Heather Strange
#1 Reductionist Paradigm
The Reductionist Paradigm reveals the presence of a barrier between specialist’s
knowledge and non-specialists knowledge. The Scientific Revolution brought about a shift in
how knowledge was retained and valued in modern society. The trained specialist, with their
years of preparation and practice, is seen to have the correct knowledge to perform the job.
The non-specialist, everyone else, is seen as ignorant, and unable to possess the same
knowledge as the specialist. This system of patriarchy, where the men are given, and maintain
the highest level of knowledge, causes the exploitation of nature and women in the process.
The reductionist paradigm “reduces the capacity of humans to know nature both by
excluding other knowers and other ways of knowing” (Ecofeminism, pg 23). Nature is reduced
to a set of mechanical processes that are uniform, and can be interchanged to make the
machine run at optimal capacity. In order to run the machine, you have to be trained in the
sciences, and you can only be trained in the sciences if you are or of a high socio-economic
status and a male citizen. The exclusion of the “other knowers”, who gained their knowledge
through years and years of hands on experience, passed down from generation to generation,
and their “ways of knowing”, has been completely disregarded by modern science.
“Reductionism is a response to the needs of a particular form of economic and political
organization” (Ecofeminism, pg 24). The maximizing of profits is the main concern of a company
whether public or privately owned. In order to maximize profits, products must be
commodified, and broken down by how much they cost to produce. The efficiency of a
company is measured by how little that company has to spend in order to make a product, and
sell it to the general public. The most efficient way of producing these commodities is to have
uniformity in production. The fast these companies can produce a single uniform product, the
more their profits can grow. The only concern is to generate profits, and the best way to do
that is through “exploitation and extraction.” The properties of a resource that are necessary
and which “stabilize ecological processes” are disregarded because they are not commercially
profitable (Ecofeminism, pg 24).
The reductionist paradigm can be seen in the way we view human reproduction. The
mother’s womb is considered simply a container for the fetus. The most important thing in this
case being the fetus, the product, or commodity, that woman can produce. In the past, women
have had a direct link with the care they receive when pregnant, and had been considered
experts on the subject of pregnancy and birth, but through the advent of science, this inherent
knowledge is not seen as knowledge at all. The doctor is the one with knowledge of the
woman’s body, and only he knows the best course of action to extract the baby. Women are
continually told what is best for their babies, and their bodies, and have learned to rely on
these medical practitioners to give them the answers. Through the use of invitro fertilization
and Cesarean sections, the woman’s womb is reduced to a tool, separate from her body that
can produce life if given the correct amount of intervention from the medical society.
The same way that human reproduction has been reduced to means and ends, so has
plant reproduction. Planting and harvesting had always been a way to produce enough food for
consumption, while allowing nature to renew itself in the process. There was knowledge passed
down through time that farmers abided by, to keep and clean seed, renew soil, and continue to
harvest. This knowledge has been replaced by industrially produced seed and fertilizer. This
new product was thought to have overcome the obstacle of subsistence farming, and turning it
into a profit driven industry. Now, genetically modified seeds are planted in pesticide ready soil,
and sold to farmers in order to produce identical plants that can be easily and cheaply harvests.
This mass production tests the limits of the soil, and messes with the balance that nature
provides. The once common source, the seed, is now something that can be owned and
possessed, patented and plagiarized.
The reductionist paradigm, offers several examples of societies lack of care when it
comes to nature. The advancement of technology has given us the ability to detach ourselves
from our own being, in a way that allows us to see nature as outside of ourselves. We do not
place value on nature, so we can turn seeds into a commodity, and value the new science of
genetic modification over simple regeneration. We can count on the knowledge of a doctor,
because we are unsure of our own connection with our bodies, as it relates to childbirth. The
fragmentation of knowledge, and values placed on profit can only be overcome only when we
“view the world as an active subject, not merely as a resource to be manipulated and
appropriated” (Ecofeminism, pg 34).
Heather Strange
#2 Aspects of Dualism: Water
There are five key aspects to dualisms; radical exclusion, homogenization,
backgrounding, incorporation, and instrumentalism. Radical exclusion is a process by which
humans treat nature and animals as separate from themselves. Homogenization consists of
thinking that nature and animals are all alike in their needs, and their absence of rational
thinking. Backgrounding occurs when we deny that we are dependent on nature, and do not
see that nature has limits. Incorporation means that humans devalue nature in such a way that
they find it inferior, disorderly, and unreasonable. Instrumentalism is a form of control over
nature. Since we do not see nature as having a purpose unto itself, natures only purpose is
therefore to serve as a resource for humans.
The stress is placed on the differences between human, animals, and nature instead of
their similarities, when radical exclusion is used. The mind is seen as exclusively human, and
gives humans the appropriate spot at the top of the hierarchy. In order to assert their
dominance, different social groups may try to make other groups seem inferior by comparing
them with nature and asserting the other groups similarities with nature. The overuse of water
by those of a higher socio-economic status can therefore be justified by saying that they are
more entitled to it, or that they have more use for it. Someone in the United States may say “I
need water for my grass and flowers, Middle Eastern people don’t have to worry about that.”
Homogenization is the idea that nature is simply a series or interchangeable units, and
suggests that everything in nature works the same way, and can be treated as such.
Homogenization leads to treating nature and the complex things in it, as an inferior machine
that needs to be tweaked by the master- humans. Water that is running underground is
thought to have no purpose until a company comes in and begins pumping it out for consumer
uses.
We do not see that nature has limits until something disastrous happens and we are
forced to deal with it as a society. Backgrounding of water occurs all the time. We brush our
teeth with the water running, we let the kids play on slip n slides all day long, we buy bottles of
water, take a few sips, and then throw it away. It is certain that in the Western world we use a
great deal of water as consumers. It is not quite so well know that the amount of water used in
production far exceeds any consumer use. In her book Water Wars, Vandana Shiva talks about
the amount of water used in production and the amount of pollution that is generated.
“Packaging green beans and peaches for long-distance trade can use up to 17,000 and 4,800
gallons per ton, respectively” (Water Wars, pg 33). When we go to buy this produce in the
store, we don’t even think that it used water in the transportation.
With incorporation, instead of seeing nature as an organizing structure within itself, we
perceive nature as scattered and unable to manage without the help and intervention of
development. Therefore we integrate our own human order onto nature, and strip it of its own
intricate design. The movie Flow, shows us examples of how development has deprived
indigenous people of their own water. Instead of having a system of water collection that the
people themselves can create and monitor, the developers install pumping stations that require
money, money most people don’t have. This has been done in order to give the poorer people
better access to clean water, but instead it has created an even greater water shortage, by not
allowing them to collect the water the way they have done in the past, and charging them for
clean water that should be free.
Instrumentalism causes us to see as nature as having no purpose of its own. Because of
this belief we are able to use nature however we see fit. There is no value to nature, until we
add value and use it as a means for us to reach an end. In this way nature is devalued, and is
only assigned value when it fits into our needs. We don’t think that nature has a purpose for
water, other than our own purpose of consumption and use. We use water to grow food, to
wash clothes, the cook meals. We are surrounded by water but don’t see that it has any
significance unto itself. In reality, the very beginning of life was realized in the oceans and
rivers. The cycle of water from evaporation to precipitation is just that- a cycle. A perfectly
designed structure to continually flow water through our planet, this in itself is a purpose. The
purpose is detached from any human intervention, a purpose of its own.
The aspects of dualism can be applied directly to many ecological problems. We should
be aware of these aspects and realize that they need to be changed in order for the dualism to
no longer apply. By recognizing radical exclusion, homogenization, backgrounding,
incorporation, and instrumentalism, we can avoid falling into the same old ways of thinking.
Heather Strange
#3 Environmental Racism
Environmental racism is used to describe a situation where a disproportionate number
of low-income or minority groups are surrounded by the negative effects of pollution within
their communities. The dualisms at play in environmental racism are: colonizer/colonized,
rich/poor, and culture/nature. These dualisms enable policies to be enacted that have direct
and adverse effects on minority groups around the world.
The colonizer/colonized dualism is much like the master/slave dualism. The Colonizer
treats the colonized as inferior to themselves. Any similarity between the two groups is denied
by the colonizer, and the colonizer reaffirms his place at the top of the hierarchy by pointing
out instances of difference and perceived inherent inferiority. The colonizer does not even
recognize the distinction between groups within the colonized other. There are certainly many
minority groups living in the United States, and in areas that are plagued by environmental
racism. The colonizer does not see these many minorities; they only see one group of people
who are very alike. The colonizer further renders the minorities as inessential. Why should we
care if we put a paper plant in the middle of where that empty lot used to be, no one uses it
anyway. Not only are the citizen who live there affected by the pollution that the plant causes,
but in many cases they are the ones who will be working in the factory. The colonizer does not
care about this, only that the paper products are being produced, the workers themselves are
inessential.
The rich/poor dualism is rather obvious. The more money you have the better you can
create your living conditions. When you are living by the beach in Jacksonville, you do not know
or probably care about what is going on in the city until you actually have to drive through it.
The poor who inhabit many the rundown parts of the city are backgrounded and homogenized
by the rest of society. We may not see any similarities between ourselves and the man on the
street corner holding a sign asking for donations. In California, the Navajo Indians face threats
from uranium mines on or near reservations. Being first regarded as primitive, the Navajo were
radically excluded and homogenized, and then because of their access to undeveloped lands
containing uranium, they were instrumentalized. Karen J. Warren in her article “Taking
Empirical Data Seriously: An Ecofeminist Philosophical Perspective,” quotes a report “Toxins
and Minority Communities, “ by the Center for Third World Organizing in Oakland, California
that “two million tons of radioactive uranium trailing’s have been dumped on Native American
lands” (Ecofeminism, pg 9). The cost for the mining of uranium and the pollution it generates is
bore by the Navajo, while the profits and benefits of the uranium is garnered by the rich. The
perpetuation of this dualism, rich/poor, can be seen by poor’s acceptance of the lifestyle of the
rich, and their devaluation of their own circumstances. The poor accept that they are poor and
continue to strive for the ‘good life’ offered when they can finally reach the rich level.
The culture/nature dualism is present in environmental racism specifically in the way
pollution is rendered into our water system. Companies are permitted to dump certain
amounts of industrial pollution into waterways or certain areas of the country that are
considered expendable, uninhabited, or otherwise of no use at that moment. This pollution
makes it’s way into the water and into our drinking cups, unless of course you can afford to buy
a filter or have your water bottled. The indigenous means of clean water collection and
retention is considered primitive and uncivilized, so companies come, buy land, and start
pumping out the ground water to be bottled and sold. Once something becomes a commodity
on the global market, it is considered good. The culture has invented a new means that is
lasting and provides choices, while nature carries the cost of drastically reduced runoff and
natural springs. The movie Flow, showed a town in India who were protesting a Coca-Cola plant
because they were losing their ability to find clean water. Coca-Cola was taking the water and
leaving waste. The cultural creation was disrupting the natural order.
Environmental racism will perpetuate if society continues to place exclusive value on
commodity production. The use of the gross national product as a measuring stick for the
wealth of a country needs to be the first thing to change. We should no longer take all the
natural resources and turn them into commodities for trade. In doing this we are not only
stripping our natural resources of their ability to renew, but we are continuing to reinforce the
dualisms that provide such a strong divide among the citizens. The recognition and realization
of dualisms and their effects on society can only be achieved if we change our value systems.
Heather Strange
#4 Values and Patterns of Thought