Fifteenth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic & Social Sustainability

Abstract

We expect environmental sustainability initiatives to work in harmony with natural ecologies. But many contemporary STEM-based sustainability projects oppose natural processes, based on assumptions of mind/body, human/non-human separation, and Western Modernist traditions of domination, command, and control. Technology is treated as the deus ex machina that ‘saves’ the world through dramatic, unlikely and narrowly-focused interventions, ignoring ecological contexts and harmful side effects. This approach focuses on unexamined, stereotypical goals, and industrialized, sci-fi solutions. Such projects may carry the exciting sparkle of innovation, but also set ‘Man against Nature’, opposing natural ecological processes in egregious, even ridiculous ways. They may do violence where they intend to do good. Epistemological traditions based in integration, relationship and ecological wisdom teach very different ways of doing sustainability. Indigenous epistemologies teach that all beings are our relations. Human survival is intimately connected with the well-being of all our relations. Other traditions including Taoism and Animism teach humans to go with the natural way of things rather than striving against the world. When such traditions are disregarded within STEM, practices of opposition to ecologies are given unwarranted credence. I offer examples from three areas in contemporary sustainability science and technology: (1) extreme agriculture projects (growing food in mineshafts and garages); (2) artificial photosynthesis using industrial chemicals; and (3) restoration of wildlife refuge habitats to an arbitrary period, despite potentially harmful practices. While acknowledging good intentions and small-scale innovative potential, I suggest other, wiser ways of moving forward in harmony with natural processes.