Ecocriticism, Environmental Ethics, and a New Ecological Culture

NORBERT H. PLATZ

1. Introduction

N THIS ESSAY I WISH TO OFFER A TENTATIVE PROGRAMME for the de- velopment of fruitful cooperation between ecocriticism and environ- I mental ethics. What could be envisaged as a result of this cooperation would be the idea and ideal of a new ecological culture. To start with, I will submit working definitions of my key terms. While doing this, I would also like to thumbnail the agendas they include. As will become clear, I look at the environment through a dual lens – in the hope that the relationship between these two foci will yield some new insights.

2. Definitions and the Programmes They Include

Let me first consider ecocriticism. An important statement made by Cheryll Glotfelty, the founder of the American Association for Literature & Environ- ment (ASLE), describes the focus of ecocriticism in the following terms: “While in most literary theory ‘the world’ is synonymous with society – the social sphere – ecocriticism expands the notion of ‘the world’ to include the entire ecosphere.”1 The primary concern of ecocriticism, to use an agreed definition, is thus to study “the relationship between literature and the physical environment.”2 One important feature attached to ecocriticism should not be disregarded: it was born from the environmental crisis, awareness of which has affected

1 Cheryll Glotfelty, “Introduction: Literary Studies in an Age of Environmental Crisis,” in The Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks in Literary Ecology, ed. Cheryll Glot- felty & Harold Fromm (Athens & London: U of Georgia P, 1996): xix. 2 Glotfelty, “Introduction,” xviii. 64 NORBERT H. PLATZ  many literary critics and scholars since the 1980s.3 There has been a growing number of ecocritical publications from the last two decades of the twentieth century.4 A major motive underpinning the ecocritical agenda is its insistence on critical awareness. In the final analysis, the purpose of ecocriticism is to study literary texts and other art-works, in order to generate more caring attitudes towards nature and the whole biosphere. To be more specific, ecocriticism tends to make ethical appeals by pointing, for example, to failings in political and cultural practices. The overall concern of ecocriticism is with human sur- vival on Earth. The basic assumption prominently expressed by quite a few – but not all – ecocritics is that humankind will have to face up to an ecological holocaust if it does not abandon its exploitive direction. Environmental ethics could be defined as “a set of principles, values or norms relating to the ways in which we interact with our [natural] environment.”5 If we look at this area of concern, we can easily recognize that there are some striking characteristics which ecocriticism and environmental ethics have in common.

i. Like ecocriticism, environmental ethics sprang from the environmental crisis. “‘Environmental ethics’ is essentially a response to a range of environmental problems which collectively make up the ‘environmental crisis’.”6 So, one could say that the environmental crisis has haunted literary critics and philosophers alike.

3 Richard Kerridge characterizes the situation as follows: “The starting point for the ecocritic is that there really is an unprecedented global environmental crisis, and that this crisis poses some of the great political and cultural questions of our time. In addition to global warming, and all the concerns aroused by atmospheric, oceanic and radioactive pollution, the crisis encompasses a variety of health issues.” Kerridge, “Introduction” to Writing the Environment: Ecocriticism and Literature, ed. Richard Kerridge & Neil Sammels (London: Zed, 1998): 5. 4 For a comprehensive survey, see the online bibliography published by the Asso- ciation for the Study of Literature & Environment: http://www.asle.org/site/resources /online-bibliography/ (accessed 20 May 2010). 5 Nigel Dower, “Introduction” to Ethics and Environmental Responsibility, ed. Nigel Dower (Aldershot & Brookfield VT: Avebury, 1989): 11. 6 Dower, “Introduction,” 12.