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1
of human rights. At the same time, political ecologists also provide constructive
suggestions about which changes should be made to create a more just and sustainable world. Paul Robbins calls the critical and the constructive side of political
ecology for hatchet and seed (Robbins 2012). Peter Walker, has argued that political
ecologies should put more emphasis on the seed dimension (Walker 2006), and
Piers Blaikie (2008) agrees and criticizes other political ecologists for stating that
they do not feel any responsibility for being useful.
For political ecologists there is a large scope of action between the two extreme
points of taking part in armed conflicts or not to speak out after having uncovered
a situation of for instance injustice. Instead of supporting any of these extremes,
we believe that political ecologists, like all scholars, have an ethical duty to speak
out when our research reveals oppression, injustice or destruction of nature. This
is the critical side of political ecology, and it can be combined with constructive
suggestions for alternative politics.
One problem is that research does not necessarily lead to improved conditions.
For example, political ecologists have often critiqued environmental governance
without any noticeable political impact, because the critique does not fit the agenda
of the bureaucrats or politicians in charge. Knowledge production that raises funIn Avatar, Jake Sully and his research unit
takes different positions in three different
phases. In the first phase, they contribute
neither critical nor constructive knowledge to the Na’vi. Instead, they provide
knowledge that the mining company and
its military force need for their intentions
to outwit the Na’vi. In his daily video
log Jake Sully says that there is nothing
they have that the Na’vi want, and that
he feels that everything that he has been
told to do is a waste of time. The Colonel
follows this log, and understanding that
Jake is about to change side he decides to
immediately implement a military offensive against the Na’vi clans and destroy
their enormous ‘Home tree’.
The second stage is a short inbetween phase that occurs when Jake
and his research colleagues realize that
the military is preparing to attack. The
researchers now provide a critical contribution, in which they attempt to
convince the mining colony’s military
and economic leadership to call off
the attack because it would be a threat
against the Na’vi as well as the natural environment on Pandora. But the
researchers fail to get any approval for
this from the colonel and the director of
the mining company.
In the third phase, there is full war,
and the researchers participate on the
Na’vi’s side. Here the researchers obviously go much farther than providing
critical and constructive perspectives.
We think it is great to watch a movie
where researchers are for once not portrayed as comic nerds or as thoroughly
cynical and evil. In Avatar, they instead
take on the role as good helpers to a people who are threatened by ecocide.
Hatchet and Seed on Pandora
Chapter 1 · Political Ecology on Pandora
1
of human rights. At the same time, political ecologists also provide constructive
suggestions about which changes should be made to create a more just and sustainable world. Paul Robbins calls the critical and the constructive side of political
ecology for hatchet and seed (Robbins 2012). Peter Walker, has argued that political
ecologies should put more emphasis on the seed dimension (Walker 2006), and
Piers Blaikie (2008) agrees and criticizes other political ecologists for stating that
they do not feel any responsibility for being useful.
For political ecologists there is a large scope of action between the two extreme
points of taking part in armed conflicts or not to speak out after having uncovered
a situation of for instance injustice. Instead of supporting any of these extremes,
we believe that political ecologists, like all scholars, have an ethical duty to speak
out when our research reveals oppression, injustice or destruction of nature. This
is the critical side of political ecology, and it can be combined with constructive
suggestions for alternative politics.
One problem is that research does not necessarily lead to improved conditions.
For example, political ecologists have often critiqued environmental governance
without any noticeable political impact, because the critique does not fit the agenda
of the bureaucrats or politicians in charge. Knowledge production that raises funIn Avatar, Jake Sully and his research unit
takes different positions in three different
phases. In the first phase, they contribute
neither critical nor constructive knowledge to the Na’vi. Instead, they provide
knowledge that the mining company and
its military force need for their intentions
to outwit the Na’vi. In his daily video
log Jake Sully says that there is nothing
they have that the Na’vi want, and that
he feels that everything that he has been
told to do is a waste of time. The Colonel
follows this log, and understanding that
Jake is about to change side he decides to
immediately implement a military offensive against the Na’vi clans and destroy
their enormous ‘Home tree’.
The second stage is a short inbetween phase that occurs when Jake
and his research colleagues realize that
the military is preparing to attack. The
researchers now provide a critical contribution, in which they attempt to
convince the mining colony’s military
and economic leadership to call off
the attack because it would be a threat
against the Na’vi as well as the natural environment on Pandora. But the
researchers fail to get any approval for
this from the colonel and the director of
the mining company.
In the third phase, there is full war,
and the researchers participate on the
Na’vi’s side. Here the researchers obviously go much farther than providing
critical and constructive perspectives.
We think it is great to watch a movie
where researchers are for once not portrayed as comic nerds or as thoroughly
cynical and evil. In Avatar, they instead
take on the role as good helpers to a people who are threatened by ecocide.
Hatchet and Seed on Pandora
Chapter 1 · Political Ecology on Pandora