September 21, 2019

Abstract

This paper posits that global stability and peace cannot be achieved as long as environmental, societal and economic imbalances exit, and suggests that a primary means of creating a more secure and harmonious relationship with the earth and all its inhabitants is the study and practice of ecojustice.  A newly emerging and rapidly developing field, ecojustice is both a philosophy and a science.  It examines the core cosmological and cultural beliefs that underlie the inequality and injustice we see perpetrated against nature, women, certain ethnic groups and the poor, as well as delineating specific pedagogical methodology to change them.  It first defines the problems that have been created from the injustices of anthropocentrism, androcentrism, classism, racism and globalism, and suggests that the solution is the radical transformation of our education system.  To create a world in humans live in harmony and balance with their environment and each other, we must create an educational system which changes the belief of human supremacy, carefully examines and roots out gender, racial and class biases and discrimination, honors and strengthens each student’s unique cultural heritage and empowers students to think critically and act effectively to create justice.

Introduction

We all long to live in a peaceful world, yet we see more and more evidence of conflict and warfare throughout the world.  Looking closely at geopolitical events, it seems increasing likely that conflict and war could escalate to become a serious global threat in the near future.  It is also clear that one of the primary causes of conflict and war is environmental, societal and economic injustice; conversely, creating greater balance and equality in these arenas are the most important elements of establishing and maintaining a peaceful world.

One thing is clear: separating peacebuilding from the promotion of justice                         undermines both. As Louise Arbour, former president and CEO of International                  Crisis Group, has pointed out, peace and justice are interdependent. The real                challenge is how   to reconcile the inevitable tensions between them.

               Will Bennett and Thomas Wheeler, The Guardian [i]

The root causes of injustice have been given much greater scrutiny by sociologists, psychologists and educators and have emerged into a new field of study, called ecojustice.  What, exactly, is ecojustice, and how might the application of its principles create a more peaceful world?

Ecojustice

Eco-justice seeks to address ecological, societal and economic imbalances through a careful examination of anthropocentrism (the belief that humans are the central or most important form of life), androcentrism (the belief, conscious or unconscious, that men are the stronger and superior gender) classism (the belief that the upper class are inherently deserving of more wealth and power) , racism (the belief that certain ethnic groups are superior to others) and globalism (the belief that homogeneity is better than diversity).  Because people are hyper-separated from nature, they feel no remorse nor regret when nature is threatened and denigrated.  Because men are acculturated into believing they are superior, it seems natural to treat women unequally.  Because social hierarchy is taken as the norm, we have vastly different social classes, with vastly different rights and privileges.  Because people learn from their culture that other ethnic groups are “the other,” it becomes easy to demonize and discriminate against them.  Finally, because the world is becoming increasingly homogeneous, and ancient and unique cultural foundations are crumbling, diversity suffers.  As we know from the study of ecology and biodiversity, diverse ecosystem are the richest and most healthy ecosystems.  Obviously, these factors are all interrelated, and until we address each one comprehensively, we cannot achieve environmental, societal and economic balance and equality.  Which is the objective of ecojustice.[ii]

For the most part, humans have been unconcerned with earth and its inhabitants – plants and animals, oceans, wilderness areas, and other parts of the biosphere, except as resources to be exploited.  In general, that which is non-human is viewed mainly as raw material for human uses, largely or completely without moral standing.  Most people don’t even consciously question humans’ supremacy, and therefore don’t question our right to do what we please with the earth, its resources and creatures.  It seems a bit odd even to pose the question: “You mean nature – ecosystems, plants and animals – have rights?”  We don’t question that to create the new mall that people are so eager to see built, perhaps an entire ecosystem, with all its life forms, will be annihilated.  Of course, as we learn more about the way that life works on earth, we learn that we are indeed dependent on those very life forms we are destroying, thus we are threatening our own survival.

We also learn that when we discriminate against the other gender, people of different social status or ethnicity, we harm not only them but ourselves.  Again, we come to the principle of biodiversity: diverse systems are the heartiest and most resilient; the same applies to our human systems.  As people and societies are balanced and equal, they are whole and healthy.  Therefore, if we want to be whole and healthy, we must find the ways to root out our false beliefs and prejudices and to replace them with the values of equality and justice.

Justice

But what, exactly, is justice?  There are many definitions, but mine is a condition in which people meet their needs in a way that not only does not prevent other sentient beings from meeting theirs, but, perhaps, even enhances their chances of doing so.  This includes animals and plants.  Wait a minute, you might be thinking, I can agree that animals are sentient; the research abundantly confirms this.  But plants?  Indeed, according to Candice Gaukel Andrews, there is a growing body of research that shows plants’ inherent intelligence.  She describes the work of Italian botanist Stefano Mancuso, a University of Florence professor and plant neurobiology pioneer, who has found that “every plant root tip has a tiny region that functions as the locus of electrical signals—the same signals found in human neurons.  These signals allow plants to exchange information – to communicate – with each other and their environment.”[iii]

What are our fundamental needs?  The most commonly used measure of human needs is Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs; depicting the order of our needs in the form of a triangle.  The most basic needs, physiological, food, water, warmth and rest, form the base of the triangle.  Then come safety and security, belongingness and love, esteem, and, at the top of the triangle, self-actualization needs.[iv]  Do all people have the resources to meet these needs?  One would think, nearly twenty years into the 21^st century, with our sophisticated technology, that they do.  Yet, according to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals statement, 40% of the world’s population does not have access to safe, clean water.  One of every ten people around the world experience chronic hunger.[v] Moreover, data from The State of Global Air 2018 report show that 95% percent of the world’s population lives in regions with unhealthy levels of air pollution.[vi]  Maslow believed that only 1% of the people achieve self-actualization; other studies suggest approximately 2%.  But all agree that higher-level needs cannot be met until the lower, physiological needs are.

The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights describes four fundamental human rights: dignity, liberty, equality and brother(sister)hood.[vii]  Dignity: being worthy of honor or respect; liberty: being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one’s way of life, behavior, or political views; equality, being equal, especially in status, rights, and opportunities and brother(sister)hood, fellowship, an alliance, feeling of friendship and understanding between and support of one another.  Yet again, how can someone who has insufficient clean water or air, or who experiences chronic hunger, have dignity, liberty, equality or brother(sister)hood?

The Global Warming Glitch

Justice is assuring that everyone has these rights met; however, justice could be of much less concern when faced with the existential crisis of global warming looming over us.  Few of us need more gloomy details about the devastating effects that increased global warming will bring, but it is important to grit our teeth and face the reality: we have less than twelve years to deal with the biggest problem humanity has ever faced, or it will be too late.  The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a report in 2018 stating that “countries would have to cut their anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions, such as from power plants and vehicles, to net zero by around 2050. To reach that goal, it said, CO2 emissions would have to start dropping “well before 2030” and be on a path to fall by about 45 percent by around 2030.”[viii]  The irony is that injustice lies at the center of this conundrum: the countries that contributed the least to the problem will be most negatively affected by it.  The Climate Vulnerable Forum, organized to bring attention to the plight of the 48 countries most susceptible to the effects of climate change, states that most are underdeveloped, without the resources to either protect against or respond to the effects of climate change.[ix]

Climate change will not only bring about unprecedented levels of environmental, societal and economic devastation, it will result in heightened tensions and conflict between people, cultures and nations.  As regions are negatively affected by increased temperatures, more intense fires and storms, draughts, crop reduction and interruption of most forms of transportation, there will be increased competition for dwindling resources, massive refugee flows and global instability, all of which have historically been primary causes of conflict and warfare between states.

The solution: education

The solution is simple, yet enormously difficult: work diligently to create justice.  The challenge lies in the entrenched beliefs and attitudes that allow injustice to prevail.  Far too often, those who have the most believe that they are somehow divinely disposed to possess such disproportionate wealth, and those with the least that they are inevitably and irrevocably stuck in their low stations in life.  Changing beliefs occurs through education; as facts are revealed, misinformation is replaced by truth.  Therefore, education is the key; but true education, not the system in place now, which, for the most part, only reinforces the injustice.  In our current education system, the fundamental beliefs, assumptions and actions which perpetuate injustice are rarely questioned.  Ecojustice education does; its core mission is to develop a consciousness of the necessity of and ability to change the beliefs that cause environmental, societal and economic injustice.  It challenges the idea of human supremacy which prompts the thoughtless destruction of nature.  It carefully examines and roots out gender, racial and class biases and discrimination which traumatizes and stymies so many.  It honors and strengthens each student’s unique cultural heritage.  And it does so by empowering students to think critically, challenge authority, communicate and collaborate effectively and to create their own educational and vocational paths and to effectively act to change injustice whenever they identify it.

We need to educate to empower people to recognize not only their own inherent worth, but how their worth is inextricably interwoven with the worth of the earth and all its creatures.  We need education that allows students to recognize and internalize that as equality is their birthright, it is also the birthright of all sentient beings.  Yes, these are skills which can be taught and developed.  What is the use of educating people to fit in and contribute to a world that is clearly dysfunctional and terminal?  As one of my spiritual mentors, Krishna Murti, is quoted as saying, “It is no measure of health to be well-adjusted in a profoundly sick society.”[i]

 

References

[1] Justice and peace go hand in hand – you can’t have one without the other, The Guardian, Oct 26, 2015, https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/oct/26/justice-peace-conflict-affected-societies

[1] EcoJustice Education: Toward Diverse, Democratic, and Sustainable Communities, Edmundson, J., Lupinacci, J., and Martusewicz, R., Routledge, New York 2015

[1] Research Shows Plants Are Sentient. Will We Act Accordingly?, Andrews, C., Nathab.com, April 7, 2015, https://www.nathab.com/blog/research-shows-plants-are-sentient-will-we-act-accordingly/

[1] Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Simple Psychology, McLeod, S., 2018, https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html

[1] United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/

[1] A Vast Majority of the World’s Population Breathes Unsafe Air, The Scientist, April 17, 2017, https://www.the-scientist.com/the-nutshell/a-vast-majority-of-the-worlds-population-breathes-unsafe-air-30861

[1] United Nations, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, https://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/

[1] What Does ’12 Years to Act on Climate Change’ (Now 11 Years) Really Mean?, InsideClimateNews.org, Aug 27, 2019, https://insideclimatenews.org/news/27082019/12-years-climate-change-explained-ipcc-science-solutions

[1] The countries most vulnerable to climate change are leading the way. Here’s how: The zero-emission Climate Vulnerable Forum Virtual Summit, convened by the Marshall Islands, will inject new urgency to stay below 1.5˚C ahead of the UN climate talks, 350.org, Nov 19, 2018, https://350.org/how-the-countries-most-vulnerable-to-climate-change-are-leading-the-way/

[1] Brainyquote.com, https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/jiddu_krishnamurti_107856