ENVIRONMENTALISM: A GLOBAL HISTORY (PART 1)

ENVIRONMENTALISM: A GLOBAL HISTORY

                                                                                        -RAMCHANDRA GUHA

The 1960’s witnessed a lot of protests-pacifism, civil rights struggle, counter-culture and environmental movements were a part of it while the others either lost out or lost their way. The “Greeen Wave” has only intensified gaining steadily in power, prestige and public appeal.

Guha’s book gives a historical account and analysis of the origins and expressions of environmental concerns of how individuals and institutions have perceived, propogated, and acted upon their experience of environmental decay. Guha argues that environmentalism must be viewed as a ‘social programme’, a charter of action which seeks to protect cherished habitats, protest against their degradation, and prescribe less destructive technologies and lifestyles.

When did the environmental movement begin? In most countries environmentalism seems to have followed a broadly similar pattern – an early period of pioneering and prophecy, culminating in recent decades in a widespread social movement.

Ramchandra guha speaks of environmentalism’s 1^st WAVE: (initial response to industrialism) and 2^nd WAVE: (intellectual response + mass movements)

PART I- ENVIRONMENTALISM’S FIRST WAVE

FIRST WAVE OF ENVIRONMENTALISM: highlights the initial response to the onset of industrialism. This wave proceeded step by step with the Industrial revolution which altered the natural world through new methods of resource, extraction, production, transportation- nature was used and abused. Populations increased and humans produced more and consumed more leading to habitat degradation greater pollution. The pace of environmental destruction accelerated- nature became a source of cheap raw material as well as a sink for dumping unwanted residues of economic growth.

The industrialization of Europe affected rural economy- transformed agriculture through the adoption of capital-intensive market-oriented methods of production. The imperial expansion resulted in the white colonists taking possession of large parts of the globe and re-orienting local economies. Through the 18^th +19^th centuries, the British had become world leaders in deforestation followed by the Dutch, the Portugese, the French, the Belgians, the Germans- all these were the prime agents of Ecological destruction in their colonies. And there was now a perception of an ‘environmental crisis’ as even though the Industrial city was the prime generator of ecological degradation. The burden was felt in the countryside and the colony. Thus we see that the first voices were raised by the residents of countryside. Like other social movements the environmental movement has within its fold a variety of individuals, trends, traditions and ideologies.

1^st Wave explores 3 varieties- each a response to the Industrial society.

1. Moral + Cultural critique of the Industrial Revolution: is expressed in a rich literary tradition, BACK TO LAND. Great Romantic poets like William Wordsworth, who saw only “the darker side of the great change” resulting from the “Industrial Revolution”. The outrage done to nature, by cities+ factories such that common people were no longer breathing “fresh air” or “treading the green earth”. Through his poetry+ philosophy he maintains that even though the village folk were illiterate + inarticulate they were in close touch with nature than the city dweller.

 John Ruskin: Prof. of poetry at oxford focused on the physical consequence of Industrialism. According to him modern man has desacralised nature, viewing it as a source of raw material to be exploited, emptying it of the mystery, wonder + divinity that the pre- modern man saw in the natural world.

Ruskin started a campaign (1876) to prevent the extension of the railroad into Lake District-(tourists would destroy the district). Ruskin built institutions (Guild-St. George) that ran farms + craft shops which stressed self-sufficiency + simplicity. Handicrafts were revived by his disciple William Morris who wanted to turn England from a grimy backyard of a workshop into a Garden.

Edward Carpenter (mathematician, ordained priest gave up the holy orders + a prestigious Cambridge fellowship to move back to land. He set up a commune on a hill above the factory of town of Sheffield offering a union of manual labour + clean air as an alternative to Industrial Civilization. The commune grew its own food, ‘vegetables + baked its own bread’.

          Wordswoth, Ruskin,Carpenter, Moris influenced and inspired the establishment of an array of environmental societies in the late 19^th century that helped set aside forests, wetlands or preserved historic buildings + parks thus saving atleast some parts of England from the contaminatry effects of urban-Industrial civilization.

      By the late 19^th century Germany had surpassed England as a front runner in technological+ Industrial development. Here too poets + writers have been instrumental in campaigning to preserve their rural land and their forests. (Rainer Maria Rilke-190) kept reminding that Germany was a nation of peasants + shepherds, not of factory workers and entrepreneurs, which it was now becoming. According to Rilke, peasants were the backbone of the nation+ forests the repository of German Culture- an inspiration for its poets, artists, musicians. Industrialization was undermining “German-ness”.

     However both in England and Germany the rural romantics were a minority. The two nations clashed in World War 1 which revealed to the world the destructive power of modern technology. After the war there occurred a revival of the agrarian ideal throughout Europe. Even Nazi thinkers emphasized the mystic unity between the peasant, the forest and national spirit.

 In India Mahatma Gandhi was influenced by Edward Carpenters Civilization: “its cause and cure” often considered as a text to the back to land movement. Gandhiji said “The World has enough for everybody’s need, but not for one person’s greed”. His vision for a free India was a rural one as he felt there were natural limits to Industrialization of the whole world. He opposed industrialization of agriculture (modern methods- fertilizer, chemicals- as these would affect the soil and its nutrients). He advocated the use of organic manure.

 Gandhian vision- practical, English vision-romantic and viewed as an act of defiance against Industrialization.

II) Variety: Ideology of Scientific Conservation.

Conservation Internationalism

In May 1864 ‘Man and Nature’: or physical Geography as modified by human action was published- author was a Vermont scholar and diplomat George Perkins Marsh. This booked sparked the first wave of American environmentalism Lewis Mumford remarked “ Marsh’s opus was the fountainhead of the conservation movement. The same year a German Botanist employed by the government of British India was invited to head the newly created Indian Forest Service—Dietrich Brandis. He and Marsh shared a similar concern with the pace of deforestation and a faith in the powers of scientific expertise to reverse it. The Indian Forest Department which he headed for almost 2 decades has been one of the most influential institutions in the history of conservation. Established in 1864 it is by the biggest landlord in a large country

From the late (18^th Western Scientists began exploring links between deforestation, desiccation and drought (European colonization affected large parts of Asia, Africa leading to massive environmental degradation affecting rainfall)

George Perkins Marsh (North America) Dietrich Brandis in South Asia were in vanguard of what was to emerge as a scientific movement of a global consequence. This second variety of environmentalism “Scientific Conservation” chose not to turn its back on industrial society but to tame its excesses. They propagated careful research guidance by experts to reduce the impact of industrialization and with regards to pollution and depletion of resources. ‘Conservation’ was the “Gospel of Efficiency” the use of Science to mange nature and natural resources efficiently. The idea being a “Sustained Yield” not to dip into resources all the time.

By the (19^th Conservation became a global movement with foresters taking the lead in establishing resource management agencies run on scientific lines in Asia, Africa, Europe and North America. They began to speak of ‘national forests’, ‘rivers as property of the nation’. African scholar William Beinart stated, scientific conservation was an Ideology of “doom and resurrection”. Rational planning became important so to ensure that the great error of waste could be done away with and an efficient and more sustainable system put in place. Here the role of state becomes important, the one body capable of taking a long term view. For profit motive is incompatible with conservation, therefore the state must assume the responsibility for managing resources e.g. forest, water

In Marsh’s view man was an agent of destruction as well as regeneration, with the potential to be a restorer of disturbed harmonies. Therefore judicious intervention and systematic management are important. Marsh emphasized the need for public ownership of forests and water. These became the guiding principles behind American conservation policy and embodied in US forest service and bureau of Reclamation.

The Global reach of Scientific Forestry

Scientific forestry had its origin in late medieval Europe. By 19^th century much of the globe embraced it. France was a pioneer, by 18^th Germany was the front runner in this field—its theories, practices and models becoming a starting point for every national effort in forest science and management until the end of the 19^th.

The actual experience of Scientific Forestry in the colonies was different. Here it followed a “Custodian Approach” state control and denial of customary rights of user exercised by peasant and tribal communities who had been depending on the forests for survival. So when access to these resources was restricted by strictly protected Government reserves, it led to conflicts between local communities and the forest departments e.g. South Asia—Indian Forest Act 1878.  Tribal’s and  peasants resisted operations of the forest department in various ways— through arson, breaches of Forest law, attacks on officials and government property and rebellions. Sometimes through local social movements which aimed at restoring local control over forests. Jyotibha Phule, social reformer was very critical about the role of the forest department “The Cunning employees of our motherly government have used  their foreign brains to erect a superstructure called the forest department.

In South and South east Asia, monsoon is an important factor and therefore its questionable whether sustained yield forestry on the European model can be successfully practiced. In 130 years state forest management— forests are in a poorer condition than before. Scientific forestry was introduced. 22% of Indian land mass is still controlled by the forest department, but less than half of this has tree cover on it. One Asian country—Japan—its scientists developed skilled methods of regenerative forestry that helped stabilize forest cover and mountain slopes of their islands.

III) VARIETY: ENVIRONMENTALISM: THE GROWTH OF THE WILDERNESS IDEA

      Combines elements of morality, science and aesthetics. These came to be known as the Wilderness Idea (wild species and habitat)

The Industrialization of Europe, settlement and spread of the European pop in the new world—devastated areas of forests and wilderness. There rose a movement of artists and scientists to look up areas still untouched to keep them free from human disturbance. Some were geared to protect the extinction of endangered species (grizzly bear) or saving scenic habitats (Yosemite)

            The wilderness movement flowered vibrantly in the US— a formal history—a little more than a century old.

The 1^st international conference on environment took place in 1900 in London—topic— protection of wildlife of Africa→ There were no Africans present!

The delegates were foreign ministers of the European colonial powers—France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Spain, Great Britain. On one side are popular traditions of “Sacred Groves” patches of forests worshipped as homes of deities and protected from human interference (Hindu Nepal, Buddhist Thailand, those parts of Africa that retain their ancestral religions). On the other side, elite feudal traditions of “hunting preserves” (e.g. India particular Mughal India—where animal species like tiger, deer were reserved for exclusive pleasure of the lords and kings with peasants and hunters banned from the hunt and sometimes from the preserve itself. Through colonies wildlife preservation followed a set pattern.

i)                    Moderate demand by specifying closed seasons when animals could not be shot ans issuing licenses which alone allowed hunting.

ii)                  Designate particular species as ‘protected’

iii)                “Specified territories” as “Game reserves” meant exclusively for animals where logging mining, agriculture are prohibited.

iv)                Establishment of national parks—sanctity to entire habitats not merely animal species

In Southern Africa—progress of conservation linked to the development of a distinct settler identity—the African was nowhere. The white settler identified with the land but not the men and women who lived there long before they arrived. Wildlife conservation brought the Dutch and English closer but also consolidated white domination over the majority of the black population. In the game reserves Africans were banned from hunting and in national parks—excluded altogether forcibly dispossessed of their land if it fell within the designated territory. If there was a ‘Crisis of African Wildlife’, it was due to the white man’s gun and rifle, not the native spear and sling shot.

In America—the 1^st national park anywhere was the Yellowstone (1872). Today thousands all over the US has the best managed national parks. Mention must be made of John Muir who settled in California (1868). He had an interest in Botany and Geology and travelled a lot making several trips to the Sierra Mountains. In 1892 he founded the Sierra Club which has since then been the most influential conservation society in American environmentalism. His essay in the Atlantic monthly published in July 1897 where he wrote about the past, the present and the possible future of the American forest, had stirred public opinion to try and protect the ‘Aborginal forest’ to save what is left of the forest”. The steel axe of the white man was destroying the forests, affecting the natives. Muir knew well the economic rationale for forest production (steady supply of timber, prevent soil erosion, regulate the flow of the water in the rivers). He also advocated a non- utilization rationale for preserving the wild—forests are not only a cover but also have a variety of interesting and sacred trees. For him every species had its own honored place in the scheme of nature. In his later years he was glad to see city dwellers—tried coming to savor the glories of the Sierra— to relax and enjoy nature. By early 20^th century, growing urbanization gave rise to a leisure industry which created a powerful social force for preserving wild area. Weekend camping and trekking played an influential part in creation of a national park system. The 1^st reserve established on purely Ecological grounds was Everglades national park 1934. Muir became a cult figure for latter-day environmentalists.

Another important person in the wilderness movement was ALDO LEOPOLD a German immigrant. He worked in the forest service with a tradition of scientific conservation later becoming a philosopher of nature. He developed a philosophy of “Game Management”. In time he realized the importance—the cultural and ecological significance of the wild and from promoting ‘game refuges’ he began urging  that a portion of the national forests be set aside as fully protected wilderness.

While Muir wanted parks to be guarded by the military, for Leopold responsible human behavior outside the national parks was more important. He urged people and communities to moderate their consumption and respect nature.

These 3 strands of environmentalism were analytical and reflective in nature and guided the ‘trans-disciplinary and ‘inter-disciplinary’ intellectual movements. Here contributions of environmentalist Scotsman Patrick Geddes (1854-1932) is significant (he was an admirer of Marsh and Ruskin). He taught Botany in Dundee and sociology in Bombay— he was a social-ecologist who sought to understand the dynamic inter-relationships between human societies and their natural environments. His concern was with the town and city planning—How the city exploited the countryside for energy and materials. He called for a return to the health of village life, with its beauty of surroundings and its contact with nature. Town planning was important—he stressed the creation of open spaces and parks, planting and protecting trees and the conservation of water and water bodies. His ideas were carried forward by his disciples—Lewis Mumford an American historian (1895-1986) and Indian Sociologist Radhakamal Mukherjee.

Mumford: Ace to him the organic unity between the city and the hinterland (medieval Europe) was distributed by the coal and iron based Industrialization of the 19^th century which resulted in pollution and unhygienic slums, deteriorating environment. He hoped for the emergence of a Post-I society based on non-polluting sources of energy (solar power, hydroelectricity). This he wished would restore the three distributed equilibria:

1)      The equilibrium between the city and the village

2)      The equilibrium in population (by balancing birth and death rates)

3)      Most important equilibrium between humans and nature

Radha Kamal Mukherjee was influenced by Geddes when lived in India between 1915-1922. He insisted that a social group must be considered in relation to the chain of interwoven biotic communities to which it is linked—the plants, the animals and even the insects which are indigenous to a region. He studied closely the Indo-Gangetic plain. He found exhaustion and depletion everywhere (Deforestation, soil erosion, depleting yields). Renewal and enrichment of nature should be man’s goal. He called for an “alliance with the entire range of ecological forces” through new values “a thought for tomorrow, sacrifice for inhabitants yet unborn”.

Combining reason with passion, the Geddes— Mukherjee—Mumford tradition of social Ecology brings together three realms:

1)      of the wilderness

2)      the countryside and

3)      the city

A regionalist programme works simultaneously for the preservation of the primeval wild. The restoration of a stable rural community and for the urban-Industrial complex that is sustainable without being parasitical.