The Environmental Mantra of What is Environmental Is Itself Social: A Transdisciplinary Study of Interactions between Human Beings and the Environment

This paper seeks to position the old theme of environmental (in)justice at the intersections of social and environmental forms. Such positioning is a sine qua non condition for rethinking the concept of (in)justice itself. In bringing together two seemingly different notions: society and the environment, different militant movements succeed in unravelling the seeds of a multi-faceted (in)justice mainly in relation to race, class, and gender. Postmodern consumerism makes individuals consider solely their interests at the expense of collective and ecological interests and considerations. In fulfilling materialistic desires, people condone social and natural decay. Such consumerist behaviour reshapes the human relationship with nature. This societal and environmental alienation is explained by the fact that individuals tend to consume images and signs rather than tangible objects. It is about a form of consumption manipulated by advertizing and medializing tools. In light of Baudrillard’s philosophy of postmodernism and his reading of consumer societies, problems of nature persist because of the passive reception of natural catastrophes and lack of awareness about nature. Hence, to start repairing the human affiliation with nature, people need first to be aware of the hegemonic influence of consumerism as operating through advertizing, entertainment, and shopping. Uncritical behaviours open for discussion the human relationship with consumer society on the one hand and with nature on the other hand. Natural environments, which used to offer solace and stir imagination and reflection, are being replaced with sites of consumption ruining the cordial relationship with nature. Thus, the analysis of consumerism from an ecocritical perspective implies the problematization of this notion as largely affecting nature and engendering a form of human estrangement from the environment in general.