Abstract

The climate of the earth is currently in a state of rapid and unprecedented transformation. Efforts to alert political leaders and educate the general public about humanity’s role in climatic instability have manifested in a series of international conferences, commissions, and reports, most notably the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol. Despite widespread global support for more sustainable policies and practices, the latest data indicate that little progress is being made; rather, the earth and its inhabitants are entering a period wherein the historical cycles of the climate system are apparently set to unravel. The focus of this inquiry is a critical analysis of the core concepts concerning this issue; the results of which indicate that its underlying causes are neither exclusively political nor pedagogical but rooted in a pervasive anthropocentrism. This becomes evident when contrasted with an ecocentric perspective that not only serves as a necessary corrective to the hegemonic influence of modernist thought, but also allows for an alternate discursive framework to emerge.