This study explores how the Canadian and Alberta governments downplay environmental harm in the Alberta Tar Sands, therein justifying its ongoing expansion and defining it as unnecessary to intervene through the law. In particular, this study draws on the concepts of hegemony, social harm and deep ecology to problematize how climate change has become the governments’ main environmental concern in the tar sands, despite the existence of other, equally troubling issues, and how carbon capture and storage (CCS) has become the states’ main climate change strategy, despite the largely untested nature of this technique. A critical discourse analysis of two government taskforce documents concerning CCS technology revealed that neoliberal and globalization discourses were used to narrowly conceptualize environmental harm, thereby privileging Canada’s trade relations and economic strength over the environment’s health. Relatedly, discourses of scientism were used to conceptualize climate change as a technical problem and CCS as the “preferred” solution.

Across the academic sphere, much research has been conducted into the development of water-sensitive elements to address issues around urban water management. However, these elements are commonly investigated in isolation, with little consideration for initiatives from other disciplines that may support their success. This research aims to demonstrate the value that an architect may bring in incorporating ideas drawn from various disciplines to create a water- sensitive design solution with multiple ecosystem benefits, taking into account the human experience of space and place-making. In doing so, the design demonstrates that a water-sensitive building is aesthetically pleasing, viable and achievable. The feasibility of water-sensitive designs has been noted as a focus area by the South African Water Research Commission; one which is particularly pertinent in our present water-scarce environment in South Africa. This applied study is based on a previous Master of Architecture (Professional) dissertation building design, which is used as the unit of analysis. The building focuses on restoring the quality of water in the Liesbeek River in Cape Town using passive filtration methods. The objective of this study is to gain new insights into the design process and planning of water-sensitive architectural buildings, which assists in understanding when collaborating across disciplines. The research is guided by Deep Ecology, phenomenology and Ecological Urbanism. Research by Design is used as the method of the study, in which different design iterations based on the raw data of the original building are investigated and analysed, as well as evaluated by specialists from various disciplines in order to create a best-fit design solution. The revised building takes into account the practical, site-specific and architectural qualities of a water-sensitive design to create a people-centred building that incorporates ecological and engineering demands in greater detail. Key outcomes of the study include a typical design process for a WSAD and architectural guidelines for water-sensitive buildings, grounded in the diverse values of water and its relationship to people and nature. The dissertation aims to contribute to the academic discourse around water-sensitive design. Further, the guidelines developed may be used to inform the design of conventional buildings.

The planet is in a dismal environmental state. This state may be remedied by way of an integrated approach based on a holistic vision. This research examines which ecological ideology best suits current conditions for humans to re-examine their metaphysical understanding of nature; how we can better motivate people to embrace a more intrinsic ecological ideology; and finally, how we can motivate people to be active participants in their chosen ideology. I will attempt to show that Deep Ecology is the most suitable ecosophy (ecological philosophy) to embrace; in doing so I will look at how Oriental and occidental religion and philosophy altered (and continues to alter) the way we perceive nature. I will show how destructive, but also caring and constructive, humanity can be when interacting with the environment. The Deep Ecological and Shallow Ecological principles will be look at, as well as criticism and counter-criticism of these ecosophies. KEY TERMS: Deep Ecology, Shallow Ecology, anthropocentrism, ecocentrism, extrinsic values, intrinsic values, motivational drive, ecosophy © University / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M.A. (Philosophy)

This thesis questions the coherence of modes of fabrication that introduce materials to a living context, in forms that resist the processes of biological change. In doing so this project explores the ideologies embedded in fabrication that have led to this current position. The implications of an accumulation of materials being recognized as an autonomous object, and treated as if they are detached from their environment are also expanded. The sculptural methodology used to undertake this investigation has used the feature of materiality and it’s behaviours, of both human fabrication and the living environment, as a means to explore processes outside the limitations of specialist human categories of knowledge. The vocabularies of dematerialization, expansion and relational exchange in the critique of sculpture, have provided a starting point to articulate what is implied or “mapped out but not socially recognized”1 by the structure of specialist categories. The practice-based work that has driven this project, documents an extension of sculptural fabrication, which incorporates the literal processes of growth and erosion, illustrating a radical inclusivity of all living phenomena. Engaging with fabrication through this plural and complex methodology allows for a new valuing that recognizes accumulation as a result of employing reductive specialist categories and as inherently problematic for complex living systems. This identifies coherent fabrication as that which merges its engagement with processes of biological change and utility for humans.

Tagore is viewed through the medium of five books of essays which he wrote in English. Most of the essays are the texts of lectures Tagore delivered to audiences in England and America. They are important because they constitute what Tagore actually communicated to audiences and readers in the West during his tours outside India. The five books are taken chronologically in the chapters of this thesis, each one being a stage on Tagore’s journey. They are read in conjunction with information about his activities in India prior to each particular tour, his encounters during the trip, and any relevant correspondence, in order better to understand the ideas he expresses. A key finding from close study of the essays is the extent to which Tagore draws on his understanding of the evolution and special capabilities of the human species. This philosophical anthropology, or ‘deep anthropology’, is used to describe what mankind ought to be, as well as what we are. Tagore was critical of what he considered the dehumanising economic systems of the West, which were supported by educational methods that focussed narrowly on training people to participate in such systems. The ideal behind the design of Tagore’s own practical projects was a modernised and less restrictive form of traditional society, comprising networks of self sustaining villages or small communities, where children and young people are encouraged to develop their natural curiosity and creativity, and to express themselves freely with body and mind. Tagore’s approach to education and rural reconstruction, if implemented widely as he intended, could lead to a radical redesign of society, a turning of the world upside down. The aim of my dissertation is to help encourage a wider appreciation of Tagore’s pioneering work in this field.

This thesis explores the ways in which key holistic thinkers over the course of the last three hundred years have articulated unity between the human subject and objective world. I borrow the term “holism” from the philosopher J. C. Smuts, who coined it in his 1936 work Holism and Evolution, and I use it here in an expanded sense that includes all thinkers in the Western tradition who, like Smuts, have been preoccupied with the question of unity. Although the nature of cosmic unity and the individual’s place within it have been questions for philosophical debate since the classical Greeks of the sixth and fifth centuries BC, from the seventeenth century onwards these questions became largely associated with a series of thinkers who sought to overcome the dualistic separation of subject and object introduced by Galileo, Descartes and others in the mechanistic philosophical tradition of Western thought. My consideration of the holistic tradition includes selected writings by Leibniz, Hegel, Whitehead and Arne Naess, cofounder and key communicator of the deep ecology movement. In my discussion of these authors I observe an emerging pattern that has gradually carried holistic thought away from its traditional dependence on an absolute universal Being as the origin of unity in the world, towards an increasing emphasis on Becoming as the origin of Being. This pattern is confirmed by my broad analyses of Renaissance philosophy and of the Counter-Enlightenment thinkers Vico, Hamann and Herder. It is further confirmed by Naess’ vision of the deep ecology movement, which emphasizes plurality and diversity in the struggle to create more ecologically sustainable forms of human living. The pattern is challenged, however, by my discussions of Heraclitus and of the deep ecology movement, which both exhibit features that also contradict the existence of a definite linear progression “from Being to Becoming.” Insofar as the deep ecology movement recognizes the validity of a broad diversity of philosophical views and premises as grounds for ecological action and decision-making, it is part of a larger movement in contemporary societies that is helping create an open space wherein all perspectives are appreciated as valuable in their own right. This movement seeks to challenge all absolute and hegemonic claims to truth (which in the early twentieth century gave rise to fascism and in our present day continue to inform our views of nature and the self), and, as I suggest, is also contributing to the emergence of an apophatic perspective in our own day that is a precondition for change. / Graduate / 0422 / 0585 / jdesser@uvic.ca

Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs) are considered a suitable strategy to combine nature conservation and poverty alleviation in southern Africa, usually through ecotourism. There have, however, been critical voices questioning whether this is actually succeeding. Many researchers claim that the conservation and tourism efforts are leaving the local communities at greater risks of impoverishment rather than helping them. This study consults previous research to examine this issue through the examples of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area (GLTFCA), and the communities living close to its National Parks in Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe. The methodology used is a systematic literature study of 26 secondary sources. The study finds that the previous research reveals that the experiences of the communities vary between different areas in the TFCA. The general feeling is that of displacement in different ways, except in those communities that have found ways of empowering and developing themselves; through tourism schemes. Otherwise, the attitude from the authorities in the national parks of the TFCA seems to be that the conservation and tourism efforts in the area are given priority over the local residents’ needs. Theories such as systems ecology, sustainable development and deep ecology may have answers to this issue on paper, however judging from the reality presented in the literature used in this study they are not realistic in practice. What is obvious is that economic interests are prioritized in the GLTFCA just as in the rest of the world.

This dissertation begins with the hypothesis that sacred places and their stories are connected in complex ways. This refers to place-based sacred places; that is, places which gain their sacred qualities from their natural environment. The two main examples used are both located in the U.K.: Puzzlewood and the Forest of Dean, and Stonehenge. It is further theorized that the stories within these places are repositories of an ancient wisdom; a memory of what it means to live with a sense of the divine in nature. Paying attention to those stories, and to the presences found in these places, may engender a greater appreciation of the interconnectedness of the human world to the natural world and the sacred in nature. Thus an ethic of care for that storied place may develop, and a more harmonious relationship between people and the larger environment may come about. Such an ethic of care may be central in finding solutions to current environmental problems, and preventing future ones. Thus a new story about our relationship with the Earth, based on ancient wisdom, may become the conduit for a kinder, gentler future, where peace, social justice, and environmental care inform both cultural paradigms and individual worldviews. This fusion of stories, the sacred, and the sacred in nature as a way towards self-realization, the development of an ethic of care, and the vision a more harmonious future, is the unique contribution of this dissertation. Bringing together these diverse strands required a multidisciplinary approach with multiple methodologies, particularly phenomenology to account for experiences in or of sacred places, and hermeneutics to address the stories. In addition, there was a need to include some of the basics of system theory to explore both natural and social systems, and for philosophical inquiry to discuss spirituality and cosmology. Other elements of this dissertation include a background of the ways in which history is presented, how this contributes to the paradigms and worldviews found in the modern Western world, and how those paradigms affect thinking about sacredness in nature, as well as a discussion of why stories are central to all of our lives, and how places come to be imbued with stories. All of this is then set within a framework of the principles of the deep ecology movement. To bring all this together with a cohesive collection of methods, the concentric circles model was created and is explained. Additionally, this dissertation presents five criteria that could prove useful in assessing sacredness in place when such sacred sites are contested, as happens quite often. This too may help to protect (care for) these places. / Graduate / 0422 / 0322 / michelleabeauchamp@gmail.com

A questão do cuidado com o ambiente deve ser olhado com seriedade e sem demora de modo a não comprometer a qualidade de vida do planeta Terra e dos que nela habitam. Esta questão lança um olhar preocupante sobre o trinômio ser humano-natureza-consumo, exigindo hoje estratégias sustentáveis e criativas que possam promover a mudança de comportamento de adultos e crianças e integrá-los a natureza. Desta forma, esta pesquisa visa levantar e contribuir com estratégias de apoio ao aprendizado do Ecodesign e da Ecologia Profunda como conhecimentos complementares, para compor um guia de atividades para ser utilizado com alunos do quarto ano do ensino fundamental. A metodologia foi desenvolvida junto das escolas públicas estaduais Presidente Roosevelt e Prof. Sylvio Torres da cidade de Porto Alegre. Ela traz um enfoque qualitativo, apresentando características dos tipos descritivo, exploratório, metodológico e de campo, utilizando-se de relatórios de observação como principal instrumento para coleta dos dados. Para organizar e discutir os dados coletados empregou-se o método de análise de conteúdos. Os resultados da pesquisa evidenciaram a importante contribuição do educador em sala de aula e identificaram sete atividades e vinte e quatro vídeos adequados para o aprendizado da Ecologia Profunda e do Ecodesign, as quais compõem o guia de atividades proposto para os alunos das escolas pesquisadas. / The issue of care for the environment should be looked at seriously and immediately so as not to compromise the quality of life on planet Earth and its inhabitants. This issue takes a look of concern on three pillars: human-nature-consumption, now requiring creative and sustainable strategies that can promote behavior change of adults and children and integrate them into nature. Thus, this research is intended to raise and contribute to strategies to support learning Ecodesign and Deep Ecology as additional knowledge to compose an activity guide for use with fourth graders of elementary school. The methodology was developed with the state public schools President Roosevelt and Professor Sylvio Torres in the city of Porto Alegre. It brings a qualitative approach, presenting characteristics of the types descriptive, exploratory, methodological and field reporting using observation as the main instrument for data collection. To organize and discuss the collected data we used the method of content analysis. The survey results showed the important contribution of the teacher in classroom activities and identified seven activities and twenty-four videos suitable for learning of Deep Ecology and Ecodesign, which make up the proposed activity guide for the students of the schools surveyed.

A questão do cuidado com o ambiente deve ser olhado com seriedade e sem demora de modo a não comprometer a qualidade de vida do planeta Terra e dos que nela habitam. Esta questão lança um olhar preocupante sobre o trinômio ser humano-natureza-consumo, exigindo hoje estratégias sustentáveis e criativas que possam promover a mudança de comportamento de adultos e crianças e integrá-los a natureza. Desta forma, esta pesquisa visa levantar e contribuir com estratégias de apoio ao aprendizado do Ecodesign e da Ecologia Profunda como conhecimentos complementares, para compor um guia de atividades para ser utilizado com alunos do quarto ano do ensino fundamental. A metodologia foi desenvolvida junto das escolas públicas estaduais Presidente Roosevelt e Prof. Sylvio Torres da cidade de Porto Alegre. Ela traz um enfoque qualitativo, apresentando características dos tipos descritivo, exploratório, metodológico e de campo, utilizando-se de relatórios de observação como principal instrumento para coleta dos dados. Para organizar e discutir os dados coletados empregou-se o método de análise de conteúdos. Os resultados da pesquisa evidenciaram a importante contribuição do educador em sala de aula e identificaram sete atividades e vinte e quatro vídeos adequados para o aprendizado da Ecologia Profunda e do Ecodesign, as quais compõem o guia de atividades proposto para os alunos das escolas pesquisadas. / The issue of care for the environment should be looked at seriously and immediately so as not to compromise the quality of life on planet Earth and its inhabitants. This issue takes a look of concern on three pillars: human-nature-consumption, now requiring creative and sustainable strategies that can promote behavior change of adults and children and integrate them into nature. Thus, this research is intended to raise and contribute to strategies to support learning Ecodesign and Deep Ecology as additional knowledge to compose an activity guide for use with fourth graders of elementary school. The methodology was developed with the state public schools President Roosevelt and Professor Sylvio Torres in the city of Porto Alegre. It brings a qualitative approach, presenting characteristics of the types descriptive, exploratory, methodological and field reporting using observation as the main instrument for data collection. To organize and discuss the collected data we used the method of content analysis. The survey results showed the important contribution of the teacher in classroom activities and identified seven activities and twenty-four videos suitable for learning of Deep Ecology and Ecodesign, which make up the proposed activity guide for the students of the schools surveyed.