Environmental Engineering Reference
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to place humankind as part of the natural world as opposed to apart from it.
Additionally, there have been societies and civilizations in the past, such as ancient
Egypt, whose open spirituality and reverence for nature has actually been rather
destructive. Instead of this, one alternative is to extend the democratic and discursive
theories of the German philosopher Jurgen Habermas to develop a communicative
ethics based on an ecological reason that encompasses nature as an actor in the com-
munication and discursive process. Dryzek suggests that this is feasible if perception
is equated with communication, and that as human impacts on ecological processes
inevitably alter those processes, these changes can be perceived as nature talking/
communicating with us in return. If nature is accorded value, or a kind of subjectivity,
just as a human party to the communication processes would be accorded value and
a subjectivity, then it becomes incumbent upon us to listen and act in an appropriate
manner, which Dryzek suggests should normally be on a scale and in a way that is
readily understood by all. However, there are plenty of examples of human action
operating at a scale whose consequences are poorly understood, discounted or ignored.
The ecological and social impact of big dams in massive development projects in
India and China may be cited as evidence of this and the idea that these impacts
and consequences themselves institute a form of communication or performance. The
implication of this is a new form of politics and a new conception of nature - a
reinscription of political ecology. Thus, Bruno Latour writes in his
Politics of Nature
:
Within the collective, there is now a blend of entities, voices, and actors, such
that it would have been impossible to deal with it either through ecology alone
or through politics alone. The first would have naturalized all the entities: the
second would have socialized them all. By refusing to tie politics to humans,
subjects, or freedom, and [should be 'or'] to tie Science to objects, nature or
necessity, we have discovered the work common to politics and to the sciences
alike: stirring the entities of the collective together in order to make them
articulable and to
make them speak.
(2004a: 89)
A communicative ethics for the biosphere would almost certainly entail political
conversations among 'actants', to use a term Latour adopts, where human beings
silently attune themselves to what the biosphere is saying and doing. Political
participation and engagement then would entail a 'better listening' and a de-emphasis
on the practice of speaking (Dobson, 2010). Democratic debate and communication
would look very different and if the utterances of Big Dams and Economic Growth
are taken into account, Green Reason would surely posit small as being beautiful
and rationality as being green.
Finally, in discussing politics, agency, communication and dialogue, it is well to
spend a little time considering the nature of talk. In everyday life people sometimes
shy away from appearing overly political or committed to a particular point of view.
One may not want to appear a zealot, or extremist, or 'greenie'. In various studies
of political talk by Americans, Nina Eliasoph (1990: 487) noted that 'holding an
opinion' means different things to different people and that the display of opinion
varies according to context and situation. In studying the relationships people display
towards their own political views when speaking among others or in public, Eliasoph
(1990: 465) remarks that people literally 'do things with words'. When talking
