Environmental Culture: The Ecological Crisis of Reason

by Val Plumwood

A much-needed account of what has gone wrong in our thinking about the environment. Val Plumwood argues that we need to see nature as an end itself, rather than an instrument to get what we want.

Genres: Feminism, Nonfiction, Environment, Philosophy, Research, Ecology, Theory

300 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Val Plumwood, formerly Val Routley, was an Australian ecofeminist intellectual and activist, who was prominent in the development of radical ecosophy from the early 1970s through the remainder of the 20th century.

Plumwood was active in movements to preserve biodiversity and halt deforestation from the 1960s on, and helped establish the trans-discipline known as ecological humanities.

At the time of her death, Plumwood was Australian Research Council Fellow at the Australian National University, and in the past had held positions at North Carolina State University, the University of Montana, and the University of Sydney.

In her 2000 essay "Being Prey", Val described her near-death experience that occurred during a solo canoe trip she took in 1985 in Australia's rugged bush territory. She was alone on the river and saw what appeared to be a "floating stick" that she soon realized was a crocodile. Before she could get ashore the crocodile attacked her canoe and in her attempt to leap ashore to avoid being capsized, Val was seized by the crocodile. The essay describes the "death rolls" the croc put her through several times, though miraculously she escaped to crawl nearly two miles to a rescue point. From this experience, Val gained a perspective that humans are part of the food chain as well, and that our culture's human-centric view is disconnected from the reality that we also are food for animals.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Val_Plum...)

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

bought this based on a single chapter that one of my professors used in class

so dense but so good , some of these sections i want to scream at everyone bc they’re so necessary

[Center For Study Indonesian Food Anthropology · Rating 4 out of 5]

Halo, Kerabat !

Kali ini membaca tulisannya Val Plumwood yang merupakan seorang filsuf lingkungan dan feminis lingkungan terkemuka, menyoroti kesalahan dalam pandangan manusia terhadap alam. Dia menekankan perlunya melihat alam sebagai entitas dengan nilai intrinsik, bukan hanya objek eksploitasi manusia.

Karyanya mengeksplorasi etika lingkungan, feminisme lingkungan, dan konsep ekofeminisme, menantang antroposentrisme dan membahas hubungan antara manusia dan alam. Pengalaman dramatisnya diserang oleh buaya di Australia mendalamkan pemahamannya tentang interaksi manusia dengan lingkungan. Warisannya tetap hidup melalui tulisannya, mendorong pemikiran kritis tentang ekologi, budaya, dan gender, memengaruhi pemikiran lingkungan global. Plumwood meninggal pada tahun 2008, tetapi ide-ide inovatifnya terus mempengaruhi perdebatan lingkungan dan filsafat modern.

Beberapa intisari dalam buku ini mencakup :
1. Sebuah laporan yang sangat dibutuhkan tentang kesalahan pemikiran kita tentang lingkungan.
2. Val Plumwood berpendapat bahwa kita perlu melihat alam sebagai tujuan itu sendiri, bukan sebagai alat untuk mendapatkan apa yang kita inginkan.

Dimulai dari Kesalahan Pemikiran Lingkungan yang mengidentifikasi kesalahan dalam cara kita memandang lingkungan dan perlunya perubahan paradigma, Nilai Alam Sendiri harus bisa menekankan pentingnya melihat alam sebagai tujuan akhir, bukan sekadar sumber daya yang dapat dimanfaatkan oleh manusia, Menentang Instrumenalisasi Alam artinya adalah menolak konsep melihat alam hanya sebagai instrumen atau alat untuk mencapai tujuan manusia. Tentunya har ini merujuk pada perlunya Penghormatan dan Kepedulian yang dapat mengajak untuk menghormati dan merawat alam, bukan hanya memanfaatkannya semata. Sejauh ini Pentingnya Kebijaksanaan Ekologis dalam merancang kebijakan dan tindakan manusia terhadap lingkungan yang disertai Peran Budaya dan Pendidikan dalam membentuk sikap dan perilaku manusia terhadap alam. Yang paling membahayakan adalah ketika Krisis Akal Budi Manusia dalam merespons tantangan lingkungan, dan perlunya perubahan dalam pemikiran dan tindakan manusia, Mengapa tidak ada hal-hal Transformasi Kultural dalam Pandangan manusia terhadap lingkungan ? Tentu saja hal ini merupakan pemikiran eksploitatif untuk menuju berkelanjutan.

Hatur nuhun.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entertaining and informative - a very beautiful book.

[Melvin · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a brilliant book. I am giving it high praise because the ideas in this book have the potential to change dominant Western philosophy. I especially appreciated her argument about dualisms and dissection of anthropocentrism. However, I note that it is very dense and it is very much a philosophy book for philosophers. I would have appreciated definitions of the terms she used, as usage varies across disciplines and individual academics. Moreover, there are numerous grammatical issues that drastically decrease the readability of the book.