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

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?

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.

The Earth Charter (2000)

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”

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!?

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?

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.

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!

How do people think about the environment?

O’Riordan, 2000

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!

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”

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”

Societal RulesMany 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

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)

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

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

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)

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

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

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

Environmental Science & Interdisciplinarity

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.

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

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.