HUMAN IMAGINATION(S) OF NATUREAN INQUIRY OF APPROACHES TO ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION IN THE ANTHROPOCENE

Abstract

Humankind has developed a plethora of environmental protection measures in response to the global climate and environmental crisis. Existing debates on these measures delve into their efficacy. This thesis investigates environmental protection measures from a different perspective, examining the different human imaginations of nature that underpin these measures to understand how their forms were influenced. Through a multi-disciplinary approach, I scrutinise two key environmental protection approaches: green capitalism and an indigenous-influenced Rights of Nature (RoN) model. I argue that two dominant, yet differing visions of human-nature relationships exist simultaneously — one, a capitalist brand that emphasises human-nature duality and the inferiority of nature; the other, an indigenous approach that views nature as an equal, justifying its protection. Locating my argument within the concept of the Anthropocene, I delineate how a capitalist vision of nature was conceived and subsequently undergirded the modern world, contributing to the demise of the indigenous world and vision in its reign. Despite this demise, I demonstrate how globalisation has facilitated the re-emergence of indigenous beliefs, observed through the rise of an indigenous-influenced RoN legal approach, and allowed for its existence alongside the dominant and conflicting capitalist notions of human-nature relationships. After analysing each measure, I substantiate the co-existence of both conceptions of human-nature relationships through an analysis of the relationships shared by different actors who support their existence. In addition, I bring to attention the different environmental knowledge possessed by each camp, of which vastly contrasting purviews of the capabilities of nature and human ingenuity are held. Having used human environmental imagination as a starting point, I conclude by proposing for a reconstruction of a new human identity that is incorporated with environmental stewardship.