Week 12 - Ecojustice & Indigenous Pegagogies

“While the Western approach to equating the enclosure of the commons with progress has benefited certain classes of people, it has also resulted in many more people becoming increasingly dependent upon an economic system that they have little control over” (C.A. Bowers P.4)

These commons are supposed to be for everyone in the community, but increasingly over time these commons have been taken away (due to privatization and monetization). In some cases the areas in recent years are being set up for profit to be drawn from a common area. Every century we develop more and more and as this happens our development is swallowing up the commons. These commons become less available to lower class people and families and are very accessible to upper class people and families. The tie between development, class, and commons is an obvious one. Due to development low class areas are losing commons / their commons are being monetized. Development only seems to make the lives of upper and middle class better.

“As the lives of people in the West become even less centered on the self-sufficient possibilities of the commons, and more in the industrial culture that is beyond their control, their insecurity becomes more palpable.” (C.A. Bowers P.8)

I would like to see how the upper class would be able to survive if we have a sudden catastrophe that no one could have planned for and all money is worthless. One would have to believe that the poor class would be able to survive longer then the upper classes, right? Or a more real example is if the corporations were to take over and we solely depend on them for everything from apples to socks to technology then if something were to happen most wouldn’t know what to do. But if we lived in a society that was more based on commons the situation would be less dire we would be able to lean on our neighbors as they would lean on us because the purpose is to live day to day. Whereas the purpose of corporations is to make us consume things we don’t need for our day to day, making us less self-suffient because we no longer know what a necessity is and what a luxury is. I think a common setting would make these things clear.

“Whether they can be reformed in ways that contribute to revitalizing the commons, and thus to nurturing both the Earth’s ecosystem and cultural diversity, is one of the major challenges we face today.” (C.A. Bowers P.15)

A major problem standing in our way is corporations, our government needs to step in and start to control some of the obscene actions of these corporations. For example no Corp. should be allowed to own anything that has to do with life, for example seeds. These two things, the government not protecting the people from corporations and what they are allowed to patent. This puts must to much power in the hands of corporations and as long as this power stays with them we will never get back the commons. When corporations own everything, then there is automatically a price attached to it, when this happens it automatically eliminates the availability to all classes.

“The teachers need to mediate in a way that helps the student understand the positive contributions of science and technology, as well as the aspects of the commons they undermine.” 

(C.A. Bowers P.116)

 It doesn’t have to be one or the other, commons or science and technology; we can still use the science and technology that has helped us get to where we as a people are today. With that said it has a lot to do with a lot of the problems we now face (global warming for example). It’s important to understand how we can integrate science and technology into the commons and the tradeoffs that will be necessary. Also to bring back sustainable traditions form different cultures. If we can achieve this as teachers we are on our way to addressing eco-justice issues in our classes.

“The challenge for the teachers is to help students identify the intergenerational knowledge and practices that have been marginalized by the attention being given to the traditions of modern, industrial culture that expand by undermining the non-monetized traditions of the commons.” 

(C.A. Bowers P.117)

I agree, I think there is a personal challenge for a teacher from my generation. I believe that most of use grew up in the corporation world and was influenced by it. So the additional challenge is for us teachers to figure out the intergenerational knowledge before we begin to present. This must be even harder for the students to begin to grasp because the idea of commons and traditions based on those commons is now lost / marginalized. There will come a point where this knowledge is lost forever so it’s important to start to bring back these concepts now and do a compare and contrast against our current traditions.