By Aidan Mackie and Matt Stevenson An Introduction to Modernism All that is the modern western world is due to modernism. The continued belief in the ability to develop and advance technology so that future generations are better off has shaped this world, inspiring the ancient human desire to understand what is objective truth by […]
Team Assignments
Making Modern Fossils
THE ANTHROPOCENE by J. Riedal, M. Fries, & C. Woolums Its meaning. Environmentalism has typically used historical data, such as fossil records and atmospheric gas concentrations, to back up claims that human activity is largely involved with the changing climate and extinction rates. Geologic time is typified by similar fossils and conditions found in rock […]
The Future Cohesion: Symbiosis with the Pure
Julia Chavez Trini Susuico Rachel Applebaum Ashley Aguiar Definition The word hybrid is used throughout history to refer to animal and plant half-breeds. It also has meaning in the Greek word hubris to mean an “outrage against nature” rooted in historical beliefs from the Old Testament that breeding between animals was “an immoral perversion”. From Shakespeare onward, […]
Neoliberalism
Neoliberalism Definition: Neoliberalism is the transfer of power (social, economic, etc.) from the public sector to the private sector. It sees competition as the defining characteristic of human behavior, maintaining a market economy. Context: Some people argue that neoliberalism is an entirely new concept that arose around the time of the most recent economic depression […]
Reductionism: Can the Part Represent the Whole?
By: Sophie Henry, Max Lorenze, Anna Tobin, and Summer Watkins, Definition Reductionism is the thinking that an idea, field of study, or specific issue can be broken down into smaller parts which are then looked at as depicting or describing the idea as a whole (Haverford College Introductory Psychology Fall, 2015). That is a general […]
Ecospirituality: Finding Meaning Beneath our Feet
Ecospirituality Morgan Griffith & Rob Nakihei Define: Ecospirituality is essentially a movement as well as a belief system that connects humans to the earth. This could mean people wanting to escape a consumerist and materialistic culture and return to more holistic morals and values that are less artificial and shallow (Wikipedia). It is a belief […]
Stepping Towards Change: Incrementalism in Environmental and Public Policy
By: Jesse Milman, Sofi Ronning, Curtis Hall, Kurt Barbara Definition Method of working by adding to a project using small incremental changes instead of a few large jumps (Wikipedia). This is incredibly relevant to the ideas of environmentalism, where small, incremental changes to things such as wind turbines, where the designs (especially in Denmark) were […]
Biologism: Exclusively Using Genetics to Analyze Human Behavior
Context Biologism is “the belief that genetic contributions to phenotypes are exclusively or at least much more important than the contributions of other factors such as epigenetic and environmental ones, even in the case of complex traits such as behavior and personality” (Carver et al, 2017). To simplify, an individual’s characteristics are solely attributed to […]
Cosmopolitan: The Whole World in Their Hands
Definition Throughout the years, one of the biggest issues in acting against climate change is the disagreement among countries on what climate change is and how to go about solving the issue. One way to get around this issue is to abort the nationalistic view of today’s society and exchange it for a cosmopolitan […]
Let’s Get Critical About Ecocriticism
By: Shoshana Rybeck, Heather Shaw, Berkly Martell Definition The term ecocriticism can have a very simple definition, but when looked at more deeply is a lot harder to define. The simple definition is the study of the relationship between certain conceptions of nature, physical environment and literature. There are two defined movements in ecocriticism, referred […]
That Intense Feeling: Intensification
By Jack Kamysz and Henry Chapman Definition An intensification is an increase in strength or magnitude (or intensity) of something. This is a descriptive ism that can be used to describe many things such as movements, actions or even other isms. For example, agriculture intensification is an increase in productivity. Intensification of war is […]
Wildness: No Humans Allowed
By: Jon Hosch and Evan Howell Definition The concept of wildness is deeply rooted in notions of pure nature with “sacred connotations to some [individuals]” (Proctor). It has many very broad uses in environmental scholarship and tends to be a major driving force in activism as well as societal change (Zahniser 1964). The concept of […]
Environmental Idealism: Should We Value it as Much as It Values Us?
Definition Idealism is a broad term that can become easily convoluted, and is applied to many religions, philosophies, and theologies. Idealism will be defined in the context of environmentalism for the remainder of this text. It is defined in this context as an over-emphasis on values as a form of solution to environmental issues like […]
With the Eyes of Many: Deep Ecology
Faith Michal, Cassie Kent, and Julia Neish *Our definition of nature is taken from the Oxford Dictionary definition, being “the phenomena of the physical world collectively, including plants, animals, the landscape, and other features and products of the earth, as opposed to humans or human creations.” Definition Deep ecology, defined by Encyclopedia Britannica, […]
Apocalypticism: The End of the World as We Know It
Raya Deussen, Tash Hood and Liv Zellweger Definition Environmentalists are in general agreement in calling for the protection of the natural world both those whose ideals about the environment are anthropocentric and those whose thinking is bio centric. The origins of apocalypticism can be identified in various religious movements-with their notions of imminent destruction and […]
Conservatism: Make the Environment Great Again
Ireland Flannery, Ellen Richards, Kyle Mezrahi, and Jaime Monsher Introduction Conservatism is an ideology that looks at the past as a foundation for approaching present issues. Conservatism is used in a variety of contexts, such as political and social philosophy. In the context of environmentalism, conservatism, “an orientation toward the past[,] is an understandable response […]
Ecomodernism: A Realistic Solution?
By Justin Wilson, Gabriel Commisaris, Jessie McDermott-Hughes, and Shawn Bolker Definition Ecomodernism is the notion that humans can use technological innovation to lessen our impacts on global ecosystems. The environmental philosophy of ecomodernism openly embraces substituting ecological services with clean energy, technology and synthetic solutions. Ecomodernists also embrace increased agriculture, genetically modified foods, urbanization, low […]
Agrarians: Experts in Their Field
This post was written by Kiaora Motson, Hannah Schandelmeier-Lynch, Grace Boyd and Emma Hay. Definition Agrarianism is a philosophy and movement aimed at reconstructing an agrarian-based society to preserve individual freedom and cultivate a strong skepticism of urbanized technology. Although agrarianism encompasses many types of people, most fall under two main categories: romantics and rationalists. Rationalists “celebrate […]
Think Globally, Act Locally?
What is Localism? By Tallie Steiner, Kat Chester, Eden Smith “Think globally act locally” is a phrase one will often hear said by environmentalists. But what does acting locally mean? Localism, as defined by Professor Jim Proctor, is “The notion that local scales of production and consumption are best. Opposite of globalism or cosmopolitanism” (Proctor […]
Postnaturalism: Throw Purity in the Bourgeois Recycling Bin
By Ada Barbee, Allie Osgood, and Hannah Machiorlete POSTNATURALISM Post-naturalism is the concept that humans alter the evolutionary and ecological trajectory of biotic and abiotic processes of the planet. It’s a term used to critique the notion of pure nature separate from the artificial, human world. The main assertion is that humans alter their natural […]
Romanticists: Their Heads in the Clouds
By Molly Sheridan, Paige Barta and Leela Hornbach Romanticism Introduction Romanticism emphasizes emotion and individualism, while it also glorifies nature in the past. In this context the word nature refers to all biological systems excluding those with any human caused modification. For romanticists, nature also entails all thought that separates human engineered processes form natural […]
Ecofeminism: We Can Do It
By Ethan Kelner, Rylie Neely, Alex Preso, and Hannah Van Dusen In this post, we use the word, “nature,” often, and in aiming to make our post as clear as possible, we wanted to address this by defining exactly what we mean when we use this word. Within the context of our post, the word […]
With Liberty and Environmental Justice For All?
“We are not saying, ‘Take the poisons out of our community and put them in a white community.’ We are saying that no community should have these poisons” ( Foreman, 1998) Group Members: Juliana Prendergast , Natalie Casson, Ivy Denham-Conroy Definition Environmental justice (EJ) has a few different definitions which explain the […]
Moving Forward with Ecological Modernization
By Sabrina Cerquera and Thea Crowley Definition/ Relevance Over the years many environmental movements have gained spotlight and popularity in the field of environmentalism, amongst the many classical and progressive theories stands the Ecological Modernization theory. As we aim for a more environmentally conscious future, ecological modernization stands as a theory that support the idea of […]
Beware the Elves
INTRODUCTION “The stated position of extremist groups such as the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) and the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) is that human beings are never targeted or harmed.” (Liddick 2006). Ecoterrorism is defined by the FBI as “the use or threatened use of violence of a criminal nature against innocent victims or property by […]