Headlines have been screaming that a “Motherload of Gorillas” has been found in the Republic of the Congo (not the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which isn’t so democratic, but that’s another post someday!). Usually I try to take a regular news story, like the situation between Russia and Georgia, and do a feminist reading of the situation or its implications, but this is good news! Hooray!! Don’t worry though, we can still do some feminism-ing…and then we’ll talk Olympic sex testing next week!
Perhaps as many as 125,000 Western Lowland Gorillas were found in a completely remote and totally swampy area of Northern Congo. Because of the inaccessibility of the area it has been largely ignored by poachers and developers. Unfortunately this is about to change. The government has recently been selling resource rights to several companies to harvest the area’s timber—which would of course necessitate draining the swamps to create access roads etc. It’s easy for us to sit here and say WOA! BAD IDEA, but before we do that there must be an understanding of the situation of a very poor country with few natural resources attempting to become a part of the world market. Additionally, we have to think about where that timber is going...
There is a western arrogance to the environmental movement, that we should always be able to have our plastic bottles, but we’ll recycle them, without an understanding of the social and economic disparities that developing nations struggle with every day. Organic produce even in the US is generally still picked by underpaid migrant farm laborers and shipped the average 1500 miles (lots of gas even in my VW) to our grocery stores, but the pro-active sounding “organic” label allows us “do the right thing” and to further remove ourselves from the social, environmental and economic problems. BUY SEASONAL and LOCAL!
OK, let me get down off my soapbox. There.
One of the hallmarks of ecofeminist theory is the understanding that the subjugation of women and the subjugation of “mother” earth are, in fact, the same thing. That the idea that nature must be conquered and subjugated or studied by the male dominated rationality drives both the social construction of women through their reproductive functions and the concept of trees, fossil fuels, etc. as resources for humans. Some ecofeminists advocate a return to nature, cyclical living, and vegetarian/vegan living, while others, including Vandana Shiva (queen bee of my environmental consciousness) argue that the current model, particularly of agriculture, further subjugates the world’s poor countries to the demands of the wealthy and that by doing so we are losing the invaluable knowledge of the women who maintain traditional subsistence farming methods.
All in all, hooray for the find. It’s incredibly exciting to hear that a population we thought we had practically destroyed is thriving well away from us—and there’s the catch. How do we both protect this amazing find and yet stay well enough away for them to continue to thrive; it’s only because they have been so inaccessible to people that they have done so well. I would totally advocate for roping that space off and forgetting about it, but we can’t do that. We also can’t avoid the economic and social issues in our rush to “do the right thing”. What has to be done is the best thing for everyone involved or the situation will escalate and the gorillas will be the losers. They always have been.
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4 comments:
I agree strongly with the notion that we too often instruct other countries to do as we say, not as we do. A recent episode of foreign affairs serves as an excellent (ludicrous) example. More specifically, though, we do a great job of offshoring the costs of our own society from clothing manufacture to electronic waste disposal. Call it "total cost of ownership," or "cradle to grave costs," or what you will, but do think things through as far as possible.
In my opinion conservation is the greatest lie ever conceived. The idea that conserving electricity by turning off lights or driving less will somehow help the environment when the population is still growing exponentially is a joke. It doesn't solve the root of the problem, like the fact that there are too many people or poor city zoning makes people need to drive cars to make a decent living or at least get anywhere on time. In Corvallis this isn't as big a problem as the town is small and flat but some places are worse.
Personally, buying organic is less about doing the right thing as it is avoiding the chemicals put into foods these days. Sure, they don't seem to do any harm immediately but no one knows the long-term health effects that will occur from their use. You're right in that buying local would be the best thing to do, but not everyone knows the best places/times to buy local. Granted most people are too lazy to, but it's hard when you're starting out on that sort of thing and don't know who/what to turn to.
As for ecofeminist theory, understand that the rich subjugate the poor just as society subjugates Earth regardless of its gender. In my opinion it's less about the sex as it is being better than the other, sex is just used as a means to that end.
-Wade Cline
I know personally that it always seems frustrating to want to take part in "doing the right thing," but often it's hard to find out how to get involved. Well, as far as growing organically or finding farmers who do grow organic locally, there are resources out there, you just need to know where to look. This website that I've linked to is a couple who grows organically on about 17 acres and sell locally.
Then you also have local farmer's markets, which are also a very important resource.
And finally, if you just feel like educating yourself on the topic of food and/or the environment, I can suggest three authors.
The first is Jared Diamond. He has written extensively on consumption and is well known for his two books Collapse and Guns, Germs, and Steel.
Next I would suggest Alan Weisman and his book The World Without Us. It details a thought experiment where humans no longer exist.
And finally, for the food side of this, I would suggest almost anything by Michael Pollan.
Tanner Cheyne
I think that it is very true that Americans can so easily focus on how countries are making wrong decisions such as using the habitat that the gorillas live in because we are not in as much of a crisis as third world countries are. We are not in desperate need of sanitary water or food or medicine. In a way it is kind of messed up that we would even place a gorillas life before a humans. It sounds as though the people living in that area are very desperate for the resources that it can provide. We shouldn't be judgemental of their decision to use the habitat.
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