In William Ruckert's Literature And Ecology: An Experiment In Ecocriticism

It is a process of dehistoricization and deresponsabilization. To abandon the critique to capitalism, when it is most needed, since its logic is the main cause of the imminent human catastrophe, is the major fault of contemporary social science, the failure to confront the historical momentum in a stubborn denial of the importance to engage critically with the reality of the environment. (The Ecological Rift, Foster, p. 31).

As a concept, ecocriticism is a contemporary approach and it is therefore highly unlikely that Owen would have intentionally included such heavily cited links with eco criticism, especially considering that he claimed his subject to be, ‘war and the pity of war’. Owen himself believed that the war he was fighting was needless, and only caused pain and suffering. His work sheds light on the harsh, brutality of warfare whilst challenging the patriotic nature of other existing war poems at the time, believing that they did not truly depict the war he was all too familiar with, "true Poets must be Truthful". However, applying Owen’s work through an ecological perspective is not a completely futile, as Owen’s depth of understanding can provide us with insight into the effect humans, particularly soldiers, had on their biosphere during this period in history and vice versa; this is, “The fundamental premise that human culture is connected to the physical world, affecting it and affected by it.” It is these connections with the natural world that highlight both Owen’s love of the natural world, influenced by the likes of Romanticist poet John Keats, and his sense of anguish towards humanity and their distorted concept of war.

This paper will begin with an exposition of the article, “Radical Environmentalism and Wilderness Preservation: A Third World Critique” written by Ramachendra Guha, a sociologist and historian involved in ecological conflict in the East and the West. In this article, he refers to American environmentalism as “deep ecology”, a modern theory founded by Arne Naess. Guha’s argues that based on a comparison of the concepts of deep ecology and other cultural environmentalisms, deep ecology is strictly rooted in American culture and thus, leads to negative social consequences when it is applied to the Third World. This argument will be achieved by first defining deep ecology and its principles.

Leslie Marmon Silko’s poem “Prayer to the Pacific” is a good example of ecocriticism works in literature because it explains an important myth about the Pacific Ocean that relates to culture, existence and the survival of Native Americans. The myth states that “thirty thousand years ago” the Laguna Indians had arrived America from China on the back of “sea turtles”. I think this poem is also significant because it gives us a clue on the importance of Pacific Ocean concerning Native American culture.

‘’subrban area where grass and trees simu late the country.This dream home is a permanet seat,not rented but owened.It is a center where a man and his wife grow graciously old,warmed by the radiance of well-washed children and grandchildren.’’

Richard Robbins explores and analyzes the creation and the upkeep of hunger in his book “Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism. Each day, over a billion people in the world lack basic food needs. Common misunderstandings about world hunger are that it is the result of insufficient food production, famine is the common reason for hunger and that hunger is caused by overpopulation. Robbins argues against that theory and says that famines is not the leading cause of hunger and hunger is not due to overpopulation or insufficient food production. “Food production is not determined by the global need for food; it is determined on how many people have the means for it” (page 176). The documentary “The End of Poverty” reinforces Robbins belief that food is a commodity.

Imperialism takes place when a strong country takes over a weaker country. When this happens, it affects the imperialized country positively yet also negatively. When India was imperialized by Britain, the British rule represented some progress but mostly dominance. Britain helped build railroads and schools in India to try to modernize the country. However, Britain forced Indians to grow cash crops instead of food which later led India to a famine.

portray a perpetual tension between the wilderness and civilization, raising questions of whether the two could exist together or if wilderness and nature would disappear completely. In literature, the sublime natural world is an important reference. Emerson and other transcendentalists explore nature deeply and fear the growing influence of industrialization. Emerson writes, “First, the simple perception of natural forms is a delight.

The issue of hunger in africa has caused major chaos around the world. The fact that families and children are left to die because there is insufficient food; therefore, families are separated and left to suffer. For example, on page 1 of “Why Africa Is Still Starving”, by Alex Perry, it states that, “From January to May, the fields were parched and brown. And one failed harvest is enough to turn Ethiopia, a nation of 66 million farmers, a humanitarian catastrophe”. Alex Perry explains how the soil of Africa is not rich enough to grow any goods or rich crops.

Why is culturally appropriate food the essence of humanity? Humans are arguably the only animal categorized by diverse cultures, of which food is an essential part; food sustains us and without it we would die out. Humans do not exist outside of cultures, without them we would fail to thrive. After a decade of research and activism on this subject and that of food economy, intellectual property, and traditional lifeways, Vandana Shiva published Stolen Harvest, in 2000 (South End Press). It is an ethical treatise about the inalienable right to food and self-sufficiency that all humans and animals should be afforded, and serves as an excellent primer for novice agriculturalist. Stolen Harvest is a compendium of investigative essays theorizing: monocultures homogenize biodiversity, corporate monopolies augment this destruction, and structural violence clear-cuts sustainable lifeways and food systems worldwide (Shiva 1-15, 70).

Another novel, Ecotopia (1975), seems to be a long forgotten utopia even though it too has many resonances in contemporary society. Popular in its time, it did not quite get a foothold into the canon. Callenbach’s novel, however, is no less important in understanding cultural attitudes about utopian hopes or dystopian fears. He creates a near paradise based on the principles of environmentalism and stewardship. The government system is based on that of the United States, but the driving force of sustainability is a novel concept for a government system, for not growth as the measurement of prosperity, but stability. Ecotopia offers not only a journal-style account of the narrator’s perceptions of the society he is in, much like Winston in 1984, but also presents the articles Will submits to the American paper he writes for, giving a glimpse into the way the media portrays Ecotopia and the expectations they have. I would like to discuss the differences in the way Ecotopia discusses environmental politics in comparison with the way they are dealt with in United

Food is a necessary part of ever individual’s daily life. Without food, the body cannot function properly, resulting in poor health, exhaustion, and even death by starvation. Therefore, food insecurity continues to be an international global epidemic. The journal article by Harrigan suggests that the citizens of the Sub-Saharan African country of Malawia are in further poverty due to their lack of food and agricultural resources. The newspaper article from the Guardian tells the real life story of African citizens struggling to farm and find food due to the crop shortages that have spanned Africa for the past two years. This is a current global issue, and the journal and news article prove that there is much to be done in order to help restore

“The only way forward, if we are going to improve the quality of the environment is to get everyone involved”(Richard Rogers). The environment is a beautiful thing if taken care of. Today there is much pollution and other harmful items hurting the environment we live in. Ecocritism is the study of literature and the environment together. Authors use ecocritism to educate readers about literature and the environment.

When one element related do the mismatched with nature, the exploitation of nature for example, then the balance of nature will be distracted and badly other life around it. With this background, the writer directs the reader to use the perspective of Ecocriticism is related to the movie Wall-E to see how natural, human and cultural interplay with one another.

White’s thesis in The Historical Roots of our Ecological Crisis states that in order to confront the expanding environmental crises, humans must begin to analyze and alter their treatment and attitudes towards nature. The slow destruction of the environment derives from the Western scientific and technological advancements made since the Medieval time period. “What people do about their ecology depends on what they think about themselves in relation to things around them” (RON p.7). Technology and science alone will not be able to save humans until we adjust the way of thinking and suppress the old ideas of humans power above nature. Instead, we need to learn how to think of ourselves as being