Becoming a Place of Unrest: Environmental Crisis and Ecophenomenological Praxis PDF
Preview Becoming a Place of Unrest: Environmental Crisis and Ecophenomenological Praxis
ROBERT BB O OO T HH BECOMING A PLACE OF UNREST ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS AND ECOPHENOMENOLOGICAL PRAXIS SERIES IN CONTINENTAL THOUGHT Becoming a Place of Unrest SERIES IN CONTINENTAL THOUGHT Series Editor Hanne Jacobs Editorial Board Hanne Jacobs, Chair, Tilburg University Michael Barber, Saint Louis University Elizabeth A. Behnke, Study Project in Phenomenology of the Body David Carr, Emory University (Emeritus), The New School for Social Research James Dodd, The New School for Social Research Sara Heinämaa, University of Jyväskylä, University of Helsinki William R. McKenna, Miami University Algis Mickunas, Ohio University (Emeritus) J. N. Mohanty, Temple University (Emeritus) Dermot Moran, Boston College Thomas Nenon, University of Memphis Rosemary Rizo-Patron de Lerner, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Lima Gail Soffer, Rome, Italy Ted Toadvine, Pennsylvania State University Nicolas de Warren, Pennsylvania State University Richard M. Zaner, Vanderbilt University (Emeritus) International Advisory Board Albert Borgmann, University of Montana Amedeo Giorgi, Saybrook Institute (Emeritus) Alphonso Lingis, Pennsylvania State University (Emeritus) David Rasmussen, Boston College John Sallis, Boston College Carlo Sini, Università di Milano Becoming a Place of Unrest ................................... Environmental Crisis and Ecophenomenological Praxis R o b e r t B o o t h OHIO UNIVERSITY PRESS ATHENS Ohio University Press, Athens, Ohio 45701 ohioswallow.com © 2021 by Ohio University Press All rights reserved To obtain permission to quote, reprint, or otherwise reproduce or distribute material from Ohio University Press publications, please contact our rights and permissions department at (740) 593-1154 or (740) 593-4536 (fax). Printed in the United States of America Ohio University Press books are printed on acid-free paper ™ 31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Booth, Robert, 1983– author. Title: Becoming a place of unrest : environmental crisis and ecophenomenological Praxis / Robert Booth. Description: Athens : Ohio University Press, [2021] | Series: Series in continental thought ; no. 55 | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2021003011 (print) | LCCN 2021003012 (ebook) | ISBN 9780821424568 (acid-free paper) | ISBN 9780821447420 (pdf) Subjects: LCSH: Environmental sciences—Philosophy. | Nature—Effect of human beings on. | Environmental ethics. | Phenomenology. Classification: LCC GE40 .B675 2021 (print) | LCC GE40 (ebook) | DDC 304.2/8—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021003011 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021003012 For Wilson, Elkie, and the promise of something better C O N T E N T S ................................... Preface ix Acknowledgments xiii List of Abbreviations xv Introduction 1 1 Perception and Unrest 22 2 Ecofeminism and Ecophenomenology 63 3 Seeing Better 90 4 The Specter of Correlationism 140 5 Androcentrism, Nondiscursive Grounds, and the Hyperdialectic 160 6 Radical Reflection, Reversibility, and the Flesh 189 “Conclusions”; or, Becoming a Place of Unrest 221 Notes 233 References 251 Index 265 P R E F A C E ................................... I write this as the Himalayas become visible from India for the first time in three decades and most of the world’s major cities report huge improvements in air quality (Boyle 2020). These changes reflect dramatic reductions in air pol- lutant concentrations from traffic and factory emissions. But none of this im- provement is the result of some sudden environmentalist awakening. It stems, rather, from restrictive public health measures imposed in response to a global pandemic. It’s frustratingly commonplace, therefore, to read of such changes described as “temporary,” even by parties such as the United Nations Confer- ence on Trade and Development who appear otherwise optimistic about the possibility of making substantive improvements (Hamwey 2020). For all the talk of “building back better” (Institute for Public Policy Research 2020, 14), optimism among experts that this is the beginning of some global sea change toward environmentally responsible attitudes and behaviors is in short supply. Even setting aside the pandemic’s own unwelcome results (e.g., huge in- creases in unrecyclable waste and greenhouse gas emissions), the global pic- ture is worse than ever. Limiting ourselves to climate change, for instance, scientists estimate that human activities have now caused a mean global tem- perature increase of 1 degree Celsius over preindustrial levels. The rapid ac- celeration of anthropogenic emissions over the past ten years, which ensures rising temperatures to come, shows little sign of slowing. Even in the now increasingly unlikely event that we act to limit mean global temperature rises to 1.5 degrees Celsius (as per the Paris Agreement’s more ambitious goal), over the next few decades, 350 million people will suffer water scarcity, 80–90 percent of coral reefs will disappear, 69 million people will experience sea flooding, and 14 percent of the world’s population will be exposed to ex- treme heat. Much of this is already well underway (Hamwey 2020; Steffen, Crutzen, and McNeill 2007; Steffen et al. 2018; Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2018).
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