CULTURE AND SUSTAINABILITY
I am certain that each one of you have heard and read about the climate crisis, and now EMERGENCY, and how we, humans, face an existential threat due to it. Less than two weeks ago the headlines in the most important news outlets carried the Cop26,the Glasgow Climate Change Conference (October 31-November 13) called by the UN. This conference reached consensus on key actions to address climate change. (Please take a look at those key actions and other details here:https://unfccc.int/conference/glasgow-climate-change-conference-october-november-2021).
That is why it is very important that you take good notes from this chapter so you can make up your minds regarding this challenge if you care about our children’s future. From the Anthropology field, and for several decades now, many anthropologists (included Sidney Mintz) have highlighted the necessity to change current humans ways to produce, consume and exchange to curve the risk of extinction.
In chapter 13 of “Perspectives…”Christian T. Palmer explores the concept of culture and sustainability from an anthropological perspective. He explains the relationship of anthropology and theAnthropocenedefined as “the period in geological time in which the effects of human activities have altered the fundamental geochemical cycles of the earth as a result of converting forests into fields and pastures and burning oil, gas, and coal on a large scale”. Here I would like you to remember insights from previous chapters and concepts such as monoculture, industrial agriculture, colonization, “development”, etc. Please remember that humanity spent thousands of years asforagers(the longest mode of livelihood in history) that had no negative impact on the environment.
I assume that you are aware of the tremendous impact of human activity that has resulted in the earth and atmosphere permanent altered.
Palmer explains the relationship of humans and their environment at the beginning when thehomininspecies started walking upright, which (remember Great Human Odyssey and Perspectives) allowed them to use tools. He also reminds us the effects of agriculture, from about 10,000 years ago as one of the most dramatic ways humans interacted and altered their environment. Humans began shaping the landscape by first, farming wild plants to grow and later by planting and cultivating crops and domesticating and feeding on animals. While seemly benign by today’s standards, these practices launched humans towards our current difficult relationship with our environment.Marshall Sahlins
who argues that agriculture not only was the beginning of social inequalities (accumulation of wealth through surpluses) but it is a big factor in the environmental collapse of several societies. Heencourages us to think about our“progress”and how the things that we consider “necessities” are actually socially constructed. “The impacts of climate change from our dependence on fossil fuel, toxic byproducts from expanding chemical industries, and pollution of land, soil and water from industrialized agriculture are a significant challenge to a vision of human history in which we expect things to get better and better”.
Palmer outlines the several early anthropologists to think about the environment, includingJulian Steward, “[who] first used the termcultural ecologyto describe how cultures use and understand their environments. Steward studied theShoshone peoplewho resided in the Great Basin between the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountain ranges in the US.He studied their hunting and gathering subsistence economy and “their detailed knowledge of various microclimates and seasonal variations in resource availability structured their migration patterns, and cultural belief systems”. But the European colonizers deemed them and other real native populations of the US as “savages” and their beliefs and practices as “pagans”, ignorant, and the “burden” of the white man, ignoring their knowledge of the environment and their management.Leslie Whitealso studied the Shoshone people and notedhow they culturally adapted to ecological variations.Other anthropologists built on White’s work and noted how other cultures adapted and self-regulated to ecological changes.
The chapter sheds light on studies about different societies and approaches to the environment and strategies subsistence. For example, the Hindu religious belief about sacred cows. InMarvin Harris’sanalysis of Indian society states, “that cows were sacred not because of cultural beliefs; instead, the cultural beliefs existed because of the economic and ecological importance of the cows India” and underscores the importance of cows for labor, milk production and fertilizer, and asserts that cows were made sacred in India for ecological and economic purposes.
NOTE: WATCH THE FOLLOWING SHORT TED TALK BY MARK PLOTKIN AND WRITE BRIEFLY (ONE PARAGRAPH) ABOUT THE ASPECT OF THE TALK THAT IMPRESSED YOU THE MOST AT THE END OF YOUR RESPONSES TO THE DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
https://www.ted.com/talks/mark_plotkin_what_the_people_of_the_amazon_know_that_you_don_t?language=en#t-217199
Questions:
- Identify the methods and theories anthropologists use to examine human interactions with the environment.
- Define political ecology and explain its relationship to anthropology.
- Describe the Anthropocene and discuss how anthropology contributes to understanding the human role in environmental destruction.
- Explain how anthropology contributes to public discussions and the creation of public policy with lawmakers, activists, corporations, and others regarding major environmental challenges.
- Reaction to Plotkin'sTED Talk.
I encourage you to take a look at least to theCop26’s consensus onkey actions to address climate changeby the Glasgow Climate Change Conference (October 31-November 13) called by the UN. here:https://unfccc.int/conference/glasgow-climate-change-conference-october-november-2021).