Language & Ecology Online Journal (2004) available from http://
www.ecoling.net/journal.html
Editorial:
The Controlled Environment
It is appropriate that this, the
first special edition of Language & Ecology Online Journal, begins
on a pig farm. After all, the modern ‘high intensity confinement’ farm
exemplifies the ultimate extreme of a ‘controlled environment’. Down on the
high intensity farm, pigs have the convenience of not having to move from their
cages at any time. Their food is brought to them, their wastes fall through a
slatted floor into a pit below. A solid bar separating mothers from babies
spares mothers from the stress of tending their babies directly, and many pigs
do not have to interact at all with others since they enjoy individual
accommodation. The air temperature is always controlled, never too hot, never
to cold, and at all times ammonia and other noxious gasses are kept at
sub-lethal levels.
A pigs'
paradise perhaps? It
is difficult to canvass the opinions of the pigs, but based on our own
experience it is not hard to imagine that they would prefer to breath fresh
air, root around a bit for food, gather some bedding when it gets cold, have a
mud-bath when it gets hot, interact with fellow pigs, and nurse their own
piglets. In other words, live according to their nature, even if it is a little
inconvenient at times. And it is no surprise that pigs living naturally play an
integral part in sustaining ecosystems, whereas high-intensity confinement
farms cause massive environmental damage.
Parallels between the experience
of pigs and people are not hard to find. In crowded cities, with cars, fast
food, air-conditioned skyscrapers and work practices tying people to desks, we
are rapidly creating a controlled environment for ourselves. A convenient,
sub-lethal environment which can be sustained for the time being, but at great
cost to the natural ecosystems in which we evolved and generally, given the
chance, prefer to root around in, even if it is a little inconvenient at times.
The discipline of deep ecology
questions the social, cultural and political values which lie
at the root of ecological devastation, and explores ways that humans can
find contentment by living closer to their nature, and in doing so contribute
to ecological harmony. Since language is central to social and cultural
construction, and constitutes much of the political sphere, linguistics has an
important role to play in deep ecology.
The tools of critical discourse
analysis can be used to reveal underlying political and economic ideologies
which are implicated in ecological destruction. Within the discourses of the
car industry, fast food industry, finance industry and theoretical economics,
such ideology is not hard to find. But there are other cases, in which
environmentally harmful ideologies may be hidden in discourses where they are
least expected, for example within those of environmentalism, animal welfare,
psychotherapy, ecology or ecolinguistics itself.
Language & Ecology Online Journal aims to raise awareness of the ecological
impacts of discursive constructions, and encourage the exploration of
discourses which can play a role in restoring ecological harmony.
The first article in this edition
presents a critical analysis of the discourse of the pork industry, showing how
pigs are constructed in ways which lead to ecological destruction. The second
article begins the process of considering alternatives to ecologically
destructive discourses, but cautions against environmental ‘political
correctness’. A more promising way of stimulating discursive change, poetic
activism, is considered in the third article. Finally, the fourth article
applies poetic activism to the case of pigs.
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