Chipko Movement

     One of the most beautiful environmental movements that I have ever studied is the Chipko movement, originating in Uttar Pradesh, in the Himalayas, in India. The name of the movement originates from the word "embrace", which makes reference to the protests in 1973, where women embraced the trees with their bodies to keep them from being felled. Below is perhaps one of the most well-known images of the Chipko movement.

circa April 1973

These women gained an enormous victory for their cause when in 1980, because of their protests, there was imposed a 15-year ban on green felling in the Himalayan forests. The movement has now stopped clear felling in the Western Ghats and the Vindhyas as well as putting pressure on lawmakers to generate policies that are sensitive to the needs of the environment and people.

The very first Chipko movement is a beautiful and sad story. In 1730AD, 363 Bishnois people sacrificed their lives to protect the Khejri tree groves that are sacred to their community even today. Although too late to save those that perished, the Maharaja at the time, after hearing the tragic story, made it a crime punishable by death to cut down Khejri trees. To this day, the Bishnois people are a federal authority against those who break this law.

Maatu hamru, paani hamru, hamra hi chhan yi baun bhi... Pitron na lagai baun, hamunahi ta bachon bhi"

Soil ours, water ours, ours are these forests. Our forefathers raised them, it’s we who must protect them.

-- Old Chipko Song (Garhwali language)

-Alice S.

Ecology Buddhist Monks?

I'm not sure what defines a religion, but how are religions defining their ecological relationship?

Buddhists have always been known for their harmonizing relationship with the environment, as their beliefs encompass samsara and the re-birthing cycle of the universe, but in Thailand a small contingency of monks decided to spread their ecological knowledge.

This movement is also known as "The ordination of the tree", and involves monks protesting against mass deforestation, by providing spiritual whole-ism. 



I think this is an interesting concept because instead of a social movement just naturally affecting an area, there are monks going into farm lands and intentionally trying to use their religious beliefs as a temple for conservation. Not only is in an innate ideology that Buddhists must practice good conservation, but they tie it to many religious rituals like ordaining trees. This ritual of "ordaining" a tree is taking a tree and wrapping it in orange, to simulate the monk and his devotion, and they perform a ceremony making the tree sacred.

This movement has been going on for over twenty years and yet we still know so little about it in the US, but we do know that illegal "grooming" is being done over massive acreage regardless.

-Jordan Carlson


In addition...

Buddhist monks in Thailand are also very conscientious about the wildlife around them. When I visited Thailand a number of years ago, my family and I were taken on a tour on one of the rivers that ran by a number of temples. Once on a boat and going upstream, the tour guide began to hand us bread, and told us to throw some into the river. As soon as the bread hit the water, literally hundreds of fish began to swarm around the boat. Although it took me by surprise at first, the tour guide began to tell us that the Buddhist monks in this area strongly believe in allowing the fish that inhabit that river to flourish. No one is allowed to fish in that area, so it is quite literally overflowing with fish.


^Kinda like this...^

Especially since Thailand has had many problems with overfishing and deforestation in the past and even today, the monks' conservative practices help the environment to replenish all that humans have taken away from it. To some it may seem like a great ecological social movement, the monks do it simply because it is what they believe in; It has always been their way of life. I feel that we could definitely learn from the monks in the sense that the US needs to be enlightened (no pun intended) about the word conservation....

-Daniel Li

Our School is Green!

I love the University of Washington. There was never a doubt in my mind that this was going to be my school. One of the things I love so much about this University is that it is so dedicated to sustainability- in fact, we are included in the top 10 environmentally friendly schools in the entire United States!


Some great examples of sustainable programs here at the UW:

1. SEED (Students Expressing Environmental Dedication) is an environmentally-focused student organization at the University of Washington. Their main focus is promoting sustainability in the campus residence halls and dining operations. Visit the SEED website.

2. With the help of SEED, WashPIRG, Earth Club, the Sierra Student Coalition, and light bulbs donated by Seattle City Light, the UW exchanged more than 4,000 incandescent light bulbs across campus to improve campus energy efficiency. Compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) use 75 percent less energy than incandescents.

Chris Bruno, former UW student. The campus-wide light bulb exchange was his idea.

3. "New technology of the ultra-modern salt-power generator. Instead of solar or wind power, which rely on certain weather conditions to produce a consistent output of energy, or corn energy systems, which require massive amounts of resources to produce usable amounts, salt power offers a consistently accessible source of green energy. It is, in short, a mechanism that harnesses the energy produced when salt water meets fresh water. This technology remains the first of its kind" (The Daily <http://dailyuw.com/2010/1/11/salt-power-leads-new-energy-sources/>).

4. Composting/ recycling! I'm sure you've noticed all the different containers around campus dedicated to composting and recycling.

5. The UW held its first Sustainability Summit yesterday, organized by the Campus Sustainability Fund (CSF). Read the Daily article here.

I'm looking forward to everything else our campus can accomplish through environmental social movements.

-Alice S.

Our First Post!

This is our first blog post!

Our blog will be centered around Ecology and Social Movements all around the world.  Environmental Social Movements usually advocate sustainable management of resources and environmental stewardship by individuals and the public.

Modern movements have changed in multiple ways since their strong reemergence in the 1960's, largely because of a better understanding of environment issues and their intricate intertwining with social issues.  Some of the ways that these movements have grown is through expansion... in order to include ecofeminism and the movement against environmental racism.

One of my favorite types of environmental social movements is called ecofeminism. The concept of ecofeminism is based around the parallels between the rape and domination of the environment and the oppression and subordination of women by many of the same people.

Environmental racism refers to the enactment of public policy that negatively affects the environment of racially homogenous or low-income areas at a higher rate than areas of affluent majorities. A wonderful example of environmental racism is in this blog post about Nova Scotia.

Thanks for reading our blog! This is the first post of many to come.

-Alice S.