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objective measurement means that the environment's complexity as a system can be over-
looked and differing viewpoints ignored (Reid, 1995), with subsequently little debate about
values (Pepper, 1996).
An alternative ideology of environmental discourse is encapsulated in ecocentrism
(O'Riordan, 1981), which emphasises the spiritual and romantic values of nature closely asso-
ciated with transcendentalism. This paradigm challenges the power of modern technology
and political elites, advocating environmentally benign alternative technologies that are held
to be more democratic as they can be owned, maintained and understood by individuals who
possess little economic or political power. Thus there is a political dimension to ecocentric
discourse that has synergies to the 'Luddites', being not opposed to new technology but
opposed to technology that places its ownership and control in the hands of a powerful elite.
A further classifi cation in divergence of environmental discourse is recognised by
Bartelmus (1994) and Doyle and McEachern (1998), as the 'Dominant World View' and
'Deep Ecology'. The 'dominant world view' embeds an acceptance of nature as a 'resource';
a belief in infi nite resources and that technological progress will solve any environmental
problems; favours the objective over the subjective; and encourages consumerism and
the centralisation of power. In contrast, 'deep ecology' disputes the tenets of this dominant
world view, recognising an 'intrinsic' value in all sentient and non-sentient beings; rejecting
the notion of a hierarchy of species of nature and recognising the interconnectivity and
fi nite character of nature. The equating of the dominant world view with the attitudes
of technocentrism is evident, and according to O'Riordan (1981) the balance of power in
decision-making in society lies with technocentrics.
For Dryzeck (1997), environmental discourse is determined by its degree of departure
from the terms of industrialism, making a distinction between the 'prosaic' and the 'imagina-
tive'. The prosaic departure accepts the existing political economy, within which environ-
mental problems will be encountered and mitigated without requiring a new structure of
society. In contrast, the imaginative departure seeks to bring the environment into the centre
of society's economic, ethical and cultural systems. The degree of this imaginative response
can be reformist without changes to existing political structures, typifi ed in institutional
defi nitions of sustainable development, or it may be much more radical, requiring a complete
restructuring of the existing political economy.
These discourses of environmentalism vis-à-vis ecologism; technocentrism vis-à-vis
ecocentrism; dominant world view vis-à-vis deep ecology; the prosaic vis-à-vis the imagina-
tive illustrate how environmental concerns have become embedded in the consciousness of
society. They also represent dialectical positions between which there are innumerable
options that determine 'what' are held to be environmental problems and 'how' we choose to
respond to them. This 'how' will subsequently be determined by the dynamics of environ-
mental discourses between those who hold power and those who challenge it.
Environmental discourses and tourism
Having explained the character and divergence of environmental discourses, the next part of
the chapter analyses how environmental discourses are manifesting themselves in tourism.
Given the range of stakeholders involved in tourism, this is not an easy task, nor can it
be assumed that government, industry, NGOs and tourists will necessarily engage with
an environmental discourse. Without an acceptance that tourism is a causal factor of
environmental problems, there is an absence of rationale for action towards environmental
mitigation or conservation. Given the plurality of stakeholders, tourism's fragmented
 
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