Ecological Crisis -- Historical Roots

The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis: A Summary

According to White, the word etymology first appeared in the English language in the year 1873. He traced the etymology of ecology back to the marriage of theoretical and sophisticated science to the empirical technology about four generations ago (1203). In an attempt to understand the roots of what is known as the ecological crisis, White discussed three important historical factors:

Western Tradition of Science & Technology. Although modern technology and science have elements from all over the world, technology remained to be Western -- in style and in method. This Western leadership in science has existed way before the Scientific Revolution of th3 17th century. On the other hand, this Western science superiority traces its roots in the assumptions and developments of the Middle Ages (1204).

Medieval View of Man and Nature. Back in time of scratch-plow fields, fields were distributed on the basis of the needs of the single family -- the very notion of subsistence farming. As such, man was part of nature. When farming technology took over, land was now distributed on the basis of the tilling capacity of the machines. Consequently, man has now become the exploiter of nature (1205).

Christianity. The victory of Christianity over paganism which is animist in nature (veneration of nature) further strengthened the very notion of the "exploiter man." Christianity believes that man is created after God's image and that man shares God's transcendence over nature. Hence, nature is understood to have existed for man's benefit. It is upon God's will that man exploits nature to serve his purpose. With paganism now destroyed, Christianity made it possible that man exploit nature with indifference to the feelings of natural objects (1205-1206).

Believing that what we can do about ecology rests on our idea of man-nature relationship, White closes his article with an alternative Christian view which he saw in the example of St. Francis of Assisi. St. Francis embodied the virtue of humility, especially for man as a species. He tried to depart from the notion of man's transcendence over nature and highlighted a democratic rule over all of God's creations (1206-1207).

Reference

White, Lynn Jr. "The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis." American Association for the Advancement of Science. 155(3767): 1203-1207.