Assignment #3: #EarthOurHome Campaign

We often think about 'home' in our society as a place of residence or a 'feeling' associated with comfort and support.

Geographers' definitions of 'home' can vary to encompass both the physical structure and the socio-cultural aspects pertaining to both inside and outside of the home; examples of 'home' include "a matrix of social relations", "an important site of consumption" and a "safe, loving and positive space" (Valentine, 2001, p. 63). The home is also a site of "idealized meaning or social imaginary" while also embodying a "physical or material reality" (Whitson, 2017, p. 52).

Thinking more broadly, the authors of this blog post would like to consider the Earth -- our planet, our common environment, and our resource base -- as the home that transcends all of our apartment complexes, two-story houses, and luxury condominiums. The Earth provides a habitat-home for all species, including human beings, and the materials for the brick-and-wood-made houses that line our numbered streets.

But the idea of 'Earth as home' is far from singular. In fact, there are competing viewpoints of 'Earth as home' in the United States, specifically related to natural resource use, overuse, and abuse. We will examine modern-day American ideologies regarding the Earth as our shared planet and home ('cultural setting') in this post.

Regarding the 4 commonly accepted socio-ecological perspectives on global environmental change, our campaign discusses 3 very important, interchangeable perspectives on 'Earth as home' that exist in our society today.

Market Liberals seek to solve environmental issues through economic growth. This economic liberalism may lead to greater environmental stresses, however this group argues that economic growth through the exploitation of our natural resources will eventually increase environmental standards and environmental quality overall (Rockström 2015).

Market Liberals are generally optimistic about the human capacity to manage the biosphere through technological and scientific progress. This idea of a liberal market environmentalism conditions our Earth as a means of capital, consumption, and property. Environmental concern has also focused on the tendency for neoliberal policies to maintain the role of developing countries as raw material exporters to the world economy (Rockström 2015).

Natural resource-rich states like Alaska, West Virginia, and Montana continually make reference to the Earth as a bounty of use. People with this viewpoint see 'Earth as home' as a seemingly endless supply of abundance that should -- and must -- be accessed and utilized by energy-hungry humans (Eilperin 2017). Sacrifices are made to one part of the home for the benefit of others (O'Brien 2017). 'Earth as home' in this case must be modified and commodified to meet the needs of its dependents. This viewpoint recalls the geographical definition of 'home' as a site of consumption.

Similarly, people in environmental planning view the majority of 'Earth as home' as a landscape that can be significantly altered by will of the people. A prominent example of this ideology is the construction of dams to alter the flow of rivers (FEMA 2017). While convenient for stock-piling water resources and harnessing hydropower, dams fundamentally change the ecological and environmental systems surrounding the water source. In this case, dams represent an illusory ideal of people modifying nature, similar to the imaginary ideal of creating the 'perfect' home.

BioEnvironmentalists, on the other hand, believe that economic globalization is generally viewed as a negative. In short, economic growth leads to greater consumption and greater impact on the planet. This group believes that we must recognize hard, physical limits and therefore reduce population growth and consumption and conserve our natural resources (Rockström 2015).

These traditional environmentalists, a burgeoning social activist group in the U.S. since the early 1960s, view the 'Earth as home' to be a place of beauty and tranquility, full of intrinsic value (Wilderness Society 2017). Solace from the stress of everyday life and opportunities for outdoor recreation are found in these contained (and managed/controlled as such) places like national parks and vast landscapes of wilderness. This nature-as-home viewpoint held by many environmentalists recalls the geographical definition of home as a "safe, loving and positive space" (Valentine, 2001, p. 63)

However, this particular ideal view of 'Earth as home' has not always been inclusionary. In order to create these places of tranquility and 'pristine, untouched' nature, indigenous peoples and rural-living groups of people were evicted and displaced (NoiseCat 2015). Just like gated communities of home-dwellings are seen as 'ideal' for the people living within the communities, walls and land-living restrictions bar others from living 'ideally', as well (Lemanski and Oldfield 2009).

An additional perspective of 'Earth as home' known as the Social Greens also struggle against environmental injustice, exploitation, and corporate abuse (Rockström 2015). This group supports autonomy and localization of natural resources. This perspective indicates the value and significance that the Earth holds as our home planet, with respect to its limited resources.

Many indigenous peoples of the U.S. have traditionally viewed 'Earth as home' as a place of sanctuary and spiritual and cultural significance (Patagonia 2015). Unlike the settlers who removed and replaced the native Americans, indigenous peoples like the Blackfeet in northern Montana view spaces in nature as sacred dwellings (Glick 2016). In this way, 'Earth as home' is a site of material, spiritual, and social relations -- similar to the aforementioned 'matrix' definition of home (Valentine 2001).

AdCouncil Campaign: #EarthOurHome

These competing paradigms of 'Earth as home' very often come into conflict in the form of environmental demonstrations, or political and judicial action (Levin 2017) (Mordant 2017) (Volcovici 2017).

With the authors' AdCouncil campaign, we hope to convey the message that all of the Earth is home to all peoples, ideologies, and beliefs. Both sustainable economic and environmental aims can coexist -- no dichotomy is necessary when designed appropriately and intentionally, just like the thoughtful, intentional design of a material-structure 'home.'

A social green and political economy perspective concerns the compatibility and conflicts between capitalist growth and conservation.

The UN argues that "[b]y 2050, biodiversity is valued, conserved, restored and wisely used, maintaining ecosystem services, sustaining a healthy planet and delivering benefits essential for all people" (Traynor 2017). This quote reminded us of the definition the UN 'created' when describing 'homelessness' -- yet how we haven't created a definition to include 'home' of our planet.

Our campaign specifically targets a Western, American audience, in direct reflection of our "cultural setting" defined for the collection of the aforementioned artifacts. Americans have openly contrasting views of 'Earth as home' (think 'extractionists' or environmentalists), with divisive public opinions on environmental regulations and climate change policies.

Like a home can be a physical site of political resistance (hooks 1990), our 'Earth as home' is a physical space fought over for resources, for leisure activity, and for livelihoods.

Those who think of 'Earth as home' strictly for one use or another have limited their definition of what our common planet can and be. Our campaign calls into question this one-or-the-other standpoint and encourages the multiplicity of viewpoints for the Earth as our environment, our resource-base, and our home.

Sources consulted:

Eilperin, J. (2017, November 9). Murkowski bill calls for at least two major lease sales in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The Washington Post. Retrieved at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/11/08/murkowski-bill-directs-at-least-2-major-lease-sales-in-arctic-national-wildlife-refuge/?utm_term=.e7471c8aed71&wpisrc=nl_green&wpmm=1

FEMA. (2017, August 1). Benefits of Dams. Retrieved at https://www.fema.gov/benefits-dams

Glick, D. (2016). Our Last Refuge [Film]. Retrieved at http://www.bigskyfilmfest.org/festival/films-2017-peak/our_last_refuge

hooks, b. (1990). Homeplace: A site of resistance. pp. 41-49 in Yearning: Race, Gender and Cultural Politics. Boston, MA: South End Press.

Lemanski, C. and S. Oldfield. (2009). The parallel claims of gated communities and land invasions in a southern city: Polarized state responses. Environment and Planning A, 41, p. 634-648.

Levin, S. (2017, February 1). Over 70 arrested at Standing Rock as Dakota Access aims to finish pipeline. The Guardian. Retrieved at: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/01/standing-rock-arrests-dakota-access-pipeline-construction?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GU+Today+USA+-+Collections+2017&utm_term=211441&subid=17289145&CMP=GT_US_collection

Mordant, N. (2017). Alaska Mine Threatens Salmon and Native Cultures. Scientific American. Retrieved at: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/alaska-mine-threatens-salmon-native/

NoiseCat, J. B. (2015, August 26). The Forgotten History of 'Violent Displacement' That Helped Create the National Parks. Huff Post. Retrieved at https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/national-park-service-anniversary-indigenous-people_us_55dcdd7ce4b0a40aa3ac9998

O'Brien, M. (2017, May 5). How Mountaintop Mining Affects Life and Landscape in West Virginia. Scientific American. Retrieved at: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-mountaintop-mining-affects-life-and-landscape-in-west-virginia/

Patagonia. (2015). Jumbo Wild [Film]. Retrieved at: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/jumbowild/139967595?autoplay=1

Rockström, J., & Klum, M. (2015). Big World, Small Planet: Abundance Within Planetary Boundaries. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Traynor, R. (2017). UNA-USA Membership. Retrieved at http://unausa.org/membership

Valentine, G. (2001). Social Geographies: Space and Society. Essex, England: Pearson Education Ltd.

Volcovici, V. (2017, March 29). Montana tribe, conservationists sue U.S. government for ending coal moratorium. Reuters. Retrieved at: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-coal-tribe/montana-tribe-conservationists-sue-u-s-government-for-ending-coal-moratorium-idUSKBN1702SD

Whitson, R. (2017). Spaces of Culture and Identity Production: Home, Consumption, and the Media. pp. 48-75 in Feminist Spaces: Gender and Geography in a Global Context by Ann M. Oberhauser, Jennifer L. Fluri, Risa Whitson and Sharlene Mollett. New York: Routledge.

Wilderness Society. (2017). Why Protect Wilderness. Retrieved at http://wilderness.org/article/why-protect-wilderness