The Ecological Crisis-An Environmental Crisis or a Human One? What's the Difference?

When discussing the countless environmental and ecological crises facing our planet today, it is commonly discussed as an 'environmental' problem, abstracting it from human life. The catastrophic effects of global warming are depicted through polar bears running out of ice to live on, and rising sea levels killing off island species. In his 2007 book, The Enemy of Nature: The End of Capitalism or the End of the World?, Joel Kovel stresses that ecological disasters are as much a problem for mankind as they are for nature, for the simple reason that mankind is a part of nature. Kovel refers to the Red Cross' World Disaster Report for 1999, which revealed that in this year some 25 million people were forced to leave their homes due to ecological disasters including droughts, floods, deforestation, and degraded land. Similarly, problems we often deem as 'human' issues, such as poverty, inequality, and overpopulation, are issues directly linked to the environment. With a rising number of shanty towns, and more and more people living in areas with a high risk of flooding and earthquakes, to treat human and ecological issues as two separate entities is naive. 

It is also naive, however, to see humans as no different to the rest of nature. Humanity's devastating impact upon our planet proves it to be somewhat anomalous to other species of plants and animals around us. The great difference, Kovel argues, is production. Production is what makes humanity so different to all other species, and the way we organize our society, affect our planet, and live our lives are all outcomes of this. Thus, Kovel argues, the ecological crisis includes what can be referred to as the conditions of production. The ecological crisis therefore includes humanity's unsustainable consumption of oil, the spreading of diseases between human populations, and war. 

Kovel uses hurricane Katrina as a prime example of how humanity's neglect of social and environmental issues can and will bring about the destruction of human society. The hurricane, brought about by global warming caused by humanity's unsustainable levels of greenhouse gas emissions, is a direct example of the devastating impact our neglect of environmental issues can be. The damage it caused- the destruction of almost an entire city- was so magnificent due to the lack of protections implemented in case of such a disaster, namely because such protection are expensive, and do not bring about revenue. Help for residents was very limited, as authorities such as the National guard were in Iraq, and as a final blow to residents, much of the land they used to call their homes was turned to unaffordable luxury apartments, displacing many poor residents.

It is not unusual, Kovel goes on to argue, for states as large as the United States to fall. When the Roman and British empires failed to identify and address issues making them weak and unsustainable, they crumbled, and eventually, the world recovered. what makes the ecological crisis different, is that this is not an issues for just the United States. Nor is this a problem for simply the developed world, or even just for humanity. When the Roman empire crumbled, it was Rome that was broken. Humanity lived on, and other empires grew in its place. If the ecological crisis grows out of control, it will be the entire world that is harmed, and there will be nobody left to rebuild.

Laurie Farrell

Bibliography

The Enemy of Nature: The End of Capitalism or the End of the World?- Joel Kovell 2007, Zed Books ltd.