Because we got a little behind this past week we will have two topics to discuss:
A. Discuss the research you all did about the cultures you selected,
B. Based on this weeks readings: What role does/can organized religion play in creating a culture of sustainability?
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17 comments:
Response A - Cultural Research
I enjoyed the research and information I discovered when researching the lost culture(s) of Easter Island. I also enjoyed reading the other research articles (to date) on the Inuit, Azores and Native Americans. As I stated in my research paper, Easter Island may be a prophetic tale of what is to happen to the greater 'island' we call Earth.
It is notable that the Easter Islanders destruction was the direct result of their environmental degradation. It is argued that the agrarian society they started and maintained, together with their dogged reverence for religious icons, contributed to the destruction of the island's flora and fauna.
I've been thinking a lot about the pivotal moments in history, that lead us down the path to environmental degradation. One of the HUGE ones, it seems to me, was the invention of the combustion engine, around the turn of th 19th century. It seems that most of the problems the greater environment suffers today, can be directly traced to this one event in human history. I wonder if the inventors of this technology ever imagined what their brainchild might do TO (rather than for), humanity?
KW
Response A:
The Açores proved to be a fascinating culture to research, not only because my cultural heritage harks back to those islands, but also because in some locations there, the culture has changed very little over the last several hundred years. One of the draws of the islands as a tourist destination is that nature is pretty much unspoiled. My parents, two of my sisters, and my brother have all spent time in the Açores throughout the years, and have brought back pictures and stories that confirm this. The people live very simply in modest homes, do their own gardening, walk everywhere, and have great respect for the land.
My father's mother always had her own garden, and I remember helping my grandmother to harvest the fava beans, peas, lettuce and other delicious vegetables. Her house on Lansing Street in Mendocino is now the Mendo Café, and the fenced yard that currently houses a pretty flower garden used to be filled with my grandma's fresh veggies. My dad tells me that when he was a boy back in the 1920s and 1930s, they always kept chickens and rabbits which provided the family with fresh eggs and meat. They therefore purchased very little from the stores and were almost totally self-sufficient.
Back in those days, the town of Mendocino and surrounding countryside were very similar in appearance to some of the Açorean islands. The rocky cliffs, proximity to the ocean, rainfall and average yearly temperatures were much the same as my forefathers' island of Flores. Perhaps this similarity to the countryside "back home" was what made Mendocino such a prime destination for Portuguese Americans.
My research into the Portuguese culture of the Açores islands also indicates that the pace of life is much slower there than over here in the States. Technology is not so prevalent in some of the villages, as the people have their hands full providing food, shelter and clothing for the family. Perhaps in some of the larger cities, the folks use technology as we do, but in many of the smaller villages, computers and televisions are rare and people still cook on wood stoves or outdoors in a firepit. For entertainment, people in the Açorean villages play music, sing, and dance, all of which activities do not produce waste or promote consumerism, as contrasted with the entertainment practices of Americans highlighted in the video "The Story of Stuff." I am thinking that if only more of us here in the US would put down the videos, gameboys, and Wiis, and get up and dance, we would not only slow down the runaway consumer train and contribute less to the overburdened landfills when our toys become outdated, but we might also see a decline in our obesity problem.
Kathy's description of the environmental degradation suffered by the residents of Easter Island was especially poignant for me as I recall I could never get through reading The Lorax to my children without dropping a few tears. I learned much from Loretta's paper on the Cherokee and Crystal's on the Inuit. Well done, ladies!
Response B:
What role does/can organized religion play in creating a culture of sustainability? Recognizing that "does" and "can" constitute two different questions, I personally believe that religion CAN play a very significant role in creating a sustainable culture, but that many religions, particularly Western religions, currently do not play such a role. In fact, as Harold Coward points out in his conclusion to "Ethics and Nature in the World's Religions," Christian teachings and the Bible "encourage us to exploit, overconsume and overpopulate" (107).
I think organized religion, more than any other type of organization on earth, has the potential to reach a huge audience, as vast numbers of humans on this earth belong to some type of religious group and many of those are ardent followers of their religious leaders. They will do whatever they are told to do and behave however they are told to behave. Think of how different this world might be if all the Catholics were told when receiving the Sacrament of Penance, not to say five Our Fathers and three Hail Marys, but to reduce their consumption, pick up litter, walk more and drive less, and agree to reduce their ecological footprint. I wonder what would happen if all Muslims were told by their leaders to conserve water and energy and to learn everything they could about sustainable living. Even Eastern religions like Hinduism and Buddhism, which profess to give ethical standing to nature, have not lived up to their lofty precepts, if sprawling growth and rampant water and land pollution are any indication.
As Coward observed, what we think can affect the way we act. He believes, and I tend to concur, that "ways can be found of joining religious insights with those of science and secular scholarship in the struggle to safeguard both human life and the environment" (108). As the religions of the world seem to have a great deal of influence over how people think and act, what a wonderful vehicle they would be for promoting sustainability. Getting these various religions to do that, however, would most likely be problematic, especially for religious cultures that believe humans are dominant over nature and must subdue it. Perhaps just getting the Western religions to have a more Eastern/Aboriginal outlook to ecology and conservation would help further the sustainability cause.
I found it interesting that TS Eliot's "The Hollow Men" was quoted in "Environment Across Cultures." I'm somewhat of an Eliot student and fan and am familiar with "the shadow." Eliot was well aware of what was occurring in nature and to the landscape when he wrote "The Waste Land." I find myself thinking often of Kathy's prediction of the future, where water is the resource humans are fighting for. I believe Eliot foresaw a world where water was scarce. Forgive a hopelessly addicted literature lover if I quote two verses from Waste Land's Chapter V: What the Thunder Said:
Here is no water but only rock
Rock and no water and the sandy road
The road winding above among the mountains
Which are mountains of rock without water
If there were water we should stop and drink
Amongst the rock one cannot stop or think
Sweat is dry and feet are in the sand
If there were only water amongst the rock
Dead mountain mouth of carious teeth that cannot spit
Here one can neither stand nor lie nor sit
There is not even silence in the mountains
But dry sterile thunder without rain
There is not even solitude in the mountains
But red sullen faces sneer and snarl
From doors of mudcracked houses
If there were water
And no rock
If there were rock
And also water
And water
A spring
A pool among the rock
If there were the sound of water only
Not the cicada
And dry grass singing
But sound of water over a rock
Where the hermit-thrush sings in the pine trees
Drip drop drip drop drop drop drop
But there is no water
Kathy,
I really like it how you bring up the concept of the combustion engine and if the inventor could have ever imagined the positive and negative effects of what their invention has done for society.
June,
I want to thank you for your insight on the Acores and how they live. It is wonderful that there are people who still live simply, respect the land, and use walking as a form of transportation. I had never even heard of this culture before this time and want to thank you for opening my eyes to it.
I personally wrote my paper on the Inuit people and found researching them to be informative and educational. It is absolutely incredible how the Inuit people have sustained their selves in such a very harsh climate for so many years and how they still hold many of their same traditions even though they have partly simulated in to American culture.
Thanks mates for some great entries. Kathy's point about the combustion engine very well taken. June's point about how great it would be if religion taught its members to be ecologically minded; and Crystal bringing to the fore how Native Americans have co-existed with nature in such an admirable way.
Unfortunately I posted my Swedish cultural paper to the DropBox and missed out on having it peer reviewed, but I will try to recap and illuminate what I was attempting to say there.
Sweden having been mostly homogeneous throughout its history and largely Lutheran in religion, has a culture based on the protestant work ethic. Hard work, strong family values, and a love of nature have been the strengths of a people who have done well to protect their environment. As I stated in my cultural essay, because the Swedes love the outdoors so much, they have developed a general (cultural) attitude about the preservation of these resources for the benefit of their entire population. Sweden has a rather extensive Environmental Code. This Code provides that commercial and industrial operations must use the best available technique, and that operations must be located so as to cause minimum harm to human health and the environment. It also establishes that the party causing the damage is liable for site remediation.
Under this Code are included new powers to set environmental quality standards governing the minimum acceptable quality of air, water, soil, and the entire environment in general.
Environmental sanctions have been introduced as a more expedient way of dealing with wrongdoers. The sanctions come in the form of monetarial charges which are collected directly from those violating the code by inspectors and auditors of industrial projects.
Sweden proves itself an apt model to follow regarding the environment as it has adopted legislation which enforces the country's value system and culture. The love of nature and respect for its grandeur, and benefit to the people was fixed in the hearts and minds of this people long before the Environmental Code was formally drafted.
This example reinforces my belief that it is the hearts and mind's of men first that will make sustainablity a reality. Actions without heart, fall flat and die.
America still sees itself as a land of so-called "progress" and opportunity, which is another way, in my mind of saying "exploitation." This value is so deeply ingrained in our collective psyche, that we may have a huge job ahead to change it.
As far as the question about religion... If a person is disposed to finding the universal "love" principle which runs through the major religions, I think that person will naturally be inclined to treat the earth with respect.
However, when, as in our country, the predominant secular cultural value is "prosperity by any means," a person knowing only this culture will naturally be predisposed to adore materialism. Even the evangelical television ministries focus on the glory of money in America.
The bottom line is, greed can be all consuming (pardon the pun.)
And as per the readings this week, isn't "over consumption and over population" the bottom line in our environmental peril?
This is why no matter how great or poor the religion, once greed (and the naturally accompanying corruption) take hold in a society, there may not be much religion or even God can do.
I discussed with my SL partner the role of religion and faith in creating a more sustainable world. Noyo Food Forest director Susan Lightfoot said that in a way, the Learning Garden does work with people of faith in the community because "We are working with communities of optimists and activists. To be an activist and optimist, you have to believe in something. You have to believe there is a better way of life, some other way that the world could be." (For the whole interview with Susan, check out my blog at http://junelemosblog.blogspot.com/)
In their own small way, the people at Noyo Food Forest who are growing organic foods and providing the space for people of the community to cultivate their own organic gardens are making another world possible. I wonder if that might be the way to make the world more sustainable. Not by legislating it or forcing it or waiting for those in power to do something about it, but little by little in small ways, like planting a garden. A whole bunch of little people doing little things in little ways can make a big impact. I guess that's what grassroots activism is all about.
Christine, I found it interesting that Sweden has many things in common with the US. For example, you say they come from a Protestant culture, are hard-working, with strong family values. That could be one way to describe this country. The difference is in the way we have treated the environment. How can two cultures so similar be so different in that aspect? I have to think it comes down to your point about Sweden having a culture-wide love and respect of nature while this nation has a culture-wide love of prosperity at any cost and by any means. I often wonder how any culture such as ours could be so very short-sighted.
This point was brought home to me yesterday when I was visiting my mother and she had the television on. I saw a PG&E commercial for coal, calling it "America's Power" and saying it was the cheapest and most abundant source of fuel. I wanted to scream, Yeah? But it's nonrenewable and you have to mine it out of the earth! I decided in a calmer moment to take a closer look at coal as a power source. I found the Americans For Balanced Energy Choices website at http://www.americaspower.org/. Reading through some of the pages of this site was a real eye-opener to me. Especially the "Reality Check" page. For example, here's a jewel: "Some professed experts believe that we should focus all of America’s energy research on renewable sources. Reality Check: That ignores the realities of electricity demand in the U.S. and how that demand is being met today." In other words, let's not try to get people to reduce their demand for energy, let's just keep on using nonrenewable sources to produce the energy we are so greedily gobbling up.
I am certain the folks at ABEC aren't the only ones in this country who think in this way. It would be a good lesson for all Americans to have to research a culture and learn from the failures of cultures like Kathy's Easter Islanders and from the successes of cultures like Crystal's Inuits and Loretta's Cherokee.
A. Discuss the research you all did about the cultures you selected,
I found my research of the Scottish culture to be very interesting. It really taught me a lot about not only the culture, but my family. After researching for the assignments, I became more ambitious to learn about my family history and searched for our Family Crest. Now, I have dragged my dad into the search and have reached out to family members to help create a virtual family tree as far back as possible so we may appreciate our ancestors and to re-establish communication with living family members. If this assingment did anything at all, it helped me learn a general knowledge of the Scottish and has helped my family get back in touch with one another. :)
B. Based on this weeks readings: What role does/can organized religion play in creating a culture of sustainability?
Religion can play a major part in creating a sustainable world. As stated in the introduction of "Ethics and Nature in the World's Religions," religion offers guidance and wisdom that all things should be considered, helps people take individual responsibilty for the state of the environment, and can help create a global relationship and a global sense of responsibility to solve envrionmental problems. Religion is a way to reach out to a LARGE population and encourage preservation and conservation of the environment. The only downfall I see is that not all religions have the same environmental philosophy. Since people are usually very devout to their chosen beliefs, it would be difficult to introduce new ideas or ways of life that may benefit the earth unless thier religion allowed it.
One idea I felt was repeated in all of the religino descriptions in Howard's article was the need to take responsibility. I feel this is of extreme importance in identifying and finding solutions to our current environmental issues. Without recognizing what you do and how you live may be affecting and damaging the earth, only leads to more over-consumption, wasted resources, and a selfish attitude towards nature.
Steph,
I feel very inspired to hear about or adventure in researching your Scottish heratige and how it led you to wanting to learn more about your family tree and haritage. It is surprising how so many people do not know their family heritage past their great grandparents. I know I personally have know idea where I come from and it is ashame. For a person to know their history seems so valuble in life just for the purpose of reconizing the cycle of life and reconizing history.
Christine,
I want to thank you for your sumerization of the Swedish culture and their abilities to co- exist with the land.
I think religion has a big role in helping create a culture of sustainability. They play a big part in politics especially the Catholics. As you can see in some of our reading there are some religions that are doing well, to make their selves aware of their environment. Then they're not so good at other parts like air and water pollution. I think in our community if you are really big into your church you can promote a good healthy lifestyle and preach it to your congregation. If you're not into a religion you can still go to your children's school, and volunteer your time in the food program to help them recycle and compost. Maybe you can start a garden to help show them how to produce food.
The culture I chose was Cherokee Indians. How the Indians use the land just for what they needed. They believed every living thing had a spirits. Before you took the life of that living object you had to say a prayer over it. It wasn't until the white man came at that the Indians started consuming more than what he needed. They would use these extra resources to trade with the white man.
Stephanie, I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed your paper on the Scottish culture. I loved the time I spent in Scotland, especially the highlands. Despite a somewhat bloody and violent history, the people there have always been very close to the land, and if you listen to the words of the Celtic and Gaelic songs, they show a great appreciation for the earth and all living things. I have spent time with Dougie MacLean, one of Scotland's best-known folk singers, and his passion for the land is so evident, both in his song lyrics and in what he has to say when you're just talking over a pint. So, well done, Steph! Thanks for picking one of my favorite cultures.
Response B
I agree with the statement by Uno Svedin that says, “one’s world view with its cultural-religious connotations creates a frame for one’s thinking and ethical choices.” Given this premise, it is clear that organized religion can play a great role in creating a culture of sustainability.
In India for example, Hindu women have taken on the roll of environmental conservators, based on their faith and belief that all things are interconnected, and have intrinsic and divine value.
Buddhists strive to eliminate the selfish desires; Buddha taught we are free to act in harmony and compassion towards nature. So, strict adherents of Buddhism would promote a unity and harmony with nature.
But in reality, many religions, while promoting their beliefs, fail to adhere to the tenants of their own religions. Together with the depletion of local resources wrought by wealthy countries upon less-developed ones, religious views often seem to get swept to the sideline, in favor of the economics of survival.
In order for us to bring about some meaningful change in attitudes and practices towards the Earth’s natural resources, we will have to weave in a religious narrative that encourages sustainable practices, while still providing for basic human needs – both in this country and in the poorer countries our corporations seem to plunder.
I think we've all come to the consensus that organized religion can play a role in environmental ecology.
I wanted to make the generalization that primitive cultures seem to have a greater respect and need for sustainable practices. But my research on the inhabitants of Easter Island quickly showed this statement untrue.
But in thinking further about this, even if you subscribe to some sort of organized religion , your religious journey is still a very personal and internalized communing with nature and your god.
So again, if we can ALL slowly make the changes that we feel our necessary to sustain and maintain the earth's environmental systems, collectively, we will have a significant impact.
Associated Press Article
Vatican Updates Its Thou-Shalt-Not List
By FRANCES D'EMILIO, Associated Press Writer
Monday, March 10, 2008
(03-10) 13:48 PDT VATICAN CITY, (AP) --
In olden days, the deadly sins included lust, gluttony and greed. Now, the Catholic Church says pollution, mind-damaging drugs and genetic experiments are on its updated thou-shalt-not list. Also receiving fresh attention by the Vatican was social injustice, along the lines of the age-old maxim: "The rich get richer while the poor get poorer."
In the Vatican's latest update on how God's law is being violated in today's world, Monsignor Gianfranco Girotti, the head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, was asked by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano what, in his opinion, are the "new sins."
He cited "violations of the basic rights of human nature" through genetic manipulation, drugs that "weaken the mind and cloud intelligence," and the imbalance between the rich and the poor.
"If yesterday sin had a rather individualistic dimension, today it has a weight, a resonance, that's especially social, rather than individual," said Girotti, whose office deals with matters of conscience and grants absolution.
It's not the first time that the Vatican has sought to put a modern spin on sin. Last year, the Vatican took on the problem of highway accidents, issuing a kind of "Ten Commandments" for drivers against the sins of road rage, alcohol abuse and even rudeness behind the wheel.
Vatican officials, however, stressed that Girotti's comments broke no new ground on what constitutes sin.
On the environment, both Pope Benedict XVI and the late Pope John Paul II frequently expressed concern about the fate of the Earth. During Benedict's papacy, Vatican engineers have developed plans for some Holy See buildings to use solar energy, including photovoltaic cells on the roof of the auditorium for pilgrims' audiences with the pontiff.
John Paul also dedicated much of his long papacy to condemning the gap between have and have-nots in speeches in his travels throughout the world as well as in writings.
"The poor are always becoming poorer and the rich ever more rich, feeding unsustainable social injustice," Girotti said in the interview published Sunday.
Closer to home, Girotti was asked about the many "situations of scandal and sin within the church," in what appeared to be a reference to allegations in the United States and other countries of sexual abuse by clergy of minors and the coverups by hierarchy.
The monsignor acknowledged the "objective gravity" of the allegations, but contended that the heavy coverage by mass media of the scandals must also be denounced because it "discredits the church."
Benedict has been leading the Vatican's campaign against abortion, and Girotti was asked about the "widespread perception" that the church doesn't consider the "difficult" predicament for women.
Girotti rejected that view, saying that Catholic organizations help unwed mothers, educating "their children who come into the worth because of their lack of foresight" and facilitating adoption.
(Maybe there's some hope, even with the Catholic Religion - KW)
Retraction:
I inadvertently thanked Crystal for here essay on Native Americans (Cherokee) when she had written on the Inuit. Thanks Loretta for your essay on the Cherokee culture, and Crystal: reading about the Inuit was so interesting, they too are Native American, but also Canadian, Russian and Greenland natives as well. Cold weather peoples get less attention than most, so thanks.
And thanks June for responding to my blog. Sweden has one tremendous difference from the U.S. For a most of the 20th Century, Sweden has been looked upon as a “Welfare State” or a Socialist Democracy. As is true with every country, Sweden’s history is complex, so I will just say that in about 1905 when Sweden and Norway split apart, Sweden went on to maintain a position of neutrality from that point forward. And though Norway was independent of Sweden, they developed on similar paths.
In 1911, an elaborate structure of welfare legislation began with the establishment of old-age pensions. “Economic prosperity based on its neutralist policy enabled Sweden to excel in such social services as public health, housing, and job security programs. In 1976, 44 years of Socialist government ended with the election of a Conservative coalition, but the Socialists were returned to power in the election of 1982.”
(History of Sweden… http://eudocs.lib.byu.edu/index.php/History_of_Sweden: _Primary_Documents)
The way we as Americans can learn from Sweden is not as straightforward as it might seem. Sweden works in Sweden. As their population changes through immigrations the value systems of other countries do in fact, come into direct conflict with Sweden’s native population. Aside from the world changing and globalization rearing its many ugly heads, Sweden’s system of government, often esteemed by other large countries tends to be elusive to those of other populations and historical foundations.
I wish I could say Social Democracy and Sweden was the answer… but to apply it to our country would be a grand experiment, at best. Economically based experiments often end up hurting more than helping. However, my secret desire would be to give it a gradual and careful try.
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