The past few weeks of Environmental Theory have been spent going over the “classic” environmental literature that has helped to shape the field and lead it to where it is today. It was kind of a refresher for some, and an introduction for others, into the Big Books (and Articles) by Environmentalists with the old favorites like Bill McKibben’s End of Nature, Aldo Leopold’s A Sand County Almanac, Paul Ehrlich’s The Population Bomb and may other cult classics (by the way, where are all the women and minorities?!).
Winding through the old theories of great environmentalists was fun, but not as fun poking holes in their arguments and giggling at some of their theories. Wendell Berry wrote in The Unsettling of America that we had to abandon technology and head for the hills. David Orr argued in Ecological Literacy that students need more post-modern educations without really knowing what post-modern means. Ehrlich suggested that the solution to the growing population was to either halt growth rates or increase death rates. He even included a little letter to readers so that they could write directly to their respective Senatorial or Congressional representative. How convenient!
All joking aside, much of the above authors’ works proposed some insightful and innovative ideas and what I really got out of the reviews was how far we have come and how much farther we have to go. The theories and frameworks that were once revolutionary and progressive are now, more often than not, considered crazy and passé. That exactly does not mean that these ideas should be completely discounted. For every few silly, reductionist or nearsighted ideas that were floated, there were a few that still shine bright. The warnings by the authors of Limits to Growth. The idea in Uncommon Ground Proctor puts forth that different constructions of nature are associated with different cultures. And even those duds tell us a lot about where we were coming from as a society and help us to see how to move forward.
There is still much more progress to be made and I think studying environmental theory is a step in the right direction. But only time will tell.
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