Nature-Culture Dichotomy and Environmental Consciousness: Do We Fear the Right Things?

Abstract

Basic convictions, political regulations and cultural behaviour based on tradition and communication influence the management of the environment, and as such are an important corridor of power affecting natural habitats. This also depends on whether a disaster is seen as blow of fate, natural and irremediable, or as a problem caused by humans (Nature-Culture Dichotomy).

Nature and culture are often used as antipodes. What is right with the Nature-Culture Dichotomy? Independent of the question of whether our behaviour towards nature is respecting ecological conditions and ascribing the very right of existence of other biota as well, we often feel and behave like beings outside of the nature, and belonging to the inside of houses, civilization and cultural life.

What is wrong with the Nature-Culture Dichotomy? Currently, many scientific contributions on the nature-culture relationship argue against the dichotomy, attempting to overcome the divide with the goal of harmonization, or describe a trajectory beyond the dualism. Arguments against the Nature-Culture Dichotomy are related to considerations in the social sciences, environmental ethics, human ecology, but also in neurobiology. One general concern is the difficulty finding a clear cut between the two realms. However, the main criticism may be that the Nature-Culture Dichotomy is implicitly driving and reducing the scope of assessments and value measures to the artificial side, leaving nature amoral.

The question is, which events and processes of the environment and landscapes in the past might have been important for the understanding of the present? Does survival and organization of the future depend as much on perception and memory, on educated traditional and scientific knowledge, on the explanation of disasters including religious and spiritual interpretation, and human behaviour in disaster situations?

A growing world population provokes serious threats to ecosystems and species worldwide. The species decline continues even if the activities of diverse NGOs, private initiatives and governmental organisations have already prevented the extinction of certain endangered species at local to international scales.

The perception and interpretation of the environment changed during the secularization, and in modern times from a religious dominated to a scientific framing. Furthermore, during a very short time period the communication channels changed due to the development of print media and later modern digital technologies. The amount of available information, including scientific knowledge, has simply exploded across the globe during recent decades.

Handling and filtering of information in combination with a stronger focus on ecosystems and biodiversity will be a key for the success of biodiversity conservation management in the future.

Even if it may be impossible to exclude environmental disasters completely, the interplay between environment and environmental consciousness resulted in technological and other solutions to reduce the risk for humans during modern times.

Nevertheless, the permanent adjustment of environmental consciousness and relating behaviour as a precautionary principle between environment/ecosystems and survival of the biota has the potential to reduce the threats for biota as well. The risk management may profit from increasing attention on slowly changing human activities and environmental conditions, and from revaluation of natural attributes.

Do we fear the right things? The communication of danger signals from the environment, and risk assessments, were useful historically and are still useful even if only a small proportion of disaster forecasts become reality. Thus, the behaviour must always be adjusted in relation to our knowledge and readiness to calculate a risk. The answer is clearly yes; in many cases we fear the right things.

Additionally, we are able to forecast dramatic events from very small danger signals by using a combination of fantasy and logic. Furthermore, if death is a matter of more or less regular stochastics, like the number of killed people by car accidents, then we are also able to slow down the awareness, because the biology of fear does not allow intensive fear for a long time. We are able to fear terrorism much more than car accidents even if the death toll is much smaller. Thus, in this case the answer is no; we do not fear the risks adequately.

As a consequence of the psychological predisposition humans are sometimes overcautious and sometimes heedless.

To summarize, our environmental consciousness is the result of an interplay between our evolution, environmental history, communication about disasters, and social behaviour. As such it cannot guarantee avoidance of future environmental disasters. This might also be related to the playful and experiment-friendly side of humans, and the simple fact that certain regions or environmental conditions are at the same time both beneficial and life-threatening.

In general, awareness and fear are directed to survival and avoidance of pain. Thus, environmental conditions of ecosystems and the survival of natural habitats and species diversity on Earth are not the central goal of our environmental consciousness even if further losses have the potential to limit the cultural life and well-being of humans.

Appendix A

Selection of the 133 deadliest disasters (minimum death toll in brackets). E.g., broken dams, diseases, and famines are excluded. The following examples include 133 of the deadliest so-called natural disasters which happened between 1815 and 2015 (Anonymous 2008; Bradbury 2012):

1815 Volcanic eruption of Mount Tambora (92,000), 1822 Volcanic eruption Mount Galunggung (4011), 1826 Tsunami Japan (27,000), 1831 Hurricane Central America (1500), 1839 India cyclone (300,000), 1854 Great Nankaidō earthquake (80,000), 1857 Naples earthquake (11,000), 1864 Calcutta cyclone (60,000), 1868 Arica earthquake (25,674), 1868 Ecuador earthquakes (70,000), 1870 Hurricane Cuba-Florida (2000), 1871 Peshtigo Fire (1200), 1876 Great Backerganj Cyclone (200,000), 1881 Haiphong Typhoon (300,000), 1883 Erution of Krakatoa and tsunami (36,417), 1887 Volcanic eruption Cotopaxi (1000), 1887 Yellow River (Huang He) flood (900,000), 1889 Johnstown flood (2200), 1893 Chenier flood (2000), 1896 Sanriku earthquake (27,122), 1899 Hurricane Puerto Rico-Domincan Republic (3433), 1900 Hurricane Texas (8000), 1901 Eastern United States heat wave (9500), 1902 Volcanic eruption Soufriere (1680), 1902 Volcanic eruption Santa Maria (6000), 1902 Volcanic eruption Mount Pelée (30,000), 1905 Earthquake Meishan (1266), 1906 Earthquake (?) and flood Bristol Channel (2000), 1906 Earthquake San Francisco (3000), 1906 Typhoon Hong Kong (10,000), 1908 Messina earthquake (123,000), 1909 Hurricane Greater Antilles-Mexico (1500), 1911 Yangtze River flood (100,000), 1912 Volcanic eruption Kelut (5115), 1912 Cyclone China (50,000), 1916 White Friday avalanches (10,000), 1919 Volcanic eruption Mount Kelud (5000), 1920 Haiyuan earthquake (273,400), 1922 Cyclone China (60,000), 1923 Great Kantō earthquake (142,807), 1927 Gulang earthquake (40,900), 1930 Hurricane Dominican Republic (8000), 1931 China floods (1,000,000), 1932 Hurricane Cuba (3107), 1933 Tsunami Sanriku (3008), 1933 Diexi landslides (3429), 1934 Earthquake Bihar (10,700), 1935 Hurricane Carribean (2150), 1935 Quetta earthquake (60,000), 1935 Yangtze river flood (145,000), 1936 Wildfire Kursha-2 (1200), 1938 Yellow River Flood (500,000), 1939 Erzinkan earthquake (32,700), 1941 Huaraz avalanche (4000), 1942 Cyclone India (40,000), 1948 Ashgabat earthquake (110,000), 1949 Khait landslide (5000), 1952 Tsunami Borneo (4000), 1953 Netherlands-UK (2142), 1954 Hurricane Hazel (1200), 1954 Iran flood (10,000), 1954 Yangtse River flood (30,000), 1958 Typhoon Vera (5000), 1959 Typhoon Iris (2334), 1960 Typhoon Mary (1600), 1960 Earthquake and tsunami Chile-Hawaii-Philippines-Japan (2000), 1960 Cyclone Pakistan (6000), 1960 Earthquake Agadir (10,000), 1960 Earthquake Valparaiso (20,000), 1962 Huascarán avalanche (4000), 1963 Earthquake Skopje (1100), 1963 Hurricane Flora (7200), 1963 Cyclone Pakistan (22,000), 1965 Cyclone Bangladesh (30,000), 1966 Hurricane Inez (1000), 1970 Earthquake Tonghai (15,621), 1970 Ancash earthquake (70,000), 1970 Bhola cyclone (500,000), 1971 Hanoi and Red River Delta flood (100,000), 1972 Iran blizzard (4000), 1974 Hurricane Fifi (8000), 1975 Super Typhoon Nina (229,000), 1976 Earthquake Friulu (1000), 1976 Tsunami Moro Gulf (5000), 1976 Earthquake Guatemala (23,000), 1976 Tangshan earthquake (242,769), 1977 Earthquake Romania (1570), 1977 Cyclone India (20,000), 1979 Hurricane Dominican Republic-USA (2060), 1980 United States heat wave (1700), 1980 Earthquake Irpinia (2914), 1982 Volcanic eruption El Chichón (3500), 1984 Typhoon Ike (1300), 1985 Earthquake Michoacan (9500), 1985 Volcanic eruption Armero tragedy (23,000), 1986 Limnic eruption Lake Nyos (1800), 1988 United States heat wave (5000), 1988 Earthquake Spitak (25,000), 1989 Tornado Saturia (1300), 1990 Earthquake Luzon (1084), 1990 Manjil–Rudbar earthquake (40,000), 1991 Typhoon Thelma (6000), 1991 Bangladesh cyclone (138,000), 1993 Earthquake Latur (9748), 1994 Hurricane Gordon (1145), 1995 Earthquake Hanshin (6433), 1996 Cyclone Andhra (2500), 1998 Cyclone India (1000), 1998 India heat wave (2541), 1998 Tsunami Papua (3000), 1998 Hurrican Mitch (18,277), 1999 Earthquake Chi-Chi (2400), 1999 Cyclone Orissa (10,000), 1999 Avalanche Vargas tragedy (10,000), 1999 Earthquake Izmit (17,118), 2003 Bam earthquake (31,000), 2003 European heat wave (35,000), 2004 Spring flood Haiti-Dominican Republic (1605), 2004 Hurricane Jeanne (3037), 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami (227,898), 2005 Mumbai Flood (1000), 2005 Hurricane Katrina (1836), 2005 Kashmir earthquake (87,351), 2006 Southern Leyte (1800), 2006 European heat wave (3418), 2006 Earthquake Jogyakarta (6234), 2008 Sichuan earthquake (87,587), 2008 Cyclone Nargis (138,373), 2010 Japanese heat wave (1718), 2010 Russian heat wave (56,000), 2010 Haiti earthquake (316,000), 2015 Pakistan heat wave (2000), 2015 Indian heat wave (2500).