action against environmental degradation.
“In environmental ethics, pluralism offers the hope of reconciling various rival theories, even if none of them is universally applicable.” (Brennan, 1992, para.1).
Pluralism is the sensible approach towards the protection of the environment in which all their theories are not relevant. The environment can get destroyed due to various reasons. Some of the destruction, like flood and earthquakes, cannot be predicted and avoided. In such cases, some pluralistic theories become inapplicable.
Some of the policies of pluralism are:
- Priority is given for maintaining the natural resources and ecological policies.
- Pluralism theory gives much importance on identifying the cause of natural distresses.
- Pluralist theories is a significant confront in the direction of conservative pluralist consideration and the performance for the environmental movement.
“Environmental pragmatism is a new strategy in environmental thought; it argues that theoretical debates are hindering the ability of the environmental movement to forge agreement on basic policy imperatives.” (Light & Katz, 1996, Synopsis, para.1). Now-a-days one can see that the meddling of human beings over the non-human world has increased a lot and this results in the destruction of nature. As the world becomes so busy it is the nature that happens to be the victim of this busy world as each and every individual are ill treating the nature with their misbehavior. So, in order to protect the environment from destruction, the environmental pragmatism has emerged which is the realistic and sensible approach against the environmental destruction due to pollution, population explosion, global climate variations etc. Various approaches are adopted for the protection of nature before pollution affects the environment. It mainly focuses to reduce the environmental destruction through various policies of environmental pragmatism.
Environmental Issues
Many prominent researchers and philosophers have conducted much research and in-depth study on environmental ethics, yet we are facing a lot of unanswered questions. On the good side, the study has made tremendous progress in the field of studying, analyzing and recognizing the moral relationship between humans and the non-human natural world, deriving theories morally justifiable for sufficient environmental policies. But, at the same time, it is impossible to see a practical effect the environmental ethics has with environmental policies. There is a very deep concern over the dangerous state of the natural world and the environmental threat to humans, for a long time survival in this planet. An environmental crisis is surrounding the world, thus demanding a clear and proper resolution for that crisis. It is utmost necessary to have a basic knowledge of the methods of pragmatism to have a proper understanding of the relationship of humans with the natural world.
Eco-feminism is deeply interconnected with ecology. It has roots in the social change movements for more than forty years. Placing eco-feminism and environmentalism side by side, the eco-feminist theory is positioned in such a way that they undertake to have a wholesome analysis of these issues in both their human and natural context. Eco-feminists have connected the oppression of women with that of nature, studying the world economics, the third world debt, underdevelopment, food production and distribution, reproductive rights (mainly), militarism and environmental racism. In terms of labor, there shows a stark discrimination, especially and significantly in terms of wages. “Marilyn Waring has observed that the water rural women carry from the well to their homes has no cash value, but the water carried through pipes has value.” (Light & Rolston, 2003, p.280).
An understanding of the connection between society, environment and the economy will attribute significantly in arriving at meaningful interpretations of the global critical problems of environmental issues faced around the modern world today. Major environmental decisions depend on the mutual decisions that humans make in respect to the environment. There are unaccountable values found in nature and these interact in various ways with other values and interests that we, the humans, possess. It is the forests that provide people with food and fuel. More than one billion people around the world lack access to safe drinking water. Hunger and food security are the global problems today, triggered bombastically by over-population. Economic, deforestation, and political causes are the wholly unsuitable and insoluble matters pertaining to environmental degradation and economic destruction. Another issue is the problem of the third world women – they are another form of racism, sexism and victim-blaming. After a lot of philosophizing, research and derivation, the socio-economic factory produced economic security, increased literacy rates, better education and healthcare, and provided plenty of jobs for women around the world.
Responsibility towards environment
There is now in world society, a nation-wide involvement in the environmental realm. Whatever environmental protection is strived around the world, laws and problems seem to flout it. Humans have transformed their natural environment to a much greater extent. The domestication of plants and animals is a major transformation in nature brought about by human actions. Man’s action brought about by changing courses of nature by cutting down trees and draining of lakes and marshes, all in the name of industrial or worldly purposes, is changing the basic laws of ecology – everything is connected to everything else, so that one cannot change just one thing in nature. Man’s enjoyments as well as necessities for animals are also a main cause for change in the animal kingdom and his destructive drive is still greater. They are used in the field of sports encouraging the younger generation in sports. A farmer poisons fowl pecking away at his soil or a cow entering into his field; but nature balances – he finds his crops destroyed by grubs; showing man cannot foul with the laws of nature. Human impact on the natural environment is the cause of environmental degradation, pollution and desertification. Man’s power to manipulate things and accumulate knowledge enables him to overcome barriers of the seas, mountains, temperatures and aridity and space, restricting other species. Humans began to use whatever limited sources were available to him. Tools, fire, clothing, he used all this for his and his environmental existence, unlike nature, retaining its primary characteristic. Not only is humankind changing the state of the earth, as forest cover, but in the process, he is also changing the fundamental flows of chemical and energy, that sustain life on this only living planet that we know.
Certain principles of environmental pragmatism help in protecting the environment from pollution and other environmental devastation. They are:
- Focus on maintaining the environment hygienic slightly than cleaning the dirty or polluted nature.
- People should use limited amount of natural resource without any wastage for their better future.
- The cost needed to maintain the environment clean and pollution free should be the minimum.
- Before taking any action against environmental issues, all information regarding that matter must be collected. Then only the appropriate decision can be taken; otherwise it will be a waste or great loss.
Reference
Brennan, A. (1992). Moral pluralism and the environment. Environmental Values, 1, 15-33. doi: 10.3197/096327192776680188.
Ecofeminism critique. (n.d.). The Green Fuse Topics. 2009. Web.
Light, A., & Katz, E. (1996). Environmental pragmatism: Synopsis. Barnes & Noble. 2009. Web.
Light, A., & Rolston, H. (2003). Environmental ethics: An anthology. Wiley-Blackwell.