Spiritual Value

The environment has been a place for centuries to find peace and balance entire religions, Daoism for example, have been founded on peace with nature as its main focus. Many have gone into nature in order to find spiritual rest. The Great Awakening in which took place in the mid 1700's led by George Whitefield, took worship services outside and dissolved the separation of nature and religion. Nature and spiritualism, once more, reunified. Other philosophers have found similar meaning in the endless bounty of nature. Ralph Waldo Emerson established his ideas on transcendentalism on this concept. Emerson says in the Spirit section of Nature that "The aspect of Nature is devout...The happiest man is he who learns from nature the lesson of worship." Nature is a place where the universe comes together. It is where mind, body, and soul can align. Nature is where spiritual peace can be found.

India finds the spiritual aspect of nature through its religions. Both Buddhism and Hinduism value the powerful spiritual aspects of nature, having temples and shrines located in the depths of natures. The Hindu Gods dwell in these lovely places and create a bridge for the human soul to find enlightenment. It can be thought that the Gods themselves may be nature and it is through the human connection with nature that spiritual enlightenment can be achieved. 


Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Nature”
http://www.ushistory.org/us/7b.asp

Personal Philospohy

I love nature. Nature to me provides endless possibilities for exploring the world around you as well as exploring within yourself. Nature is both an escape and a release. My personal philosophy with nature tends to lean toward the Dark Greens. I believe that the environment should have rights similar to those unalienable rights of humans. If you violate those distinct rights in any way, you should be punished. I also think that it is up to us, in this moment right now, to take a stand against the abuse of the environment. If you saw a woman her legs cut off with a chain saw and then being trampled by a bulldozer than carted away, would you act? Then why are natural areas any different? Humans should stop trying to control their surroundings. If a Tiger eats one of your cattle, you shouldn't shoot it. The tiger did what Tigers were supposed to do. Appreciate the beauty of what nature has created and deal with it. Nature can be our greatest joy if we nurture it, but if we fail to take care of it at this moment then we will lose this precious resource forever. 

Radical Value

After being asked what we would personally sacrifice for, similarities started to emerge. Family and loved ones were of course at the top of most lists. Our nation and ideals of freedom also ranked high, not surprising seeing as this is a military academy, and those who could not defend themselves seemed to round off the top three. Two traits jumped out at me from these lists. Although our exact words were different, our entire class was willing to risk their lives for those that are close to them and for those that they find innocent and uncorrupt. From this perspective, radical environmental movements seem to make a bit more sense. Nature is not a bad guy. It doesn’t hold up banks, it doesn’t rob old ladies of their purses. Nature is then innocent. Many people form intimate bonds with nature as well. Nature offers them an escape from life, an adventure to invigorate life, or simply a place to live and for life to grow. Thus Nature is close to people. It’s not hard to see why people provide friction in the protection of nature then. To them, the degradation of natural areas would be similar to the pillaging of your home town. Everything would be destroyed and nothing would be left living. Would you fight to defend that?

India is interesting when it comes to environmental movements. During the 1950’s and 1960’s when environmentalism started to take off in strides within the US, India was more focused on achieving social equality. However, as standard of living improved and Indians sought to protect lands from industry. The Chipko movement was the first big environmental group beginning in 1974. Environmentalism continues to be seen today with movements such as Jhola Aandolan and the anti-dam movement trying to keep waste out of the environment as well as letting nature and natural events occur without interference. Issues concerning the environmental movement today in India is the fact that “the more creative marginal voices and protests have been pushed out. The media has been responsible for the fact that only radicals are heard. No one wants to listen to a logical, reasoned argument on anything like how to solve the water crisis in Kutch. The environmentalists have only themselves to blame for this.” says Historian Ramachandra Guha.

http://infochangeindia.org/environment/changemakers/ramachandra-guha-the-trouble-with-radical-environmentalists.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chipko_movement

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_movement#India

Biocentrism Value

Biocentrism offers an alternative perspective into the environment. Nature is no longer just a tool for human beings to use. We instead become a part of nature. Nature is the larger being that we merely interact with. Without us, nature would continue to exist in its natural state. Biocentrism shifts the idea that the world is centered on humanity to the idea that nature instead, is at the center of life. The divide between man and the environment is a human construct, so once we remove that block we can truly be apart of nature. Aldo Leopold explained in his concept of the Land Ethic that ethics aren't just constructs of humanity but apply to our surroundings including the flora and fauna, soil, and all other aspects of nature.

India, with its Hindu foundation, hold protecting environmental areas such as Sacred Groves to be of the highest duty. These areas prohibit destruction whether it is hunting of logging in order to maintain the natural value of all components of nature. Humans simply become the stewards of the land instead of its owner.  The communities value the land and thus it stays preserved. 

Aldo Leopold, “The Land Ethic”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_groves_of_India

Future Generation Value

The idea of renting versus owning a property provides a perfect analogy for the future generations value. When a vehicle is rented, keeping the long-term maintenance on the car is usually the least of your concern. The rental is for easy transportation to and from vacation or business locations. If you get a scratch in the parking lot or knick a curb, it doesn’t matter. It’s a rental and will be out of your thoughts the moment you drop off the keys. Owning a vehicle is different. As an owner, you change the oil every 5,000 miles, you rotate the tires in order to make them last longer, you park carefully in order to make sure your car remains pristine. The same idea translate to our environment. If we see our time on earth as simply that of a renter, we will destroy our surroundings because when we die and turn in the keys, our actions no longer affect us. But, if we take ownership of the environment and do our best to keep nature unspoiled, then we will have an asset that we can proudly hand down to our kids.

India is currently facing the renter’s dilemma. India heavily pollutes its natural resources and due to industrialization, has been destroying natural areas in the name of industry and agriculture. However, recent policies in afforestation hope to increase the amount of natural forests from 20% of land mass to 30%. Other policies have been enacted to reduce pollutants as well as teaching rural citizens more sustainable agricultural practices such as efficient animal husbandry. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_issues_in_India#Forests_and_conservation

http://envfor.nic.in/division/environment-protection

Justice Value

Environmental justice does not take place in Mother Nature’s court of law. Instead, environmental justice asks the question "What if we did not choose our place of residence?" This makes you look into your own privileges. I am free to move to places that satisfy my liking and overall health due to my socioeconomic standing.  There are many in this world who do not have this privilege. People are forced to live near hazardous sites such as power plants and dumping stations because they cannot afford to live anywhere else. Scott Neeson demonstrates this divide in his work in Cambodia. Neesen sees the hopelessness of children living in a garbage dump. They did not choose to be born there. They had no choice in living there. they simply must endure it since they have no capability of leaving. Neeson decided to provide them a chance. He is working at tipping the justice value back in their favor through education. Given Neeson's example, how do we protect those who do not have the ability to help themselves, and whose job should it be to ensure their quality of life?

  

Environmental justice is not just whether you have the ability to choose your home, it’s how that forced residency affects the individual. India is full of examples. The slums in cities such as Mumbai, made famous in the motion picture Slumdog Millionaire, provide little opportunity for the children to escape the poverty. An egregious example of environmental injustice takes place in the coal mines of India. As India develops, it needs energy sources to propel its industry. The cheapest and most abundant source of energy being coal. The energy companies use children, some as young as six or seven, to mine the black rock. Are they being paid? Poorly, but yes. Then why is this injustice? The children have no choice but to mine the coal. Some of them come from extreme poverty and their families need the extra money. They have no choice but to suffer from the side effects of mining coal such as severe coughing, black lung, and nerve damage. No ability to look out for their own future.

Children of the Cambodian Dump: Scott Neeson’s Mission 

http://www.policyinnovations.org/ideas/innovations/data/000263

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Health_effects_of_coal

Cultural Value

Culture, as defined in class, is the sum total ways of living built up by a group of human beings which is transmitted from one generation to another. These can be ways of living such as religion, language, festivals, and even daily behaviors. All of these, however, are affected by the environment and your surroundings. As learned in class using Tom Horton’s Bay Country in our case study on inhabitants of Smith Island, the direct surroundings of a society directly affects the people. The citizens of Smith Island relied heavily on the bounty of the Chesapeake Bay. The Bay in essence was their life. They have a dozen words for the different molting stages of a crab because crab was their livelihood. It became more than a job, crabbing was life. So much so that the disappearance of crab in the bay is making the folks of Smith Island disappear as well. Cultural values can be seen in India in a dramatic way as well. The Ganges River in India is the holiest river to the Hindu faith and is a source of spiritual purification. Around 22 million people a year visit the Ganges to purify themselves or to release the bodies of loved ones into the afterlife. This cultural cornerstone is being threatened.  The river is one of the most polluted in the world due to domestic waste, industrial waste, and cremation of bodies and faces daily threats from the 400 million people who rely on the Ganges for a living. If the river were to become polluted to a point of no one being able to use it, then  India would be at more than a recreational loss. A culture that uses the river as the center of spiritual release will fade away, and India may not be India any more.  

http://www.dw.de/indias-polluted-ganges-river-threatens-peoples-livelihoods/a-17237276

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/15/world/asia/ganges-river-revered-soiled-and-symbol-of-an-indian-election-campaign.html?_r=0

http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/worlds-most-visited-sacred-sites/3

Economic Value

When looking at values of nature, one that seems obvious in our globalized economy is the economic power of nature, or simply the monetary value we can extract from our natural places. How does one value a tropical rain forest or put a price tag on a 100 mile-long stretch of coral reef? Cost-Benefit analysis. Simply put, cost-benefit analysis puts economic values on four aspects of the environment and addresses its values and whether it makes more economic sense to keep that wild area the way it is, or to develop it into a more profitable venture. Breaking down this model, we are left with four components; direct use value, indirect use value, optional value, existence value. Direct use value tends to be the heavy hand when these four factors are added up, and tends to favor the cornucopian ideas of developing the environment into profit and sacrificing preservation. India faces this value equation everyday as it brings itself into industrialization. Most of India is not developed and relies on farming as a mean to survive with roughly a quarter of the population being cultivators of the land with over half of the population working in agriculture. 

This is both good and bad for the environment. On the positive, people are invested in their surroundings. They must take care of the land so it takes care of them. This reverts back to the indirect value and the optional value. However, the direct value is the most important. The value of farmland exceeds the value of unproductive wild areas. Tigers killing livestock is not beneficial for the farmer so the former are removed for economic purposes leaving a species to the brink of extinction in less than a century. If the values, such as existence value of tigers, are not weighed more heavily than the equation may just become direct value equals the total economic value since none of the others would exist. 

http://india.gov.in/topics/agriculture

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Farmer-population-falls-by-9-million-in-10-years/articleshow/19813617.cms

Security Value

Security is a big, scary word that one does not instantly associate with the environment. Security is the government raising an army to defend borders or your municipality having a police force to patrol the streets. But the more you look into it, the more nature can play these roles. Topography can defend a nation’s borders for instance. In India, the geographic features play a large role in its national defense. India’s Southwestern and Southeastern borders fall in the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal respectively, providing a secure water border. Its Northeastern border is fenced in by the Himalayas. Where India lacks geographic peace of mind is on its border with Pakistan on the Indo-Gongetic Plain. This provides a direct avenue into India and is a potential source of invasion, or the movement of extremist activity into places such as the capitol of New Delhi.

 

Conflict is only one aspect to environmental security according to Thomas Homer-Dixon and his work “Environment, scarcity, and Violence.” The other major component is scarcity of natural resources. India lives an interesting dynamic of resource scarcity. Its biggest environmental challenge is its yearly monsoon. During the Rainy season, water is abundant, if not too abundant, creating flooding and death. During the dry season, water is scarce and people do not have enough to grow crops. Finding that middle way is India’s goal so that crops and populations do not have to flow with the weather, but can be sustainable by being secure.

Thomas Homer Dixon, Environment, Scarcity, and Violence 

Introduction

From the moment you were born, life has been a competition. Your parents competed with each other on who got to hold the new baby first, and then instantly competed to see who wouldn’t have to change the first diaper. Growing up was a competition between siblings and classmates; who was taller, who was smarter, who was faster, and most importantly who got the most candy on Halloween. Life seems to be competition. We compete every day, and that can be taxing. So what do we do? We look to relax and that venue for relaxation over centuries has always been to go to someplace simpler, someplace void of distraction, someplace that loses the fight of competition. That place is nature.

Yet today, even nature seems to be filled with competition. Different groups view the value of the environment through different lenses, giving them each their own opinion on nature’s use. Professor Howard Ernst provides three groups to address the three competing interests concerning the environment in his book Fight for the Bay. These groups, the Dark Greens, the Light Greens, and the Cornucopians, all value nature and the environment, they just value different components of it creating conflict amongst the groups.


It is important to understand the reasoning for each group, however, because each group plays a vital role in the protection and preservation of the environment as a whole.