Annotated Bibliography
What social, political, economic, and ecological processes are being investigated by the humanities to confront the climate crisis and climate anxiety? What ecological vulnerabilities are being created by the humanities’ use of culture and literature, and what are the ways they are coping with them? How are the humanities coping with and combating climate crisis anxiety? The importance that language plays in the understanding of self, nature, the environment, and of relations between them was the emphasis of ecofeminists’ theoretical approaches. The goal of this collection of research, articles, and analyses is to eliminate the discrepancy between environmental and emotional health. It brings together authors from a variety of fields, including mental and public health, climate and social sciences, and the arts, united in their desire to highlight the effects of climate change on mental health and inspire everyone to take action.
Bassett, Thomas J., and Charles Fogelman. “Déjà Vu or Something New? The Adaptation Concept in the Climate Change Literature.” Geoforum 48 (2013): 42–53. https://alliance-uoregon.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01ALLIANCE_UO/1j98102/cdi_proquest_miscellaneous_1505350764
In this article published in Geoforum, Thomas Bassett and Charles Fogelman reflect on the resurgence and meaning of the adaptation concept in climate change literature. They explore how the early political-economic critique of the adaptation concept has influenced how it is implemented in literature. Bassett and Fogelman suggest the concept of adaptation has been escalating extensively in the literature on climate change. It affects how we conceptualize and discuss adaptation in the present and future discussions about climate change. The discussion of natural hazards in the 1970s and 1980s and the many ways that vulnerability and adaptation are interpreted in the present literature on climate change are very similar, as Bassett and Fogelman’s research indicates. The second argument Bassett and Fogelman make is that because there are many ways to explain vulnerability, adaptation policies will be shaped by how risk and vulnerability are perceived. The third argument is that political ecologists may make significant contributions to studies on the vulnerability and adaptation to climate change. First, to learn more about how the dynamics of resource access, control, and management affect vulnerability and adaptability. Examining the social, political, economic, and ecological processes that form vulnerabilities and possibilities to overcome adversity is suited for the political ecology approach. Second, political ecologists can evaluate how sustainable development concepts are applied in the literature on climate change adaptation. The concepts of “fair adaptation,” “community-based adaptation,” and “sustainable adaptation” establish connections between socioeconomic growth and the decrease in vulnerability. The intersection of reformist and transformational adaptation techniques is an area of inquiry. Adaptation relates to the themes of coping with change we have studied this term. This is evident in the lack of adaptation presented in “Don’t Look Up”, for example.
Rao, Mala. “Mental Health Impacts of the Climate Crisis: The Urgent Need for Action.” International review of psychiatry (Abingdon, England) 34.5 (2022): 439–440. Web https://alliance-uoregon.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01ALLIANCE_UO/1j98102/cdi_informaworld_taylorfrancis_310_1080_09540261_2022_2128272
This article was written by Mala Rao, Senior Clinical Fellow at the Department of Primary Care and Public Health at Imperial College in London. This article was an NIHR Applied Research Collaboration published in the International Review of Psychiatry. Rao says estimates of the direct health consequences of the climate crisis, such as heat, floods, pollution, famine, and disease transmission, show that the global mortality impact is growing. Experts indicate that acute and chronic extreme weather events are linked to an increase in the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, excessive stress, drug use, and suicide risk in all age groups. The repercussions of the climate crisis are causing a loss of collective identity and disturbances to emotional links to the land and heritage, with severe consequences for the impacted communities. Rao proposes that nature restoration initiatives should become an essential component of the mental health therapeutic approach. Based on the history of medical activism and its effects on societal changes, mental health professionals must acknowledge the emotional advantages that activism may provide, such as social connectivity, authority, and empowerment. Rao declares this article is a call to action for everyone who cares about the environment to use their knowledge, expertise, and influence to advance society’s understanding of the implications of the climate crisis, assist people and communities in coping with the psychological effects, and promote greater urgency on a systemic level. Mental health relates to the themes of human relationships with nature we have studied this term. This is evident in The Seed Keeper, by Diane Wilson for example. Rosie discusses how bad relationships with the environment caused a low yield, which in turn led to the growth of violence and poverty among farming communities.
Hoang, Giang. “From Eco-Aesthetics to Ecofeminism in Korean and Vietnamese Art Cinema: The Cases of Poetry by Lee Chang-Dong and The Moon at the Bottom of the Well by Nguyen Vinh Son.” Interdisciplinary studies in literature and environment 28.3 (2021): 1029–1047. https://alliance-uoregon.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01ALLIANCE_UO/1j98102/cdi_crossref_primary_10_1093_isle_isaa099
In this article featured in ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, Giang Hoang analyzes Korean and Vietnamese ecofeminist media focusing on “The Cases of Poetry” by Lee Chang-dong and “The Moon at the Bottom of the Well” by Nguyen Vinh Son from the perspective of eco-aesthetics. Asian countries are said to be harmonious and connected to natural surroundings with their lasting agricultural traditions, and Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism all teach them to respect the universe. Hoang challenges this belief, arguing that despite their virtuous narratives, Eastern nations have a history of exploiting, abusing, and changing nature on an equal level with Western nations. The popularity of music, television, and film in contemporary society taints the promotion of awareness of climate change among consumers. Hoang investigates how the environmental aesthetics utilized in films examine and criticize the ecological and gender discourses. Cinema has become an accomplice of both social and ecological injustice through the “male gaze”, she claims. It frames its beautiful women and nature into enchanting entities that allure men, creating a sense of a close relationship on the surface between a beautiful woman and a beautiful landscape. These two films highlight how extreme traditional patriarchal society’s conservatism is and how it differs from modern societal advancements. Rather than accentuating the female character’s emotion or personality, nature is exploited as a background to display her aesthetic allure. In modern culture, both nature and women are overly exploited, succumbing to male dominance and having their appearance altered to appease society. The way the body is presented in these movies rejects the stereotypes that suggest that a woman’s body and beauty are weak and vulnerable to abuse, assault, and corruption. There is another one in which womanhood, under the pressure of patriarchal discourses, can go hand in hand with destruction, decaying, annihilation, and loss. The natural scenes traditionally shaped to become the perfect symbol for the staticity of the romantic, miraculous transformation of human life, are now stripped, exposing the remnants and repressions of profound ecological, gender, and social injustice.
Estévez-Saá, Margarita, and María Jesús Lorenzo-Modia. “The Ethics and Aesthetics of Eco-Caring: Contemporary Debates on Ecofeminism(s).” Women’s studies 47.2 (2018): 123–146. Web. https://alliance-uoregon.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01ALLIANCE_UO/1j98102/cdi_informaworld_taylorfrancis_310_1080_00497878_2018_1425509
This Women’s Studies article written by Margarita Estévez-Saá & María Jesús Lorenzo-Modia constitutes part of the research activities carried out by the members of the research project “Eco-Fictions”: “Emergent Discourses on Women and Nature in Ireland and Galicia”, “Discourse and Identity”. Ecofeminist literary criticism is a more theoretically and aesthetically inspired evolution of ecocriticism, employing an awareness of ecofeminism throughout the development of environmentally informed literary and cultural demonstrations. To construct linguistic associations between women and nature, ecofeminists are rethinking the potential for use of language. The prior contributions of ecofeminist critics employed this emphasis on language, textuality, and aesthetics that modern ecocritics embrace in the analysis of literature. The work provides examples of how literature and culture are establishing current trends in ecofeminist thinking, such as the deconstruction of gender dichotomies; the use of language for alternative discourses to respond to environmental ethics; the necessity of environmental justice in ethnic communities; and the interest in using literature and culture to explore morally sustainable ways of living. Theoretical approaches of ecofeminists focused on language’s crucial role in the reconfiguration of the self, nature, the environment, and of the interactions between humans and the environment. The key theme in ecofeminist literature is love. However, it is invoked as a practice coming from the ethical and aesthetic visions of eco-caring, rather than as an abstract concept. Writers must emphasize both thematic and literary dimensions to create a new way of rethinking nature and human connections with the natural world. How literature attempts to construct connections through literary subgenres like science fiction should be carefully reviewed by ecofeminist criticism. Science fiction has been used by authors like Octavia Butler to explore gender stereotypes, power structures, and hierarchies that are associated with dualisms to demonstrate a sincere concern for the environment. Science fiction may be used to criticize modern connections with nature and the non-human world combining utopian and dystopian fictional societies, condemning essentialism, naturism, and speciesism.
PARSONS, GLENN. “Nature Aesthetics and the Respect Argument: Parsons Nature Aesthetics and the Respect Argument.” The Journal of aesthetics and art criticism 76.4 (2018): 411–418. https://alliance-uoregon.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01ALLIANCE_UO/1j98102/cdi_crossref_primary_10_1111_jaac_12593
Glenn Parsons examines the Respect Argument in this essay. The Respect Argument applies the moral idea of respect to limit how we exploit nature for resources, how we treat animals, and how we handle pollution. According to Parsons, the idea of respect may provide moral influence in aesthetic enjoyment. The Respect Argument is a critique of our minimal appreciation of nature. Some argue that artistically appreciating nature does not need protective action, just contemplation of its beauty. Parsons rebuts, although aesthetically enjoying nature is not an activity protecting nature, it does lead to other actions to protect nature and humans. We must establish a causal link between the meditative activity of artistically enjoying nature and acts directed toward nature. When we consider respect as something requested by an object, we are prone to recognize its moral value in the activity that adheres to respectful behavior. But respect is more than just behavior: it is also a mental attitude of sympathy to the object. We are not free to interpret artworks as we want. For many people, the times when they behold nature’s beauty are the only times when they interact with it. Thus, supporters of the Respect Argument are correct to bring attention to what this attitude indicates about our connection with nature and with ourselves. Moral considerations concerning the human effect on the environment dominate our view of nature; what appear to be aesthetic judgments may be nothing more than a reflection of our moral sentiments.
The emphasis on language, textuality, and aesthetics that contemporary ecocritics use when analyzing literature originates in earlier ecofeminist critics’ critiques. Our perception of nature is dominated by moral questions about how humans affect the environment. The only time many people connect with nature is when they are admiring its beauty. Proponents of Parson’s respect argument are entitled to bring awareness to what this says about our relationship to nature and human relationships. Thankfully, approaches are emerging, bringing about an increasing understanding that isolating environmental health from mental health is hazardous and that protecting the environment has the simultaneous benefits of enhancing mental health while also helping nature. The writings offer illustrations of how literature and culture are establishing contemporary trends in ecofeminist thinking and literature. This is demonstrated through the deconstruction of gender dichotomies, the use of language for alternative discourses to respond to environmental ethics, and the necessity of environmental justice in ethnic communities. Mental health professionals, scholars, and artists must collaborate to appreciate the ecological and emotional benefits that activism may offer, such as social connectedness, authority, and empowerment. The effects of the climate crisis are having serious impacts on the afflicted communities, including a loss of collective identity and disruptions to emotional attachments to the land and heritage. It influences how we think and talk about adaptation in the current conversation concerning climate change.
