eCOFEMINISM: AN ETHICS OF ENVIRONMENT . THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN PHILOSOPHY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH BENGAL Submitted By UTPAL I<ALITA Under the Supervision of Dr. Kanti La/ Da$ Professor of Philosophy DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF NORTH BENGAL RAJA RAMMOHUNPUR DARJEELING-734013 2011 / ··1"'~, ~ C)il.\ I 2 ~ fl,~e ,··, '"J I' 250 Os;,l 10 MAY Z013 ··~ PiJeduxded uP my~ . ·. ff ~~~o/mydl'~ ~ffrDMha ...... TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface Acknowledgement v Introduction 1 Chapter One Ecofeminism and Deep Ecology 13 Chapter Two Ecofeminism and Social Ecology 36 Chapter Three Ecofeminism and the Value ofNature 76 Chapter Four Feminism: Dainism: Justice: Ecofeminism 103 Chapter Five Concluding Remarks 151 Select Bibliography 170 e. PREFACE Believers and theologians will go on tracing the roots of environmental crises in human departures from scriptural mandates, and therefore identifying the prospects ofenvironmental reform in a renewed adherence to them. For the historians, however, environmentalism is principally a product of and reaction to the Industrial Revolution. Industrial Revolution with concomitant revolution in agriculture, colonization for augmentation in productivity search for new resources caused unprecedented damage to nature both in scale and intensity. However, with industrialization a civilizational environmental crisis arose. This alarmed some writers and thinkers, who began to search for ways. Thus was born environmental movement. There was no environmentalism before industrialization; there were only the elements of environmental sensibility. There were tribes who pursed a species to extinction; there was a tribe who harvested its preys prudently so as not to deplete the pray population in the long run. Poets and playwrights both from the East and the West wrote with insights and empathy about the natural world. All this might be said to constitute the prehistory of environmentalism, though not environmentalism itself For neither peasants nor poets transcended the locality to offer a systematic vision of recognizing nature. However, with Industrial Revolution and concomitant environmental degradation environmentalism saw the light ofthe day. Here environmentalism can profitably be compared with three other great movements of the modern world: the democratic movement, which asked that ordinary, underprivileged folk also be given a political voice; the socialist movement, which wanted the fruits of economic growth be distributed equitably; and the feminist movement which urged the women be granted political and economic right equal to those enjoyed by men. Wherever there is autocracy, there are dissenters asking for democratic rights. Where is capitalism, socialists will rise to oppose it. Where there is patriarchy, there will be women who resist it. The form, shape and intensity of these protests vary; the oppositional impulse remains constant. So, one might say wherever there is industrialization there is environmentalism. Like other great movements of the modern world, environmentalism is not unified or homogenous. We speak of difference feminism and identity feminism, of agrarian socialism and Marxism; likewise, modern environmentalism comes in many shades and strands and as such the environmental movement has been influenced by, and has in turn influenced, struggle for socialism, feminism and democracy. Women and nature have an age old association- an affiliation that has persisted through culture, language and history. There ancient interconnections have been brought to the fore with the simultaneity of two recent social movements- women's liberation movement and the ecology movement. Hence, environmentalists are warning us of irreversible consequences of continuing environmental exploitation and emphasizing the interconnectedness between people and nature. Juxtaposing the goals of the two movements can suggest new values and social structures, based not on the domination of women and nature as resources but on the full exploitation of 11 both male and female talent and on the maintenance of environmental integrity. The ecological movement has reawakened interests in the values and concepts associated historically with the pre modern organic world. The ecological model and its associated ethics make possible a fresh and critical interpretation ofthe rise of modern science in the crucial period. The vision of the ecology movement has to restore the balance of nature disrupted by industrialization and overpopulation. It has emphasized the need to live within the cycle of nature, as opposed to the exploitative mentality of forward progress. It focuses on the cost of progress, the limits of growth, the deficiencies of technological decision making, and the urgency of the conservation and recycling of natural resources. Similarly, the women movement has exposed the costs for all human being of competition in the marketplace, the loss of meaningful productive economic roles for women in capitalist society, and the view of both women and nature as psychological and recreational resources for harried entrepreneur husband. The multiple environmental crises in the world have awakened society to the need to pay attention to the earth we live in. various forms of environmentalism have caught the imagination of the societies, and raised a consciousness of the urgent need to deal with the survival issue. In this renewed awareness, it has emerged that it is practically impossible to talk of environmental issues without reference to women. Under these circumstances, eco-feminism, 'a new term for ancient wisdom' grew out of social movements-the feminist, peace and ecology movement in the late 1970s and early 1980s; and as such it points -to Deep lll Ecology and Social Ecology and such other issues which concern environment; and hence it exhorts one to go for further enquiry or enquires for better explications in regard to environment. lV ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Research, though an enterprise, taken up by the researcher for his/her own academic fulfil.ment or such others, he or she cannot endeavour to complete this job single handedly as it becomes impossible for the researcher without help from the supervisor and the well wishers connected with. In this respect my case is also so obvious and I must mention the names and personalities without whose help my humble effort would not have been a reality. So I am to make some personal acknowledgement. I remain deeply indebted to my guide (Supervisor) Dr. Kanti Lal Das, Prof of Phil. NB. U who enthused me for this work long back. He is really my guru as well as happens to be true guide. With his inspiration and abled guidance I have been able to complete this work. My indebtedness to him is too deep to be expressed in words. I sincerely extend my gratefulness to him at this juncture. I must record here my special debt of gratitude to the faculty members of the Dept ofPhil ofN B. U for their kind advice in the course of the work. My special indebtedness will always be with Dr. Manjulika Ghosh who reminded me ofmy duty as well as ability the moment I passed by her. I must also record special thanks to the Principal and the G.B. members of my college who sent me up for the Teacher fellowship. Here I would record special thanks to Mr. S.C. Roy, Deputy Secy. UGC (NERO) for awarding me Teacher Fellowship. In this respect I must have special thanks to the members of the Teachers fellowship Selection Committee for facilitating me for Teacher fellowship under FIP of the UGC. I must have words of thanks to my colleagues whose words of love many a time encouraged me and forwarded me to the work undertaken. v Also, here I would acknowledge thanks to the Librarian and staff of the central Library, N.B. U, the Director ofthe women's studies center and the staff, NBU, the Director of the women studies center, G. U. and the staff I must also record my thanks to the Director and the staff members of !CPR, Lucknow for their sincere work in selecting books from the JCP R Library. I must also record special words of thanks to my wife Sabitri who single­ handedly took care of my family during my hectic hours at NBU My words of love and affection are always with my children Hemangi, Rakesh and Barasha whose words of love incited me to this work. I must mention the co-operation and encouragement of other family members during the course of the present work. At last I have to admit that Eco-feminism is a growing area in environmental ethics and hence I have to have more clarification on many points and many contexts. With all submission I would say that I have taken maximum care to make my work flawless. However, if inadvertently any flaw remains in conceptual or linguistic level, I myselfown the responsibility for this. Lllf~ ~~ Utpal Kalita VI -------------------------------'---""'~~··'c,L;,,,;,I,,i,l,,l,,.,ill· INTRODUCTION : , objective of the thesis is to explicate and examine with critical 1 l i ' the objective of Ecofeminism. Ecofeminism is a twin concept of both I I ! ,~ I 1 !!·!!,I~·T· '· and feminine and as such being a forceful approach in environmental deserves considerable attention to modern environmentalists. The term "'~"........ uuu ...,,u'' was first introduced by Francoise D' Eaubonne in 1974 in a . specific sense in which the domination of nature is equated with the ltl1 , domination of women and vice-versa. Subsequently, this movement, in fact, ..I 'I' I1 1 1,[11 : has gained impetus in the recent decades in the form of innumerable protests 1 1 • against the burning problem of environmental devastation. The interconnectedness between women and nature has persisted throughout history and culture and any feminist theory of environmental ethics, which fails to cope with this twin subjugation of women and nature is at best incomplete and at worst simply inadequate. This kind of connection commonly made by ecological feminists between feminism and the environmental include historical, conceptual, empirical, epistemological, ethical, theoretical and socio­ political.