Yorùbá Values and the Environment

This essay deploys Yorùbá ontology, epistemology and axiology to construct a Yorùbá ecological philosophy, or ecosophy. It argues that in contrast with the Judeo-Christian tradition of environmental anthropomorphic domination as the destiny of humanity or American pragmatism which encourages no stable traditions of values but what conduces to desired ends, the Yorùbá value system is by far more advanced in being more eco-respecting, eco-friendly and geared toward sustainable human habitation in a world in which he/she constitutes one small fraction of sentience. The essay developed around the responses to the following questions: a) What are values? b) How are values derived? c) Are there Yorùbá values? d) What is the environment? e) How are concepts of the environment derived? f) What is the relationship between values and the environment? g) What is the relationship between Yorùbá values and the environment? h) What are the inferences these have for one-health approach to the environment and sustainable human global co-existence?

Delineating Ecosophy as a Counter Discourse in Barbara Kingsolver’s Flight Behaviour

Flight Behaviour by Barbara Kingsolver is a clarion call aimed at exposing the impending future that awaits humanity in the form of grievous climactic changes and its impact on the delicate ecosystem of the earth. The characters presented who maintain varying perspectives regarding ecological concerns may be seen as representing differing ideologies that persist in the society with respect to the same. The paper is an attempt to trace the dominant as well as alternate voices that pervade discussions on an apocalyptic future due to human actions that are ruthless and highly exploitative of ecological resources. The mystical encounter with nature that the protagonist undergoes will be examined to understand the significance of an ecological philosophy or “ecosophy.” The paper would also seek to discern a transition from anthropocentrism to ecocentrism and also the disruption of nature/culture binaries established by an anthropocentric worldview depicted in the text.

Representing nonhuman animals as equals: An ecolinguistic analysis of vegan campaigns

Ecolinguistics studies the interactions between language and ecology. It investigates whether the stories created by language are destructive or beneficial to all the constituents of the environment. In search of positive stories for our environment, this article focuses on vegan campaigns which generally bring awareness about veganism that, in turn, advocates protection of nonhuman animals and abstention from their exploitation. Nonhuman animals are part of the ecosystem and the way they are portrayed in language may determine the relationship between human and nonhuman animals. As vegan campaigns refer to nonhuman animals as sentient living beings, it is important to analyze whether the language and image of these campaigns articulate their purposes and create beneficial stories for nonhuman species. This article explores the stories regarding nonhuman animals in 27 posters of the vegan campaign “Go Vegan World” and examines how these stories are shaped and whether they are aligned with vegan values. The study is approached from an ecolinguistic perspective with a focus on multimodality where the language was analyzed through van Leeuwen’s Social Actor and Social Action theory, and the image was analyzed with Kress and van Leeuwen’s Grammar of Visual Design. Further, the analysis involves the ecosophy defined as a personal ecological philosophy of relationships between human and nonhuman animals, plants, and the physical environment. The findings suggest that the campaign language and image shape three stories: salience where nonhuman animals are individuals with their own feelings and lives; conviction that nonhuman animals matter as much as humans; ideology where biocentrism is promoted. By comparing these stories with the article’s ecosophy, an ecolinguistic analysis showed that they are largely beneficial in representing nonhuman animals as sentient living beings who are equal to humans.

An Ecological Discourse Analysis to the Chinese Slogans during the Major Economic Stages since the Foundation of PRC

Slogan has a sound mass base in China for thousands of years，functioning as guidelines for civic practice. Even today, Chinese slogans are often employed by the government to promote policies and socio-cultural values. This paper, adopting an ecolinguistic approach, explores the development of Chinese slogans during the four economic stages since the foundation of PRC (People’s Republic of China) to find out how slogans influence the relationship between men, and man and the ecosystem. It is discovered that Chinese slogans in the recent decades have experienced great changes in terms of discourse type, the beneficial degree of discourse and the ecosophy they carry. They changed gradually from destructive discourse to harmonious discourse and they reflect the transition of Chinese ecological philosophy—from ‘anthropocentrism’, ‘growthism’, and ‘classism’ to ‘harmonism’. It is hoped that this study can shed light on the eco-discourse analysis to policy language and will bring insight into its future creation.

An Ecological Discourse Analysis to the Chinese Slogans during the Major Economic Stages since the Foundation of PRC

Slogan has a sound mass base in China for thousands of years，functioning as guidelines for civic practice. Even today, Chinese slogans are often employed by the government to promote policies and socio-cultural values. This paper, adopting an ecolinguistic approach, explores the development of Chinese slogans during the four economic stages since the foundation of PRC (People’s Republic of China) to find out how slogans influence the relationship between men, and man and the ecosystem. It is discovered that Chinese slogans in the recent decades have experienced great changes in terms of discourse type, the beneficial degree of discourse and the ecosophy they carry. They changed gradually from destructive discourse to harmonious discourse and they reflect the transition of Chinese ecological philosophy—from ‘anthropocentrism’, ‘growthism’, and ‘classism’ to ‘harmonism’. It is hoped that this study can shed light on the eco-discourse analysis to policy language and will bring insight into its future creation.

An Ecological Discourse Analysis to the Chinese Slogans during the Major Economic Stages since the Foundation of PRC

Slogan has a sound mass base in China for thousands of years，functioning as guidelines for civic practice. Even today, Chinese slogans are often employed by the government to promote policies and socio-cultural values. This paper, adopting an ecolinguistic approach, explores the development of Chinese slogans during the four economic stages since the foundation of PRC (People’s Republic of China) to find out how slogans influence the relationship between men, and man and the ecosystem. It is discovered that Chinese slogans in the recent decades have experienced great changes in terms of discourse type, the beneficial degree of discourse and the ecosophy they carry. They changed gradually from destructive discourse to harmonious discourse and they reflect the transition of Chinese ecological philosophy—from ‘anthropocentrism’, ‘growthism’, and ‘classism’ to ‘harmonism’. It is hoped that this study can shed light on the eco-discourse analysis to policy language and will bring insight into its future creation.