What do the arts and humanities have to say about nature conservation and sustainable futures? This, rather weighty, question spurred an inspiring debate on Monday between five faculty members at the American University of Beirut (AUB). It turns out, the arts and humanities have plenty to say on the topic, ranging from the truth behind capitalist conspiracies to why we give puppies cute cuddly names. And what was the takeaway from this pinball-style debate? Human efforts at conservation and sustainability seem to have rather selfish motives.
Conservation, the ethic of protecting resources, seems a rather straightforward affair, but scratch the surface and you discover that its roots are a bit darker than you might expect.
Adam Waterman of the AUB English department opened the debate by describing the origins of the conservation movement in late 19th century America. In the 1890’s, natural resources- think arable land and copious amounts of oil- were readily available to all.
But the corporate American elite of the day, such as the famously wealthy Rockefeller family, were afraid that their control over oil and other resources would slip away; so they began lobbying for the government to set aside massive tracts of land under federal control and out of reach of small businesses hoping to take a slice of the elite’s petro-pie: the sleazy birth of the American national parks system.
Today, national parks rouse visions of boring family vacations and spewing geysers, but Waterman showed that they were created to deprive the masses of access to resources outside of corporate monopolies.
And what about sustainability in Lebanon?
Crystal Hoffman, an eco-poet and member of the AUB English department, offered the example of the Druze community’s eco-conscious, but poorly understood, tree planting initiative in the Chouf as a magnanimous effort for future generations.
And in reference to a recent advertising campaign for a local bank, Dr. Waterman asked, “What does opening an account at Blom bank have to do with ‘going green’?”
This type of green branding plays on people’s desire to be distinguished by the products we buy as people who care about the environment.
So it seems with every environmentally friendly action someone can find a selfish motive behind it.
Yet the problem goes even deeper. Hoffman closed the debate with a reading of two eco-poems that aim to “break down the fake binary” between humans and nature. In other words, we must rid ourselves of the idea that we are “above” nature; we separate ourselves from it, and thus, give ourselves the right to exploit it. We breed fluffy little dogs and give them cuddly names because we can, because we are human.
As his Husky-Alsatian named Cyberia grew visibly bored and began catching insects, Dr. Joshua Gonsalves captured the event neatly with his own spin on a famous John F. Kennedy quote, “Ask not what nature can do for us, but how we can work with nature.”
This debate was part of the Ta3a Ne7ke (Let’s Talk) series sponsored by the Nature Conservation Center for Sustainable Futures (IBSAR) at AUB. For more information on their work and upcoming IBSAR events, click here
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