Intertexts

Toward aHeideggerean Eco-Phenomenology Paul Ennis U N I V E R S I T Y C O L L E G E , D U B L I N “Let us make Heidegger truly the name, not of aman, but of amatter of thought.” —John D. Caputo' We believe, however, that we may not need something new, but need to reawaken something old, to reawaken our understanding of Earth wisdom. In the broadest sense, we need to accept the invitation to the dance—the dance of unity of humans, plants, animals, the Earth. (Devall and Sessions xi) Martin Heidegger presents aunique problem for ecological thinkers. His work provides green-minded thinkers with an ontological explanation for the pervasivenessofthetechnologicalinthemodernepoch,butitalsoposesthe threat of eco-fascism; the old ecological disorder which taints its political engagements.To associate ecology with aone-time member of the National Socialists is to invite critique, but nonetheless the popularity of Heidegger among green thinking remains high. The question concerning technology was also aquestion for the post-optimism scientific community of the nine¬ teen fifties. Anumber of scientists linked the problem of technology to the natural world and the unforeseen consequences of manipulating the natural cycle.Slowlythegreenmessagetookofffindingitselfacceptedamongaded¬ icated, but minority group of citizens. Environmentalism proved to be divi¬ sive in the political arena finding adherents among the far-left, conservative conservationists, liberals and asizeable apolitical contingent. The common realization among these groups was arecognition that the cosmopolitan lifestyle of large cities was showing itself to be unsustainable. Thecontemporaryreactiontothedangersofclimatechangehaspopu¬ larized the idea of green consciousness to an extent previously unimaginable. Anumber of political and non-political initiatives, notably the founding of Earth Day by Wisconsin senator Gaylord Nelson, the growth of state-funded environmental agencies, international scientific reports such as the Earth 2000 report, the UN Earth Summit in 1992, and so on resulted in this wider acceptance, culminating in the most recent initiative, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, established in 1988. The crisis was adopted as a governmental concern by outlining the economic incentive of adapting to a new, ecologically-fnendly economy. The Stern Review recently concluded l7ttertexts,\o\. 11, No. 22007 ©Texas Tech University Press 1 2 4 I N T E R T E X T S that the entire investment required to combat global warming amounted to only one-percent of GDP—offsetting apotential twenty-percent global loss of GDP in the long-term. These are important achievements, but there remains adisparity between stated goals and adherence to these goals among both developing and developed nations. The Stern Review highlights the necessity of tailoring the green message to the direct concerns of nations. Environmentalism is, accordingly, aform of‘shallow’ green thinking or an anthropocentric movement in that it is concerned with the environmental crisis as it relates, first and foremost, although not stricdy or solely, to human c o n c e r n s . Environmentalism has apositive view of the potentiality of technology. Technological innovation is understood as anatural progression in our evo¬ lutionary development allowing us to overcome natural disasters, disease, and over-population among other problems. Climate change is related to technology as aproduct of industrialization. It is then atechnological prob¬ lem in that it is partially caused by human emissions. The common solution to climate change is areduction in emissions by employing greener technol¬ ogy such as the replacement of fuel hungry land rovers with hybrid cars. Green technologies are differentiated from older technologies in that they harness the natural flow of energy as opposed to the using up of unsustain¬ able (finite) fossil fuels. This is are-modification of our previous technologi¬ cal achievements. Technology is developed, implemented, but some causes remain unidentified until alater stage at which point the technology is refinedonlyfortheprocesstoreoccur.Thehumanrelationshiptotechnol¬ ogy can be read here as aprocess of endless patchwork or ‘debugging’. The Global 2000 Report to the President, published in 1982, predicted with considerable accuracy the problems that would confront humanity as it reached the millennium. It concluded that by the millennium the majority of people on Earth faced worse living conditions than they did at the time of publication. The tone of this report betrayed amove away from...