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Eco-Imperialism As An Aspect of Cultural Imperialism: Gustav W. Sauer and Bernd Hamm

This document discusses eco-imperialism as an aspect of cultural imperialism. It argues that eco-imperialism is a modern continuation of 19th century colonial imperialism, through which the "Old World" became the First World, leaving other regions as the Second and Third Worlds. It states that eco-imperialism is also "world-intrinsic" when socio-economic barriers prevent rational national action on environmental issues. The document warns that the First World is caught up in unsustainable ecological, social and economic cycles, while problems in the Third World are worsening, putting "One World" at risk of choosing between apathy or violence regarding these issues.

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Daniyal Asif
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42 views1 page

Eco-Imperialism As An Aspect of Cultural Imperialism: Gustav W. Sauer and Bernd Hamm

This document discusses eco-imperialism as an aspect of cultural imperialism. It argues that eco-imperialism is a modern continuation of 19th century colonial imperialism, through which the "Old World" became the First World, leaving other regions as the Second and Third Worlds. It states that eco-imperialism is also "world-intrinsic" when socio-economic barriers prevent rational national action on environmental issues. The document warns that the First World is caught up in unsustainable ecological, social and economic cycles, while problems in the Third World are worsening, putting "One World" at risk of choosing between apathy or violence regarding these issues.

Uploaded by

Daniyal Asif
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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C Imperialism 1/27/05 1:24 PM Page 244

CHAPTER 16

Eco-Imperialism as an Aspect of
Cultural Imperialism
Gustav W. Sauer and Bernd Hamm

How goes the world, Sir, now?


Why, see you not?
Macbeth, II.4.20

nderstanding all human action as culture, cultural imperialism also


U embraces eco-imperialism. It is a modern continuation of the colonial
imperialism of the nineteenth century and earlier. By way of this history
of imperialism, the “Old World” became the First World (World-I) and left
the remainder, as Second (World-II) and Third (World-III), behind. These
terms reflect the reality, in contrast to the noble definitions of “developed”
and “developing” countries, which imply a chance of evolving from World-
III to World-I. Eco-imperialism is also “world-intrinsic,” when socio-
economic and traditional hurdles prevent rational and national action.
Today, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, World-I is caught up in
its ecological, social, and economic cycles with their creeping intricacies.
The closer these problems become, the further away the solutions seem.
Eco-imperialism emerges as a text of a modern Cassandra who warns
of disaster once more, but cannot help. And similar to Apollon’s curse that,
although telling the truth, nobody will believe her, cultural imperialism
covers up the threats. Meanwhile, we in World-I are “amusing ourselves to
death” (Postman 1985), while World-III watches daily via real time commu-
nication how well World-I is doing. So World-I has more and more to lose
and World-III less and less.
The “One World” (that is, all of humanity) thus risks choosing one of two
evils, either apathy or violence. So the counter project to eco-imperialism,
the Agenda-21 of the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro 1992, falls into the hands
of its stepsister, Apocalypse-21, 10 years later. The distinction we make here
is intended to focus attention on the fact that the very first aim of the Earth
Summit, namely, guiding World-III to World-I’s level, has not been achieved.
As a result, World-III’s mega-cities are growing rapidly; access to energy,
water, education, and health care has deteriorated, while illiteracy, malnu-
trition, hunger, and soil erosion have become dramatically worse. And the

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