Table Of Content

[ !C BCBMB[B PPLT www.zabalazabooks.net “Knowledge is the key to be free!” Green Flame: Kropotkin & the Birth of Ecology by Graham Purchase    From the Anarcho-Syndicalist Review #54, Summer 2010 xxx/{bcbmb{bcpplt/ofu 24. Bramwell, 41. 25. All these thinkers to varying extents included co-opera(cid:415) on as a characteris(cid:415) c element of animal behaviour and factor of evolu(cid:415) on. See Daniel P. Todes, Darwin Without Malthus: The Struggle for Existence in Russian Evolu(cid:415) onary Thought, Oxford University Press 1989, Chapters 6, 7 & 8, 105-165. 26. Kropotkin, quoted in Todes, Darwin Without Malthus, 147-9. 27. Todes, 136. 28. Kropotkin, Ethics, Tudor Publishing, 1947, footnotes pages 35 & 287.   2 Green Flame Graham Purchase 15 Notes: 1. A. Bramwell, Ecology in the 20th Century, Yale University Press, 1989, 13-15. 2. Bramwell, 66. 3. Bramwell, 87. 4. E. Odum, Ecological Vigne(cid:425) es, Harwood, 1988, 97-98. 5. Odum, Vigne(cid:425) es, 21. 6. Bramwell, 15. 7. Kropotkin, Mutual Aid, 1915 popular edi(cid:415) on, 37. 8. Mutual Aid, 24 (foxes, wolves and eagles), 37 (weasels). The pre-eminence of environmentalism in the 21st century is a novel poli(cid:415) cal and historical development. Ecology is a new body of scien(cid:415) fi c descrip(cid:415) on and 9. Kropotkin, Orography of Asia, Vol. 23, 1904, 176-207 & 331-361. knowledge upon which social, economic, poli(cid:415) cal and ethical ideas and prac(cid:415) ces 10. Kropotkin, Orographie de la Siberie avec un apercu de l’orgraphie de l’Asie, have become premised. Ecosystem science suggests that poli(cid:415) cal, social and Ins(cid:415) tut Geographique de Bruxelles, 1904. economic arrangements must be compa(cid:415) ble and ideally op(cid:415) mize natural ecological 11. See the discussion of Alpinism in Reclus’ Man and Nature (Jura Media 1995), processes. Harming ecosystems is considered ethically, poli(cid:415) cally and ecologically also his fi c(cid:415) onal work The Story of the Mountain translated by B. Ness and J. wrong. Lillie, London: Sampson Low 1881. There are profound ecological elements and sen(cid:415) ments within ancient literature. But, it was not un(cid:415) l the beginning of the last quarter of the 19th century that 12. Kropotkin, Evolu(cid:415) on and Environment, Black Rose Books, 1995, 237 & 231. ecological insights or observa(cid:415) ons were moulded into conceptual rela(cid:415) onships 13. For a history of the theory of phenotypic inheritance and its rela(cid:415) onship to and began forming a coherent environmentalism. “Self-defi ni(cid:415) on” and conscious modern research: E. Jablonka & Lamb M., Epigene(cid:415) c Inheritance and Evolu(cid:415) on, associa(cid:415) on with this new poli(cid:415) cal outlook “arose in the 1920s.” It did not “acquire a Oxford University Press, 1995. proper name un(cid:415) l the early 1970s … when the scien(cid:415) fi c roots of ecologism merged 14. Bowler, P., The Eclipse of Darwinism, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983, 87. into a poli(cid:415) cal discipline, to become an ideology.” 1 Peter Kropotkin (1842-1921) is a leading historical and philosophical fi gure in the 15. The Pampas, Vol. 3, 1894, 318-321; New Siberia and the Circumpolar Ter(cid:415) ary early development and emergence of environmentalism. Kropotkin’s major works Flora, Vol. 16, 1900, 94-98. were all republished and discussed in the 1970s such that his late 19th century 16. The Old Beds of the Amu-Daria, Vol. 12, 1898, 306-310; The Desicca(cid:415) on of Eur- ideas and insights infl uenced and shaped the direc(cid:415) on and defi ni(cid:415) on of the early- Asia, Vol. 23, 1904, 721-741. modern environmental movement. Kropotkin was the fi rst person to mould proto- 17. Mutual Aid, 1915, 93. ecological concepts within the then fl edgling fi elds of economics, agricultural 18. Odum, Vigne(cid:425) es, 174. science, conserva(cid:415) on- ism, ethology, criminology, city planning, geography, geology and biology into a coherent new scien(cid:415) fi c outlook combined with a radical poli(cid:415) cal 19. Odum, Ecology and Our Endangered Life-Support System, Sinauer, 1993, 209. or social ecological program for rejuvena(cid:415) ng society and our rela(cid:415) onship with 20. N. Eldredge & M. Grene, Interac(cid:415) ons: The Biological Context of Social the Earth. It is instruc(cid:415) ve to re- examine Kropotkin’s scien(cid:415) fi c career because his Systems, 77. mul(cid:415) -disciplinary contribu(cid:415) on to ecological science and environmental poli(cid:415) cs is 21. Kropotkin, Mutual Aid, 1915, 14. obscured by the fact that he defi ned himself as a geologist and anarchist and not as an environmentalist. 22. Eldredge, Interac(cid:415) ons, 5. Kropotkin during the 1860s devoted his youth to Siberian explora(cid:415) on and 23. Bowler, The Eclipse, 81-2. orography (study of mountains or Alpinism). He gained celebrity as the fi rst man to   14 Green Flame Graham Purchase 3 correctly map the physiography of north-east Asia. trend is providing new research opportuni(cid:415) es for naturalists. Scien(cid:415) sts moun(cid:415) ng In his late twen(cid:415) es, Kropotkin undertook pioneering inves(cid:415) ga(cid:415) ons of ice ages match-sized video cameras on the tail feathers of New Caledonian crows recently involving a geological expedi(cid:415) on to Scandinavia. Kropotkin’s earlier work in Siberia discovered how these birds fashion large tools for excava(cid:415) ng the forest fl oor, and his thesis on palaeo-glaciology are landmarks in the development of the science exploi(cid:415) ng an ecological niche and employing tool-making techniques that have of geomorphology. Kropotkin’s conclusions were also a pioneering contribu(cid:415) on never been observed by naturalists before. The modern nature documentary to our scien(cid:415) fi c knowledge of clima(cid:415) c change upon Earth in the very recent past invariably a(cid:425) empts to capture the lives of animals in their natural habitat or home, (geologically speaking). as Kropotkin had wished. In 1872, when visi(cid:415) ng the Jura Mountains in Switzerland, Kropotkin was impressed Kropotkin and Lloyd Morgan believed useful experimental work on animals should by the anarchist watchmakers of Sonvillier. These free-ar(cid:415) sans generated power be conducted under condi(cid:415) ons closely corresponding to their natural habitat. In later from mountain streams to operate their machinery and organized industrial aff airs edi(cid:415) ons of his Animal Behaviour, Morgan, a(cid:332) er having read Kropotkin, “conceded upon the basis of workers’ self-management within the context of a federa(cid:415) on of the prevalence of mutual aid in nature.” 27 Spencer, a(cid:332) er considering Kropotkin’s villages. Kropotkin’s experiences in the Jura led him to declare himself an anarchist ideas, wrote some ar(cid:415) cles concerning “morality in nature” that were subsequently revolu(cid:415) onary. included in later edi(cid:415) ons of his Ethics and his Synthe(cid:415) c Philosophy.28 But Morgan, Kropotkin delivered his infl uen(cid:415) al and original thesis about ice ages to the Romanes and Spencer, despite modifying their views on animal behaviour (ethology) Russian Geographic Society a few hours before his arrest as a revolu(cid:415) onary outlaw. in response to Kropotkin’s ideas, never thought that mutualism was a signifi cant Kropotkin’s two-volume study upon glacial geology was based upon the results of factor in the evolu(cid:415) on of organisms, animal socie(cid:415) es or ecosystems. his Scandinavian fi eldwork. The fi rst volume was wri(cid:425) en while he was imprisoned The year 2009 began with the Darwin Anniversary celebra(cid:415) ons and ended with in the Tsar’s fortress and published in 1876. the United Na(cid:415) ons Climate Change Conference at Copenhagen. Kropotkin was a Kropotkin eluded his guards and escaped to Edinburgh the same year. There he met great Darwinist and ecologist, but his broad contribu(cid:415) on to the birth of ecology has Patrick Geddes, an outstanding biologist (symbiosis), environmental-geographer and never been fully documented or analysed. This sketch provides for the fi rst (cid:415) me a fondly remembered city planner in Bri(cid:415) sh India. Kropotkin proceeded to London, systema(cid:415) c overview of the complete range of his interests, achievements, theories where he met geographer John Sco(cid:425) Kel(cid:415) e, then editor of the famous Bri(cid:415) sh and publica(cid:415) ons. Kropotkin’s pioneering role in the evolu(cid:415) on of the philosophy of scien(cid:415) fi c journal Nature, in which Kropotkin had previously published ar(cid:415) cles. ecology was all encompassing, substan(cid:415) al and original. Kropotkin moved to Switzerland and then France at fi rst working on the Russian and Siberian sec(cid:415) ons of a geographical dic(cid:415) onary edited by Kel(cid:415) e. Kropotkin con(cid:415) nued his geographical work through his new associa(cid:415) on with the French geographer Élisée Reclus, whom he met in 1877. Reclus was a Paris Communard and confi dant of Bakunin. Kropotkin helped Reclus with his Universal Geography. This was Reclus’ grandest undertaking, and Kropotkin is credited with parts of volumes 5 and 6, covering Finland, European Russia, and Siberia. Reclus’ monumental 19-volume geography of the Earth was the last ever such work conceived by a single mind. In his acclaimed fi rst book The Earth (1864, 2 vols.), Reclus was among the fi rst to ar(cid:415) culate in a systema(cid:415) c and scien(cid:415) fi c way the modern idea of the Earth as a dynamic system of systems. The fi nal chapter of The Earth must be among the fi rst social-environmental manifestos ever penned.   4 Green Flame Graham Purchase 13  evolu(cid:415) on. The hypothesis that novel and self-directed changes in behaviour, when Urban and Social Ecology selec(cid:415) vely advantageous, might ini(cid:415) ate specia(cid:415) on was advocated by Baldwin. The leading advocate in Britain was the animal psychologist C. Lloyd Morgan (1852-1936). In 1883, Kropotkin was arrested in France for poli(cid:415) cal reasons and sent to jail, Kropotkin held a similar posi(cid:415) on to Morgan, but without the emphasis upon natural from where he was deported to England in 1886. Briefl y in Paris a(cid:332) er his release, selec(cid:415) on. Bowler, in his authorita(cid:415) ve study of the relevant scien(cid:415) fi c literature of he inves(cid:415) gated the city’s market gardens, an interest he had developed whilst the period, regards Kropotkin as an innova(cid:415) ve and independent proponent of a role tending the prison’s vegetable plots. The Paris gardeners used industrially advanced for behavioural change in animal evolu(cid:415) on. Bowler observes that both Morgan and organic forms of small-scale commercial hor(cid:415) culture, and such approaches to food Kropotkin saw “life as a purposeful ac(cid:415) vity.” 23 produc(cid:415) on are an integral component of his urban ecological-anarchist vision. Kropotkin was exiled in England for much of the remainder of his long life. Whilst lecturing around Britain, he researched its hor(cid:415) cultural prac(cid:415) ces. He made trips  Kropotkin’s Ethology to Guernsey to inves(cid:415) gate their intensive hor(cid:415) cultural systems and was impressed by the residen(cid:415) al allotment (community garden) system s(cid:415) ll exis(cid:415) ng in England to this day. Such informa(cid:415) on was included in his economics essays, published Ethology is the study of the interac(cid:415) on and co-evolu(cid:415) on of animal behaviours as the book Fields, Factories and Workshops in 1899. This book is similar to E. F. within their natural environments. Ecology was used interchangeably with “ethology Schumacher’s famous 1970s classic Small Is Beau(cid:415) ful. Its overriding theme is to re- in the early 20th century.” At this (cid:415) me, ethology, “the idea that animal behaviour evaluate regional self-suffi ciency and community life through taking advantage of could be understood by close observa(cid:415) on in the wild, was a radical idea.” 24 appropriately scaled alterna(cid:415) ve technology and modern communica(cid:415) on facili(cid:415) es. Kropotkin dismissed laboratory approaches to the study of animal behaviour and His anarchism involves the crea(cid:415) on of a more environmentally balanced country- also believed that fi eld experience was sadly lacking among biological researchers. city rela(cid:415) onship. Kropotkin envisioned a decentraliza(cid:415) on of industry complemented In his youth, Kropotkin befriended a number of gi(cid:332) ed young Russian naturalists, by organic and locally sensi(cid:415) ve community approaches to land-management and some of whom were members of the expedi(cid:415) onary teams in which he par(cid:415) cipated. food produc(cid:415) on, within both urban and rural contexts. Kropotkin’s refl ec(cid:415) ons upon Kropotkin’s ethology grew out of the work of Russian naturalists like Severtsov, alterna(cid:415) ve technology, decentraliza(cid:415) on and intensive hor(cid:415) culture were extremely Menzbir, Brandt and Poliakov.25 Poliakov and Kropotkin explored Siberia together as infl uen(cid:415) al in the rise of radical environmentalism in the 1960s and ’70s. Colin Ward’s members of the same scien(cid:415) fi c team. Severtsov, like Kropotkin, was a man of ac(cid:415) on annotated and abridged edi(cid:415) on of Fields, Factories and Workshops Tomorrow is a who achieved considerable interna(cid:415) onal scien(cid:415) fi c fame. Kropotkin befriended testament to the historical importance of this text and provides a scholarly overview Severtsov, describing him as a “great zoologist, a gi(cid:332) ed geographer and one of showing how Kropotkin’s ideas foreshadowed Geddes’ ideas and other well-known the most intelligent men I ever came across.” Severtsov was a pioneering animal non-socialist ventures of his period, such as the Garden City movement. ecologist whose interests closely overlapped with those of Kropotkin, par(cid:415) cularly Industrial and capitalist approaches to agriculture had led to a belief that such with respect to his analysis of migra(cid:415) on and “close a(cid:425) en(cid:415) on to the fl uid rela(cid:415) ons methods were progressive or be(cid:425) er, on the grounds of increased effi ciency. Around among organisms.” Severtsov’s zoogeographical studies also a(cid:425) empted to document 1850, researchers in Northern Europe began ques(cid:415) oning the supposed ineffi ciency and explain the distribu(cid:415) on, causes and evolu(cid:415) onary consequences of phenotypic of peasant farming. They concluded that “in terms of energy units used, peasant and behavioural plas(cid:415) city and diversity.26 produc(cid:415) vity was greater than that of large capitalist farms.” 2 In Fields, Factories and Kropotkin, throughout Mutual Aid, champions the need for adventurous fi eld Workshops, in addi(cid:415) on to his own research, Kropotkin gathered data together from studies in the wilderness and derides the idea that laboratory or desk-top biology a wealth of similar studies and presented them in a coherent way. Like Mutual Aid, is useful in the scien(cid:415) fi c study of animal behaviour. He argues that animals must this study was a popular success, and Kropotkin is quite well known as a pioneer be observed within their natural environment. Jane Goodall, who undertook of ecological-economic arguments favouring intensive, small-scale, organic, market pioneering studies of chimps in the jungle, has become a celebrity in our (cid:415) me. garden approaches to food produc(cid:415) on based upon energy effi ciency. By the mid-20th century, the ability to record animals by non-invasive methods, Some modern readers of Fields Factories and Workshops have been dismayed by such as cinematography, became available. The size of video equipment con(cid:415) nually the extent to which Kropotkin was a technophile with regards to food produc(cid:415) on. decreases and we may eventually develop cameras as small as one pixel. This Some of Kropotkin’s sugges(cid:415) ons, such as “intensive greenhouse potato produc(cid:415) on,”   12 Green Flame Graham Purchase 5 have been justly “cri(cid:415) cized on the grounds that more energy units would be Whereas Darwin had thought “off spring tend to inherit those features that confer required to increase produc(cid:415) on than would be produced for use.” 3 However, Fields, rela(cid:415) ve economic success,” the Dawkinites instead insist that “all aspects of Factories and Workshops mustn’t be mistaken for something it isn’t. The central living systems are to be understood, ul(cid:415) mately, as an outgrowth of compe(cid:415) (cid:415) on and overriding purpose of Kropotkin’s book was to prove Malthus’ over-popula(cid:415) on for reproduc(cid:415) ve success and that organisms ac(cid:415) vely seek to maximise their theories wrong. This is also a major objec(cid:415) ve of Mutual Aid. The idea that there reproduc(cid:415) ve success.” But, Eldredge con(cid:415) nues, Darwin “saw natural selec(cid:415) on as a are “too many people” remains a major preoccupa(cid:415) on of the contemporary simple accumulator.” The Dawkinite vulgarizers of Darwin: environmental movement. Kropotkin argued that through the intelligent use of the land in both urban and rural contexts, combined with innova(cid:415) ve technologies and see economic compe(cid:415) (cid:415) on as a direct refl ec(cid:415) on of real compe(cid:415) (cid:415) on for prac(cid:415) ces, it was easily possible to feed an urbanized, industrialized and densely reproduc(cid:415) ve success. Natural selec(cid:415) on is transformed from a passive populated country like the UK. Kropotkin’s asser(cid:415) on was proven during the Second accumulator to a dynamic process … responsible at bo(cid:425) om, for the World War, when the isolated island na(cid:415) on successfully fed itself, at least in part, by organiza(cid:415) on of all manner of bio(cid:415) c en(cid:415) (cid:415) es: species, local ecosystems, and reintroducing food produc(cid:415) on to the city. most of all, social systems. This reformula(cid:415) on of natural selec(cid:415) on into ac(cid:415) ve E. Odum, the famous American marine ecologist and key scien(cid:415) fi c pioneer of mode … in sociobiological literature may be a downright perversion of the ecosystem theory during the 1950s, regarded Kropotkin as an important historical genuine evolu(cid:415) onary principle of natural selec(cid:415) on.22 personality. Odum follows Kropotkin when he calls for moderately sized and self- suffi cient ci(cid:415) es where “every inhabitant grows at least some of their vegetables Kropotkin was par(cid:415) cularly interested in the adap(cid:415) ve plas(cid:415) city of animal in a greenhouse room.” Odum also follows Kropotkin when he suggests that we behaviour in social groups. Social animals adap(cid:415) vely modify behaviour and transmit should take a closer look at “tradi(cid:415) onal mutual aid combina(cid:415) ons of agriculture this knowledge through imita(cid:415) on or instruc(cid:415) on to other members of their social and hor(cid:415) culture involving mixtures of annual, perennial, and tree crops, domes(cid:415) c group. Animals that are able to communicate and learn from informa(cid:415) on provided animals, and fi sh ponds fed with manure and plant residues.” 4 by others, Kropotkin thought, would be much be(cid:425) er able to survive in changing Kropotkin also believed a communally orientated mul(cid:415) - faceted approach to or newly colonized environments. Intelligent animals compensate for their lack of educa(cid:415) on, housing, labour, energy and food produc(cid:415) on could yield signifi cant social gene(cid:415) c and morphological fl exibility by ins(cid:415) nctual or behavioural fl exibility. The as well as ecological benefi ts. Kropotkin wrote several books on prison issues and ability to adopt and evolve novel behaviour is especially prevalent among highly viewed the impoverished mass urban environments of state-capitalist-industrial social species. The social transmission of informa(cid:415) on between organ- isms, both society as a major source of crime. Similarly, Odum ques(cid:415) ons the wisdom of spending within and between genera(cid:415) ons, is an important and o(cid:332) en overlooked factor in money on prisons without adequately funding “economic services designed to see evolu(cid:415) on. that the children of the poor do not become criminals.” 5 Kropotkin’s criminology is, Plas(cid:415) city in behaviour is the basis of the ability to invent. We o(cid:332) en view human however, more radical and insigh(cid:414) ul than Odum’s general liberal cri(cid:415) que. Kropotkin historical progress as one of successive technological innova(cid:415) on, but insects are thought that criminal tendencies could only be curbed through the crea(cid:415) on of also capable of behavioural inven(cid:415) ons that can be passed on. The Cyprus bee, for meaningful social environments composed of par(cid:415) cipatory community structures. example, has evolved the unique collec(cid:415) ve tac(cid:415) c of suff oca(cid:415) ng an invading hornet Kropotkin was the fi rst person to contemplate the no(cid:415) on of the green city by force of numbers. Inheritance is most commonly explained in gene(cid:415) c terms, but composed of extended urban neighbourhoods communally u(cid:415) lizing intensive in mammals and birds the direct social transmission of behavioural adapta(cid:415) ons is hor(cid:415) culture for the produc(cid:415) on of food from organic wastes and the genera(cid:415) on of equally important. energy from local or decentralised sources. Ci(cid:415) es are responsible for about half of Kropotkin was interested in the eff ects of behavioural/developmental plas(cid:415) city all greenhouse emissions. The concep(cid:415) on and construc(cid:415) on of sustainable, zero- and novelty upon the evolu(cid:415) on of species and ecosystems. He believed that emission or self-suffi cient ci(cid:415) es, according to many contemporary environmentalists, migra(cid:415) on and subsequent geographical isola(cid:415) on might be a common specia(cid:415) on is becoming an urgent necessity. process (allopatric specia(cid:415) on). But, he also thought that other self-directed changes made by the animal in diet or behaviour might result in specia(cid:415) on without prior geographical isola(cid:415) on (sympatric specia(cid:415) on). In all cases, Kropotkin stressed the plas(cid:415) city of nature at all levels and the ac(cid:415) ve role that organisms play in their own   6 Green Flame Graham Purchase 11   Animal Ecology and Evolution Environmental Geography Kropotkin is the most important historical fi gure in the ar(cid:415) cula(cid:415) on of co-opera(cid:415) ve, During his 40-year exile in England, Kropotkin had to earn a living from his pen. collec(cid:415) ve or community models of animal life, natural systems and evolu(cid:415) onary He replaced Huxley as the writer of the Recent Science column for the Nineteenth processes. Mutual Aid was an immediate popular success and has s(cid:415) mulated Century Journal, contribu(cid:415) ng regular popular science ar(cid:415) cles for nearly a decade many evolu(cid:415) onary thinkers to appreciate or re-examine collec(cid:415) ve dimensions of (1892-1900). He also produced voluminous ar(cid:415) cles for three edi(cid:415) ons of the animal life and evolu(cid:415) on. Co-opera(cid:415) ve models of evolu(cid:415) onary processes remain Encyclopaedia Britannica (1887-1911) on the geography of considerably more controversial. Odum concluded that: than one sixth of the Earth’s land area (in essence, the former Soviet Empire and Mongolia). Studies have shown that contemporary ecological textbooks devote vastly His broad approach resulted in the longer ar(cid:415) cles becoming condensed synop(cid:415) c more space to compe(cid:415) (cid:415) on and preda(cid:415) on in comparison to mutualism. This is geographies of vast areas of the Earth. Minimally, each ar(cid:415) cle sketched the despite the fact that there is no evidence that compe(cid:415) (cid:415) on is more important distribu(cid:415) on of fauna, fl ora, climate and physiography of each region, combined with than co-opera(cid:415) on in the forma(cid:415) on and maintenance of bio-systems. 18 an account of the cultural, clima(cid:415) c, ethnic, agricultural and industrial history of the area’s human inhabitants. For lesser reference works, such as Chambers, Kropotkin Kropotkin suggested that there were two kinds of natural selec(cid:415) on, namely wrote ar(cid:415) cles covering the whole of Asia (two-fi (cid:332) hs of Earth’s landmass), as well organism vs. organism, which leads to compe(cid:415) (cid:415) on, and organism vs. environment, as European Russia. These reference ar(cid:415) cles exhibit environmental sensibility by leading to mutualism. To survive, an organism does not compete with its environment frequently including informa(cid:415) on on the health of forests, over-exploita(cid:415) on of as it might with another organism, but must adapt to, or modify, its environment natural resources and the ex(cid:415) nc(cid:415) on of cultures, animals and ecosystems because of and its community in a co-opera(cid:415) ve manner.19 clima(cid:415) c changes or human ac(cid:415) on. From the middle of the 19th century, geographers Kropotkin describes numerous examples of how economic co-opera(cid:415) on enhances began, to “examine land se(cid:425) lement and use from the aspect of resources, where the survival of the individual, and also, he believed, the group and/or species. A wilderness was seen as being threatened or endangered.” 6 great variety of collec(cid:415) ve ac(cid:415) vi(cid:415) es concerned with daily survival are not directly Kropotkin complains in Mutual Aid how it had become nearly impossible to linked to reproduc(cid:415) on, e.g., collec(cid:415) ve mechanisms for defence against predators study the social behaviour of regional or meta- popula(cid:415) ons of large mammals. The (mobbing in birds), co-opera(cid:415) ve hun(cid:415) ng behaviours (lions), group modera(cid:415) on inven(cid:415) on of gunpowder had resulted in “civiliza(cid:415) on” taking a “300-year hun(cid:415) ng trip,” of the environment (beavers’ dams), migra(cid:415) on, hiberna(cid:415) on (combined heat in leading to the decima(cid:415) on of “animal socie(cid:415) es or na(cid:415) ons.” 7 Destruc(cid:415) on of habitat, numbers), and defence of feeding territories from compe(cid:415) tors. Kropotkin concluded, had led to changes in animal behaviour as their territories Ecology has tradi(cid:415) onally focused upon the “economic behaviour of organisms were invaded and fragmented by Russian imperialist expansion into Siberia. in groups,” while “evolu(cid:415) onary theory has focused almost exclusively upon the Kropotkin believed the destruc(cid:415) on of animal culture or society at the regional level genealogical products.” 20 Kropotkin, a geographer-ecologist, was par(cid:415) cularly by human ac(cid:415) vity and se(cid:425) lement has resulted in a situa(cid:415) on where many previously concerned to show how co-opera(cid:415) ve economic behaviour altered or improved much-more-social animals had become solitary or exhibited increased aggression local environments and survival chances of individuals, groups or species. Kropotkin and social compe(cid:415) (cid:415) on. 8 This is an important theme. H. Melville in Moby Dick thought that co-opera(cid:415) on “favours the development of such habits and characters (which is as much a documentary of whales and whaling as it is a story) tells of as ensure the maintenance and further development of the species, together with huge congrega(cid:415) ons of whales swimming in vast circles at certain (cid:415) mes of the year. the greatest amount of welfare and enjoyment of life for the individual, with the Increased compe(cid:415) (cid:415) on/aggression has been observed among birds when tall trees least waste of energy.” 21 that formerly provided ample nes(cid:415) ng sites have been felled. An adequate apprecia(cid:415) on of the economic effi ciencies emerging from collec(cid:415) ve, Kropotkin, from almost the very fi rst issue of The Geographical Journal (of the Royal group or co-opera(cid:415) ve behaviour, Eldredge asserts, is the sort of ac(cid:415) vity discounted Geographical Society in London), con(cid:415) nually contributed professional ar(cid:415) cles about by Dawkins’ “reduc(cid:415) ve gene’s-eye”-type theories. Eldredge argues that under the which he had exper(cid:415) se or interest. The most substan(cid:415) al work Kropotkin published standard neo-Darwinian synthesis, “organisms have come to be regarded, at base, in this journal is “The Orography of Asia,” 9 which was later combined with another as being concerned exclusively with the maximiza(cid:415) on of reproduc(cid:415) ve success.” French ar(cid:415) cle on the Orography of Siberia, and published together in French.10 In   10 Green Flame Graham Purchase 7 this book, Kropotkin discusses the geological discoveries of his youth and updates Bowler, in his assessment of Kropotkin’s defence of the inheritance of acquired them in the light of more recent work by others. Orography is now infrequently characteris(cid:415) cs, states that he “exposed the weakness” of his own arguments used as an equivalent (and archaic) word for geomorphology. But orography for when he “conceded that alpine species when grown at a lower al(cid:415) tudes soon Kropotkin and Reclus was a very broad subject that included all aspects of Alpine lose their par(cid:415) cular characteris(cid:415) cs.” 14 Bowler is par(cid:415) ally mistaken. Kropotkin life and culture.11 Mountains are not described in one-dimensional, bare-structural also thought that the evolu(cid:415) on of phenotypic/developmental plas(cid:415) city was an or geological terms. Kropotkin’s orography includes detailed assessment of past important evolu(cid:415) onary development and fi eld of scien(cid:415) fi c study in its own right. and present pa(cid:425) erns of regional vegeta(cid:415) on, climate and distribu(cid:415) on and human The inves(cid:415) ga(cid:415) on and acceptance of plas(cid:415) city, dynamism and change is the vantage impacts. point from which Kropotkin builds his philosophical inquiry into nature and society. Kropotkin shared this par(cid:415) cular interest in alpinism with his American contemporary, Clements. Both ecologists were fascinated by how a lowland species grown in the mountains quickly adapted to closely resemble alpine morphology. The ability to  Climate Change exploit another niche or survive in fl uctua(cid:415) ng environments by having two or more dis(cid:415) nct phenotypes/developmental pathways confers considerable evolu(cid:415) onary advantages. This is most commonly observed in the lowland/marshland and alpine/ Kropotkin published a series of ar(cid:415) cles in The Geographical Journal reviewing dry land morphs of the same species. Kropotkin wrote a book upon phenotypic geological evidence from around the world of considerable clima(cid:415) c variability in inheritance in the years immediately prior to his return to Russia following the the recent history of Earth.15 He also produced interes(cid:415) ng work upon increasing revolu(cid:415) on (He died near Moscow in 1921). In Evolu(cid:415) on and Environment, Kropotkin aridity in Central and N.W. Asia.16 concludes that animals and plants are able to respond to “constantly changing In Mutual Aid Kropotkin suggests mass migra(cid:415) on caused by deser(cid:415) fi ca(cid:415) on was an surroundings” and experiment with diff erent niches or clima(cid:415) c regions through important factor in the social evolu(cid:415) on of European and Asian civiliza(cid:415) on: u(cid:415) lizing “several developmental lines.” 12 Kropotkin summarized research upon adap(cid:415) ve polyphenic plas(cid:415) city, believing that migra(cid:415) on or environmental challenges The desicca(cid:415) on of North-West Asia goes on a rate which must be measured might favour one developmental pathway over another and result in specia(cid:415) on. by centuries instead of by the geological units of (cid:415) me of which we formerly The idea that s(cid:415) mulus-dependent phenotypes may be sorted by natural selec(cid:415) on used to speak. … Numberless traces of post-Pliocene lakes, now disappeared, was fi rst raised by J. Baldwin in 1896 and developed by C. H. Waddington early in are found over Central, West and North Asia. Shells of the same species as the 20th century. those now found in the Caspian Sea are found as far East as half-way to Lake There is a revival of interest in Waddington’s ideas and gene(cid:415) c assimila(cid:415) on, Aral and as far North as Kazan. … whereby a useful phenotype is replaced by a varia(cid:415) on in the genes themselves. Men of Science have not yet se(cid:425) led upon the cause which some 2,000 Evidence shows that in mammals environmentally induced (e.g., by poor/rich diet, years ago drove whole na(cid:415) ons from Asia into Europe which put an end to anxiety or chemical exposure), varia(cid:415) ons of gene(cid:415) c expression may be heritable the West Roman Empire. One cause is naturally suggested to the geographer over many genera(cid:415) ons by a wide variety and large number of poorly understood as he contemplates the ruins of populous ci(cid:415) es in the deserts of Central Asia, epigene(cid:415) c processes. But animals and plants do not directly adapt to changing or follows the old beds of rivers now disappeared and the wide outlines of environmental condi(cid:415) ons, as Kropotkin and many other scien(cid:415) sts of his period lakes now reduced to the size of mere ponds. It is a quite recent desicca(cid:415) on. believed – rather, if they can’t migrate to similar ecosystems elsewhere, they Against it man was powerless. 17 generally go ex(cid:415) nct. Genomes, it is now thought, remain (dynamically) stable most of the (cid:415) me. But during (cid:415) mes of environmental stress, phenotypic varia(cid:415) on, or Kropotkin believed that global and regional climate regimes were highly how that DNA is expressed, greatly increases. The majority of heritable epigene(cid:415) c changeable. His prac(cid:415) cal scien(cid:415) fi c contribu(cid:415) on to our understanding of Earth’s changes are neutral or pathological. But it is now plausibly suggested that natural paleo-geo-climatology was combined with a revolu(cid:415) onary conceptual outlook selec(cid:415) on of par(cid:415) cular or en(cid:415) rely novel environmentally induced phenotypes, when that saw natural systems in terms of dynamic instability, con(cid:415) nual adapta(cid:415) on and occasionally advantageous, may be important and previously overlooked routes to change. This is exactly our modern concep(cid:415) on of natural systems, and one that specia(cid:415) on.13 none of Kropotkin’s contemporary co-founders of ecology ever ar(cid:415) culated.   8 Green Flame Graham Purchase 9

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[ !C BCBMB[B PPLT www.zabalazabooks.net “Knowledge is the key to be free!” Green Flame: Kropotkin & the Birth of Ecology by Graham Purchase    From the Anarcho-Syndicalist Review #54, Summer 2010 xxx/{bcbmb{bcpplt/ofu 24. Bramwell, 41. 25. All these thinkers to varying extents included co-opera(cid:415) on as a characteris(cid:415) c element of animal behaviour and factor of evolu(cid:415) on. See Daniel P. Todes, Darwin Without Malthus: The Struggle for Existence in Russian Evolu(cid:415) onary Thought, Oxford University Press 1989, Chapters 6, 7 & 8, 105-165. 26. Kropotkin, quoted in Todes, Darwin Without Malthus, 147-9. 27. Todes, 136. 28. Kropotkin, Ethics, Tudor Publishing, 1947, footnotes pages 35 & 287.   2 Green Flame Graham Purchase 15 Notes: 1. A. Bramwell, Ecology in the 20th Century, Yale University Press, 1989, 13-15. 2. Bramwell, 66. 3. Bramwell, 87. 4. E. Odum, Ecological Vigne(cid:425) es, Harwood, 1988, 97-98. 5. Odum, Vigne(cid:425) es, 21. 6. Bramwell, 15. 7. Kropotkin, Mutual Aid, 1915 popular edi(cid:415) on, 37. 8. Mutual Aid, 24 (foxes, wolves and eagles), 37 (weasels). The pre-eminence of environmentalism in the 21st century is a novel poli(cid:415) cal and historical development. Ecology is a new body of scien(cid:415) fi c descrip(cid:415) on and 9. Kropotkin, Orography of Asia, Vol. 23, 1904, 176-207 & 331-361. knowledge upon which social, economic, poli(cid:415) cal and ethical ideas and prac(cid:415) ces 10. Kropotkin, Orographie de la Siberie avec un apercu de l’orgraphie de l’Asie, have become premised. Ecosystem science suggests that poli(cid:415) cal, social and Ins(cid:415) tut Geographique de Bruxelles, 1904. economic arrangements must be compa(cid:415) ble and ideally op(cid:415) mize natural ecological 11. See the discussion of Alpinism in Reclus’ Man and Nature (Jura Media 1995), processes. Harming ecosystems is considered ethically, poli(cid:415) cally and ecologically also his fi c(cid:415) onal work The Story of the Mountain translated by B. Ness and J. wrong. Lillie, London: Sampson Low 1881. There are profound ecological elements and sen(cid:415) ments within ancient literature. But, it was not un(cid:415) l the beginning of the last quarter of the 19th century that 12. Kropotkin, Evolu(cid:415) on and Environment, Black Rose Books, 1995, 237 & 231. ecological insights or observa(cid:415) ons were moulded into conceptual rela(cid:415) onships 13. For a history of the theory of phenotypic inheritance and its rela(cid:415) onship to and began forming a coherent environmentalism. “Self-defi ni(cid:415) on” and conscious modern research: E. Jablonka & Lamb M., Epigene(cid:415) c Inheritance and Evolu(cid:415) on, associa(cid:415) on with this new poli(cid:415) cal outlook “arose in the 1920s.” It did not “acquire a Oxford University Press, 1995. proper name un(cid:415) l the early 1970s … when the scien(cid:415) fi c roots of ecologism merged 14. Bowler, P., The Eclipse of Darwinism, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983, 87. into a poli(cid:415) cal discipline, to become an ideology.” 1 Peter Kropotkin (1842-1921) is a leading historical and philosophical fi gure in the 15. The Pampas, Vol. 3, 1894, 318-321; New Siberia and the Circumpolar Ter(cid:415) ary early development and emergence of environmentalism. Kropotkin’s major works Flora, Vol. 16, 1900, 94-98. were all republished and discussed in the 1970s such that his late 19th century 16. The Old Beds of the Amu-Daria, Vol. 12, 1898, 306-310; The Desicca(cid:415) on of Eur- ideas and insights infl uenced and shaped the direc(cid:415) on and defi ni(cid:415) on of the early- Asia, Vol. 23, 1904, 721-741. modern environmental movement. Kropotkin was the fi rst person to mould proto- 17. Mutual Aid, 1915, 93. ecological concepts within the then fl edgling fi elds of economics, agricultural 18. Odum, Vigne(cid:425) es, 174. science, conserva(cid:415) on- ism, ethology, criminology, city planning, geography, geology and biology into a coherent new scien(cid:415) fi c outlook combined with a radical poli(cid:415) cal 19. Odum, Ecology and Our Endangered Life-Support System, Sinauer, 1993, 209. or social ecological program for rejuvena(cid:415) ng society and our rela(cid:415) onship with 20. N. Eldredge & M. Grene, Interac(cid:415) ons: The Biological Context of Social the Earth. It is instruc(cid:415) ve to re- examine Kropotkin’s scien(cid:415) fi c career because his Systems, 77. mul(cid:415) -disciplinary contribu(cid:415) on to ecological science and environmental poli(cid:415) cs is 21. Kropotkin, Mutual Aid, 1915, 14. obscured by the fact that he defi ned himself as a geologist and anarchist and not as an environmentalist. 22. Eldredge, Interac(cid:415) ons, 5. Kropotkin during the 1860s devoted his youth to Siberian explora(cid:415) on and 23. Bowler, The Eclipse, 81-2. orography (study of mountains or Alpinism). He gained celebrity as the fi rst man to   14 Green Flame Graham Purchase 3 correctly map the physiography of north-east Asia. trend is providing new research opportuni(cid:415) es for naturalists. Scien(cid:415) sts moun(cid:415) ng In his late twen(cid:415) es, Kropotkin undertook pioneering inves(cid:415) ga(cid:415) ons of ice ages match-sized video cameras on the tail feathers of New Caledonian crows recently involving a geological expedi(cid:415) on to Scandinavia. Kropotkin’s earlier work in Siberia discovered how these birds fashion large tools for excava(cid:415) ng the forest fl oor, and his thesis on palaeo-glaciology are landmarks in the development of the science exploi(cid:415) ng an ecological niche and employing tool-making techniques that have of geomorphology. Kropotkin’s conclusions were also a pioneering contribu(cid:415) on never been observed by naturalists before. The modern nature documentary to our scien(cid:415) fi c knowledge of clima(cid:415) c change upon Earth in the very recent past invariably a(cid:425) empts to capture the lives of animals in their natural habitat or home, (geologically speaking). as Kropotkin had wished. In 1872, when visi(cid:415) ng the Jura Mountains in Switzerland, Kropotkin was impressed Kropotkin and Lloyd Morgan believed useful experimental work on animals should by the anarchist watchmakers of Sonvillier. These free-ar(cid:415) sans generated power be conducted under condi(cid:415) ons closely corresponding to their natural habitat. In later from mountain streams to operate their machinery and organized industrial aff airs edi(cid:415) ons of his Animal Behaviour, Morgan, a(cid:332) er having read Kropotkin, “conceded upon the basis of workers’ self-management within the context of a federa(cid:415) on of the prevalence of mutual aid in nature.” 27 Spencer, a(cid:332) er considering Kropotkin’s villages. Kropotkin’s experiences in the Jura led him to declare himself an anarchist ideas, wrote some ar(cid:415) cles concerning “morality in nature” that were subsequently revolu(cid:415) onary. included in later edi(cid:415) ons of his Ethics and his Synthe(cid:415) c Philosophy.28 But Morgan, Kropotkin delivered his infl uen(cid:415) al and original thesis about ice ages to the Romanes and Spencer, despite modifying their views on animal behaviour (ethology) Russian Geographic Society a few hours before his arrest as a revolu(cid:415) onary outlaw. in response to Kropotkin’s ideas, never thought that mutualism was a signifi cant Kropotkin’s two-volume study upon glacial geology was based upon the results of factor in the evolu(cid:415) on of organisms, animal socie(cid:415) es or ecosystems. his Scandinavian fi eldwork. The fi rst volume was wri(cid:425) en while he was imprisoned The year 2009 began with the Darwin Anniversary celebra(cid:415) ons and ended with in the Tsar’s fortress and published in 1876. the United Na(cid:415) ons Climate Change Conference at Copenhagen. Kropotkin was a Kropotkin eluded his guards and escaped to Edinburgh the same year. There he met great Darwinist and ecologist, but his broad contribu(cid:415) on to the birth of ecology has Patrick Geddes, an outstanding biologist (symbiosis), environmental-geographer and never been fully documented or analysed. This sketch provides for the fi rst (cid:415) me a fondly remembered city planner in Bri(cid:415) sh India. Kropotkin proceeded to London, systema(cid:415) c overview of the complete range of his interests, achievements, theories where he met geographer John Sco(cid:425) Kel(cid:415) e, then editor of the famous Bri(cid:415) sh and publica(cid:415) ons. Kropotkin’s pioneering role in the evolu(cid:415) on of the philosophy of scien(cid:415) fi c journal Nature, in which Kropotkin had previously published ar(cid:415) cles. ecology was all encompassing, substan(cid:415) al and original. Kropotkin moved to Switzerland and then France at fi rst working on the Russian and Siberian sec(cid:415) ons of a geographical dic(cid:415) onary edited by Kel(cid:415) e. Kropotkin con(cid:415) nued his geographical work through his new associa(cid:415) on with the French geographer Élisée Reclus, whom he met in 1877. Reclus was a Paris Communard and confi dant of Bakunin. Kropotkin helped Reclus with his Universal Geography. This was Reclus’ grandest undertaking, and Kropotkin is credited with parts of volumes 5 and 6, covering Finland, European Russia, and Siberia. Reclus’ monumental 19-volume geography of the Earth was the last ever such work conceived by a single mind. In his acclaimed fi rst book The Earth (1864, 2 vols.), Reclus was among the fi rst to ar(cid:415) culate in a systema(cid:415) c and scien(cid:415) fi c way the modern idea of the Earth as a dynamic system of systems. The fi nal chapter of The Earth must be among the fi rst social-environmental manifestos ever penned.   4 Green Flame Graham Purchase 13  evolu(cid:415) on. The hypothesis that novel and self-directed changes in behaviour, when Urban and Social Ecology selec(cid:415) vely advantageous, might ini(cid:415) ate specia(cid:415) on was advocated by Baldwin. The leading advocate in Britain was the animal psychologist C. Lloyd Morgan (1852-1936). In 1883, Kropotkin was arrested in France for poli(cid:415) cal reasons and sent to jail, Kropotkin held a similar posi(cid:415) on to Morgan, but without the emphasis upon natural from where he was deported to England in 1886. Briefl y in Paris a(cid:332) er his release, selec(cid:415) on. Bowler, in his authorita(cid:415) ve study of the relevant scien(cid:415) fi c literature of he inves(cid:415) gated the city’s market gardens, an interest he had developed whilst the period, regards Kropotkin as an innova(cid:415) ve and independent proponent of a role tending the prison’s vegetable plots. The Paris gardeners used industrially advanced for behavioural change in animal evolu(cid:415) on. Bowler observes that both Morgan and organic forms of small-scale commercial hor(cid:415) culture, and such approaches to food Kropotkin saw “life as a purposeful ac(cid:415) vity.” 23 produc(cid:415) on are an integral component of his urban ecological-anarchist vision. Kropotkin was exiled in England for much of the remainder of his long life. Whilst lecturing around Britain, he researched its hor(cid:415) cultural prac(cid:415) ces. He made trips  Kropotkin’s Ethology to Guernsey to inves(cid:415) gate their intensive hor(cid:415) cultural systems and was impressed by the residen(cid:415) al allotment (community garden) system s(cid:415) ll exis(cid:415) ng in England to this day. Such informa(cid:415) on was included in his economics essays, published Ethology is the study of the interac(cid:415) on and co-evolu(cid:415) on of animal behaviours as the book Fields, Factories and Workshops in 1899. This book is similar to E. F. within their natural environments. Ecology was used interchangeably with “ethology Schumacher’s famous 1970s classic Small Is Beau(cid:415) ful. Its overriding theme is to re- in the early 20th century.” At this (cid:415) me, ethology, “the idea that animal behaviour evaluate regional self-suffi ciency and community life through taking advantage of could be understood by close observa(cid:415) on in the wild, was a radical idea.” 24 appropriately scaled alterna(cid:415) ve technology and modern communica(cid:415) on facili(cid:415) es. Kropotkin dismissed laboratory approaches to the study of animal behaviour and His anarchism involves the crea(cid:415) on of a more environmentally balanced country- also believed that fi eld experience was sadly lacking among biological researchers. city rela(cid:415) onship. Kropotkin envisioned a decentraliza(cid:415) on of industry complemented In his youth, Kropotkin befriended a number of gi(cid:332) ed young Russian naturalists, by organic and locally sensi(cid:415) ve community approaches to land-management and some of whom were members of the expedi(cid:415) onary teams in which he par(cid:415) cipated. food produc(cid:415) on, within both urban and rural contexts. Kropotkin’s refl ec(cid:415) ons upon Kropotkin’s ethology grew out of the work of Russian naturalists like Severtsov, alterna(cid:415) ve technology, decentraliza(cid:415) on and intensive hor(cid:415) culture were extremely Menzbir, Brandt and Poliakov.25 Poliakov and Kropotkin explored Siberia together as infl uen(cid:415) al in the rise of radical environmentalism in the 1960s and ’70s. Colin Ward’s members of the same scien(cid:415) fi c team. Severtsov, like Kropotkin, was a man of ac(cid:415) on annotated and abridged edi(cid:415) on of Fields, Factories and Workshops Tomorrow is a who achieved considerable interna(cid:415) onal scien(cid:415) fi c fame. Kropotkin befriended testament to the historical importance of this text and provides a scholarly overview Severtsov, describing him as a “great zoologist, a gi(cid:332) ed geographer and one of showing how Kropotkin’s ideas foreshadowed Geddes’ ideas and other well-known the most intelligent men I ever came across.” Severtsov was a pioneering animal non-socialist ventures of his period, such as the Garden City movement. ecologist whose interests closely overlapped with those of Kropotkin, par(cid:415) cularly Industrial and capitalist approaches to agriculture had led to a belief that such with respect to his analysis of migra(cid:415) on and “close a(cid:425) en(cid:415) on to the fl uid rela(cid:415) ons methods were progressive or be(cid:425) er, on the grounds of increased effi ciency. Around among organisms.” Severtsov’s zoogeographical studies also a(cid:425) empted to document 1850, researchers in Northern Europe began ques(cid:415) oning the supposed ineffi ciency and explain the distribu(cid:415) on, causes and evolu(cid:415) onary consequences of phenotypic of peasant farming. They concluded that “in terms of energy units used, peasant and behavioural plas(cid:415) city and diversity.26 produc(cid:415) vity was greater than that of large capitalist farms.” 2 In Fields, Factories and Kropotkin, throughout Mutual Aid, champions the need for adventurous fi eld Workshops, in addi(cid:415) on to his own research, Kropotkin gathered data together from studies in the wilderness and derides the idea that laboratory or desk-top biology a wealth of similar studies and presented them in a coherent way. Like Mutual Aid, is useful in the scien(cid:415) fi c study of animal behaviour. He argues that animals must this study was a popular success, and Kropotkin is quite well known as a pioneer be observed within their natural environment. Jane Goodall, who undertook of ecological-economic arguments favouring intensive, small-scale, organic, market pioneering studies of chimps in the jungle, has become a celebrity in our (cid:415) me. garden approaches to food produc(cid:415) on based upon energy effi ciency. By the mid-20th century, the ability to record animals by non-invasive methods, Some modern readers of Fields Factories and Workshops have been dismayed by such as cinematography, became available. The size of video equipment con(cid:415) nually the extent to which Kropotkin was a technophile with regards to food produc(cid:415) on. decreases and we may eventually develop cameras as small as one pixel. This Some of Kropotkin’s sugges(cid:415) ons, such as “intensive greenhouse potato produc(cid:415) on,”   12 Green Flame Graham Purchase 5 have been justly “cri(cid:415) cized on the grounds that more energy units would be Whereas Darwin had thought “off spring tend to inherit those features that confer required to increase produc(cid:415) on than would be produced for use.” 3 However, Fields, rela(cid:415) ve economic success,” the Dawkinites instead insist that “all aspects of Factories and Workshops mustn’t be mistaken for something it isn’t. The central living systems are to be understood, ul(cid:415) mately, as an outgrowth of compe(cid:415) (cid:415) on and overriding purpose of Kropotkin’s book was to prove Malthus’ over-popula(cid:415) on for reproduc(cid:415) ve success and that organisms ac(cid:415) vely seek to maximise their theories wrong. This is also a major objec(cid:415) ve of Mutual Aid. The idea that there reproduc(cid:415) ve success.” But, Eldredge con(cid:415) nues, Darwin “saw natural selec(cid:415) on as a are “too many people” remains a major preoccupa(cid:415) on of the contemporary simple accumulator.” The Dawkinite vulgarizers of Darwin: environmental movement. Kropotkin argued that through the intelligent use of the land in both urban and rural contexts, combined with innova(cid:415) ve technologies and see economic compe(cid:415) (cid:415) on as a direct refl ec(cid:415) on of real compe(cid:415) (cid:415) on for prac(cid:415) ces, it was easily possible to feed an urbanized, industrialized and densely reproduc(cid:415) ve success. Natural selec(cid:415) on is transformed from a passive populated country like the UK. Kropotkin’s asser(cid:415) on was proven during the Second accumulator to a dynamic process … responsible at bo(cid:425) om, for the World War, when the isolated island na(cid:415) on successfully fed itself, at least in part, by organiza(cid:415) on of all manner of bio(cid:415) c en(cid:415) (cid:415) es: species, local ecosystems, and reintroducing food produc(cid:415) on to the city. most of all, social systems. This reformula(cid:415) on of natural selec(cid:415) on into ac(cid:415) ve E. Odum, the famous American marine ecologist and key scien(cid:415) fi c pioneer of mode … in sociobiological literature may be a downright perversion of the ecosystem theory during the 1950s, regarded Kropotkin as an important historical genuine evolu(cid:415) onary principle of natural selec(cid:415) on.22 personality. Odum follows Kropotkin when he calls for moderately sized and self- suffi cient ci(cid:415) es where “every inhabitant grows at least some of their vegetables Kropotkin was par(cid:415) cularly interested in the adap(cid:415) ve plas(cid:415) city of animal in a greenhouse room.” Odum also follows Kropotkin when he suggests that we behaviour in social groups. Social animals adap(cid:415) vely modify behaviour and transmit should take a closer look at “tradi(cid:415) onal mutual aid combina(cid:415) ons of agriculture this knowledge through imita(cid:415) on or instruc(cid:415) on to other members of their social and hor(cid:415) culture involving mixtures of annual, perennial, and tree crops, domes(cid:415) c group. Animals that are able to communicate and learn from informa(cid:415) on provided animals, and fi sh ponds fed with manure and plant residues.” 4 by others, Kropotkin thought, would be much be(cid:425) er able to survive in changing Kropotkin also believed a communally orientated mul(cid:415) - faceted approach to or newly colonized environments. Intelligent animals compensate for their lack of educa(cid:415) on, housing, labour, energy and food produc(cid:415) on could yield signifi cant social gene(cid:415) c and morphological fl exibility by ins(cid:415) nctual or behavioural fl exibility. The as well as ecological benefi ts. Kropotkin wrote several books on prison issues and ability to adopt and evolve novel behaviour is especially prevalent among highly viewed the impoverished mass urban environments of state-capitalist-industrial social species. The social transmission of informa(cid:415) on between organ- isms, both society as a major source of crime. Similarly, Odum ques(cid:415) ons the wisdom of spending within and between genera(cid:415) ons, is an important and o(cid:332) en overlooked factor in money on prisons without adequately funding “economic services designed to see evolu(cid:415) on. that the children of the poor do not become criminals.” 5 Kropotkin’s criminology is, Plas(cid:415) city in behaviour is the basis of the ability to invent. We o(cid:332) en view human however, more radical and insigh(cid:414) ul than Odum’s general liberal cri(cid:415) que. Kropotkin historical progress as one of successive technological innova(cid:415) on, but insects are thought that criminal tendencies could only be curbed through the crea(cid:415) on of also capable of behavioural inven(cid:415) ons that can be passed on. The Cyprus bee, for meaningful social environments composed of par(cid:415) cipatory community structures. example, has evolved the unique collec(cid:415) ve tac(cid:415) c of suff oca(cid:415) ng an invading hornet Kropotkin was the fi rst person to contemplate the no(cid:415) on of the green city by force of numbers. Inheritance is most commonly explained in gene(cid:415) c terms, but composed of extended urban neighbourhoods communally u(cid:415) lizing intensive in mammals and birds the direct social transmission of behavioural adapta(cid:415) ons is hor(cid:415) culture for the produc(cid:415) on of food from organic wastes and the genera(cid:415) on of equally important. energy from local or decentralised sources. Ci(cid:415) es are responsible for about half of Kropotkin was interested in the eff ects of behavioural/developmental plas(cid:415) city all greenhouse emissions. The concep(cid:415) on and construc(cid:415) on of sustainable, zero- and novelty upon the evolu(cid:415) on of species and ecosystems. He believed that emission or self-suffi cient ci(cid:415) es, according to many contemporary environmentalists, migra(cid:415) on and subsequent geographical isola(cid:415) on might be a common specia(cid:415) on is becoming an urgent necessity. process (allopatric specia(cid:415) on). But, he also thought that other self-directed changes made by the animal in diet or behaviour might result in specia(cid:415) on without prior geographical isola(cid:415) on (sympatric specia(cid:415) on). In all cases, Kropotkin stressed the plas(cid:415) city of nature at all levels and the ac(cid:415) ve role that organisms play in their own   6 Green Flame Graham Purchase 11   Animal Ecology and Evolution Environmental Geography Kropotkin is the most important historical fi gure in the ar(cid:415) cula(cid:415) on of co-opera(cid:415) ve, During his 40-year exile in England, Kropotkin had to earn a living from his pen. collec(cid:415) ve or community models of animal life, natural systems and evolu(cid:415) onary He replaced Huxley as the writer of the Recent Science column for the Nineteenth processes. Mutual Aid was an immediate popular success and has s(cid:415) mulated Century Journal, contribu(cid:415) ng regular popular science ar(cid:415) cles for nearly a decade many evolu(cid:415) onary thinkers to appreciate or re-examine collec(cid:415) ve dimensions of (1892-1900). He also produced voluminous ar(cid:415) cles for three edi(cid:415) ons of the animal life and evolu(cid:415) on. Co-opera(cid:415) ve models of evolu(cid:415) onary processes remain Encyclopaedia Britannica (1887-1911) on the geography of considerably more controversial. Odum concluded that: than one sixth of the Earth’s land area (in essence, the former Soviet Empire and Mongolia). Studies have shown that contemporary ecological textbooks devote vastly His broad approach resulted in the longer ar(cid:415) cles becoming condensed synop(cid:415) c more space to compe(cid:415) (cid:415) on and preda(cid:415) on in comparison to mutualism. This is geographies of vast areas of the Earth. Minimally, each ar(cid:415) cle sketched the despite the fact that there is no evidence that compe(cid:415) (cid:415) on is more important distribu(cid:415) on of fauna, fl ora, climate and physiography of each region, combined with than co-opera(cid:415) on in the forma(cid:415) on and maintenance of bio-systems. 18 an account of the cultural, clima(cid:415) c, ethnic, agricultural and industrial history of the area’s human inhabitants. For lesser reference works, such as Chambers, Kropotkin Kropotkin suggested that there were two kinds of natural selec(cid:415) on, namely wrote ar(cid:415) cles covering the whole of Asia (two-fi (cid:332) hs of Earth’s landmass), as well organism vs. organism, which leads to compe(cid:415) (cid:415) on, and organism vs. environment, as European Russia. These reference ar(cid:415) cles exhibit environmental sensibility by leading to mutualism. To survive, an organism does not compete with its environment frequently including informa(cid:415) on on the health of forests, over-exploita(cid:415) on of as it might with another organism, but must adapt to, or modify, its environment natural resources and the ex(cid:415) nc(cid:415) on of cultures, animals and ecosystems because of and its community in a co-opera(cid:415) ve manner.19 clima(cid:415) c changes or human ac(cid:415) on. From the middle of the 19th century, geographers Kropotkin describes numerous examples of how economic co-opera(cid:415) on enhances began, to “examine land se(cid:425) lement and use from the aspect of resources, where the survival of the individual, and also, he believed, the group and/or species. A wilderness was seen as being threatened or endangered.” 6 great variety of collec(cid:415) ve ac(cid:415) vi(cid:415) es concerned with daily survival are not directly Kropotkin complains in Mutual Aid how it had become nearly impossible to linked to reproduc(cid:415) on, e.g., collec(cid:415) ve mechanisms for defence against predators study the social behaviour of regional or meta- popula(cid:415) ons of large mammals. The (mobbing in birds), co-opera(cid:415) ve hun(cid:415) ng behaviours (lions), group modera(cid:415) on inven(cid:415) on of gunpowder had resulted in “civiliza(cid:415) on” taking a “300-year hun(cid:415) ng trip,” of the environment (beavers’ dams), migra(cid:415) on, hiberna(cid:415) on (combined heat in leading to the decima(cid:415) on of “animal socie(cid:415) es or na(cid:415) ons.” 7 Destruc(cid:415) on of habitat, numbers), and defence of feeding territories from compe(cid:415) tors. Kropotkin concluded, had led to changes in animal behaviour as their territories Ecology has tradi(cid:415) onally focused upon the “economic behaviour of organisms were invaded and fragmented by Russian imperialist expansion into Siberia. in groups,” while “evolu(cid:415) onary theory has focused almost exclusively upon the Kropotkin believed the destruc(cid:415) on of animal culture or society at the regional level genealogical products.” 20 Kropotkin, a geographer-ecologist, was par(cid:415) cularly by human ac(cid:415) vity and se(cid:425) lement has resulted in a situa(cid:415) on where many previously concerned to show how co-opera(cid:415) ve economic behaviour altered or improved much-more-social animals had become solitary or exhibited increased aggression local environments and survival chances of individuals, groups or species. Kropotkin and social compe(cid:415) (cid:415) on. 8 This is an important theme. H. Melville in Moby Dick thought that co-opera(cid:415) on “favours the development of such habits and characters (which is as much a documentary of whales and whaling as it is a story) tells of as ensure the maintenance and further development of the species, together with huge congrega(cid:415) ons of whales swimming in vast circles at certain (cid:415) mes of the year. the greatest amount of welfare and enjoyment of life for the individual, with the Increased compe(cid:415) (cid:415) on/aggression has been observed among birds when tall trees least waste of energy.” 21 that formerly provided ample nes(cid:415) ng sites have been felled. An adequate apprecia(cid:415) on of the economic effi ciencies emerging from collec(cid:415) ve, Kropotkin, from almost the very fi rst issue of The Geographical Journal (of the Royal group or co-opera(cid:415) ve behaviour, Eldredge asserts, is the sort of ac(cid:415) vity discounted Geographical Society in London), con(cid:415) nually contributed professional ar(cid:415) cles about by Dawkins’ “reduc(cid:415) ve gene’s-eye”-type theories. Eldredge argues that under the which he had exper(cid:415) se or interest. The most substan(cid:415) al work Kropotkin published standard neo-Darwinian synthesis, “organisms have come to be regarded, at base, in this journal is “The Orography of Asia,” 9 which was later combined with another as being concerned exclusively with the maximiza(cid:415) on of reproduc(cid:415) ve success.” French ar(cid:415) cle on the Orography of Siberia, and published together in French.10 In   10 Green Flame Graham Purchase 7 this book, Kropotkin discusses the geological discoveries of his youth and updates Bowler, in his assessment of Kropotkin’s defence of the inheritance of acquired them in the light of more recent work by others. Orography is now infrequently characteris(cid:415) cs, states that he “exposed the weakness” of his own arguments used as an equivalent (and archaic) word for geomorphology. But orography for when he “conceded that alpine species when grown at a lower al(cid:415) tudes soon Kropotkin and Reclus was a very broad subject that included all aspects of Alpine lose their par(cid:415) cular characteris(cid:415) cs.” 14 Bowler is par(cid:415) ally mistaken. Kropotkin life and culture.11 Mountains are not described in one-dimensional, bare-structural also thought that the evolu(cid:415) on of phenotypic/developmental plas(cid:415) city was an or geological terms. Kropotkin’s orography includes detailed assessment of past important evolu(cid:415) onary development and fi eld of scien(cid:415) fi c study in its own right. and present pa(cid:425) erns of regional vegeta(cid:415) on, climate and distribu(cid:415) on and human The inves(cid:415) ga(cid:415) on and acceptance of plas(cid:415) city, dynamism and change is the vantage impacts. point from which Kropotkin builds his philosophical inquiry into nature and society. Kropotkin shared this par(cid:415) cular interest in alpinism with his American contemporary, Clements. Both ecologists were fascinated by how a lowland species grown in the mountains quickly adapted to closely resemble alpine morphology. The ability to  Climate Change exploit another niche or survive in fl uctua(cid:415) ng environments by having two or more dis(cid:415) nct phenotypes/developmental pathways confers considerable evolu(cid:415) onary advantages. This is most commonly observed in the lowland/marshland and alpine/ Kropotkin published a series of ar(cid:415) cles in The Geographical Journal reviewing dry land morphs of the same species. Kropotkin wrote a book upon phenotypic geological evidence from around the world of considerable clima(cid:415) c variability in inheritance in the years immediately prior to his return to Russia following the the recent history of Earth.15 He also produced interes(cid:415) ng work upon increasing revolu(cid:415) on (He died near Moscow in 1921). In Evolu(cid:415) on and Environment, Kropotkin aridity in Central and N.W. Asia.16 concludes that animals and plants are able to respond to “constantly changing In Mutual Aid Kropotkin suggests mass migra(cid:415) on caused by deser(cid:415) fi ca(cid:415) on was an surroundings” and experiment with diff erent niches or clima(cid:415) c regions through important factor in the social evolu(cid:415) on of European and Asian civiliza(cid:415) on: u(cid:415) lizing “several developmental lines.” 12 Kropotkin summarized research upon adap(cid:415) ve polyphenic plas(cid:415) city, believing that migra(cid:415) on or environmental challenges The desicca(cid:415) on of North-West Asia goes on a rate which must be measured might favour one developmental pathway over another and result in specia(cid:415) on. by centuries instead of by the geological units of (cid:415) me of which we formerly The idea that s(cid:415) mulus-dependent phenotypes may be sorted by natural selec(cid:415) on used to speak. … Numberless traces of post-Pliocene lakes, now disappeared, was fi rst raised by J. Baldwin in 1896 and developed by C. H. Waddington early in are found over Central, West and North Asia. Shells of the same species as the 20th century. those now found in the Caspian Sea are found as far East as half-way to Lake There is a revival of interest in Waddington’s ideas and gene(cid:415) c assimila(cid:415) on, Aral and as far North as Kazan. … whereby a useful phenotype is replaced by a varia(cid:415) on in the genes themselves. Men of Science have not yet se(cid:425) led upon the cause which some 2,000 Evidence shows that in mammals environmentally induced (e.g., by poor/rich diet, years ago drove whole na(cid:415) ons from Asia into Europe which put an end to anxiety or chemical exposure), varia(cid:415) ons of gene(cid:415) c expression may be heritable the West Roman Empire. One cause is naturally suggested to the geographer over many genera(cid:415) ons by a wide variety and large number of poorly understood as he contemplates the ruins of populous ci(cid:415) es in the deserts of Central Asia, epigene(cid:415) c processes. But animals and plants do not directly adapt to changing or follows the old beds of rivers now disappeared and the wide outlines of environmental condi(cid:415) ons, as Kropotkin and many other scien(cid:415) sts of his period lakes now reduced to the size of mere ponds. It is a quite recent desicca(cid:415) on. believed – rather, if they can’t migrate to similar ecosystems elsewhere, they Against it man was powerless. 17 generally go ex(cid:415) nct. Genomes, it is now thought, remain (dynamically) stable most of the (cid:415) me. But during (cid:415) mes of environmental stress, phenotypic varia(cid:415) on, or Kropotkin believed that global and regional climate regimes were highly how that DNA is expressed, greatly increases. The majority of heritable epigene(cid:415) c changeable. His prac(cid:415) cal scien(cid:415) fi c contribu(cid:415) on to our understanding of Earth’s changes are neutral or pathological. But it is now plausibly suggested that natural paleo-geo-climatology was combined with a revolu(cid:415) onary conceptual outlook selec(cid:415) on of par(cid:415) cular or en(cid:415) rely novel environmentally induced phenotypes, when that saw natural systems in terms of dynamic instability, con(cid:415) nual adapta(cid:415) on and occasionally advantageous, may be important and previously overlooked routes to change. This is exactly our modern concep(cid:415) on of natural systems, and one that specia(cid:415) on.13 none of Kropotkin’s contemporary co-founders of ecology ever ar(cid:415) culated.   8 Green Flame Graham Purchase 9

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