Presented at the March 26, 2015 SEPS-GC meeting at CCSU. The focus is on the nature-based forms of discrimination that form social discriminations and lead us to issues of unsustainability. This is a modified presentation from my NAME presentation in November 2014.

1. The Neoliberal Colonization on Nature
and Our Deep Ecological Selves
Kurt Love, Ph.D.
Central Connecticut State University
!
National Association of Multicultural Educators
Annual Meeting, November 5-9, 2014
Tucson, Arizona

2. A New Paradigm for Diversity &
Multiculturalism through Ecological Identities
Kurt Love, Ph.D.
Central Connecticut State University
!
National Association of Multicultural Educators
Annual Meeting, November 5-9, 2014
Tucson, Arizona

3. A Sustainability-Oriented Vision for the School
of Education and Professional Studies at CCSU
Kurt Love, Ph.D.
Central Connecticut State University
!
School of Education Professional Studies Governance Council
March 26, 2015

4. The Map of Diversity
• The “map” of diversity has routinely deselected
relationships with nature.
• The privileged discourse in diversity studies is
anthropocentric and has created an academic
blindspot.

5. Privileging Humans &
Omitting Nature
• Racism, sexism (by extension, heterosexism), Capitalism, classism,
Neoliberalism, religionism, globalization, and colonization can all be
traced to a particular version of discrimination that favors humans
as distant from nature (usually through technology, wealth and
often reinforced militarily)
• White, European, Christian, wealthy people in positions of
domination have relied heavily on a narrative that treats them as
God’s people who are right, fully human, have the moral doctrine
(rationale), and governmental structure to rule others who are
indigenous, poor (or outside of a capitalistic structure), not Christian.
• The first and most important step is to see one self as being
removed from nature in order to be part of today’s privileged,
dominant group.

6. Neoliberalism’s Roots
• Neoliberalism, the favoring of “free market” ideology in business and non-business contexts, is borne
out of a desire to accumulate wealth.
• Wealth comes from capitalism, which depends on consumerism
• Capitalism and consumerism are fundamentally against close relationships with nature and have
long-standing practices of exploitation with those who are close to nature.
• The global colonizers, Europeans, created racism out of desires to control, colonize, and capitalize
from those who were initially closer to nature (subhuman)
• Europeans viewed themselves as superior primarily because they became more technological
(militarily, agriculturally, and through the mining of the earth), or created themselves and their self
images as being increasingly distant from the earth and more able to control the earth.
• Controlling the earth also meant controlling people of the earth. People who were not as
technologically developed did not have the designator of being fully human.
• People who were not fully human could be destroyed, manipulated, and exploited.
• People of indigenous societies, women in general, poor people, and people with earth-based
spiritualities were (are?) all seen as being closer to the earth and are therefore routinely dominated.

7. European Colonizers &
American Indians
Clash of two peoples with two
different “ecological selves”!
European Colonizers: Nature for profit,
land ownership, enclosure, capitalist
mindset/values!
American Indians: Nurturance,
reciprocity, sustainable mindset/values!
Genocide: From up to 18 million in
1490’s to 190,000 in 1890, up to 200
million Indians died in the Americas!
Land Domination

8. European Colonizers &
West Africans
Clash of two peoples with two
different “ecological selves”!
European Colonizers: Nature for profit,
land ownership, enclosure, capitalist
mindset/values!
West Africans: Nurturance, reciprocity,
sustainable mindset/values!
Slavery: About 12 million captured and
shipped to the Americas, 645,000
brought to the U.S., nearly 4 million
slaves in the 1860 census!
Domination for profit via capitalism

9. Shift Away From
Valuing Nature
Joseph Campbell
stated that we can
see the movements
of a society based
on the highest
buildings in an area.

10. Shift Away FromValuing Nature
Gods and
Goddesses
communicate
through the
actions of nature
in the forests
Gods and
Goddesses
communicate
through the
actions of nature
and in growth/
harvest of crops
God (no
Goddess) &
salvation are
found only
through Jesus.
The Devil resides
in nature.

11. Shift Away FromValuing Nature

12. Shift Away FromValuing Nature
Government provides
policies of morality
aimed solely at rights of
humans
The super wealthy and transcontinental
corporations heavily influence governments
and national policies through trade
agreements creating the greatest negative
impact on the global environment

13. Aloha & Haole

14. Aloha & Haole
Aloha #
“Together, we breathe the sacred breath”#
A consciousness that we are inescapably interwoven with
each other and the earth. #
What we do to each other and the earth, we do to ourselves.

15. Aloha & Haole
Haole #
“One who is without sacred breath”#
A consciousness that does not include an awareness that we are
inescapably interwoven with each other and the earth. #
A consciousness only of self and an ignorance of one’s energetic and
spiritual impact. Often comes with little or no understanding of
spirituality or the purpose of one’s soul (soul loss).

16. INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS
& SPIRITUALITIES
Pre-date
Christianity
Pre-date Islam
Pre-date Judaism
Earth-based
spiritualities
Found in all parts of
the world

18. CREATING PATRIARCHY
Women are closer to
nature than men;#
Nature is wild, chaotic,
and uncontrollable
Therefore...
Women are wild, chaotic,
and uncontrollable
Adam & Eve

19. CREATING PATRIARCHY
Women are closer to
nature than men;#
Nature is wild, chaotic,
and uncontrollable
Therefore...
Women are wild, chaotic,
and uncontrollable
Aristotle and Phyllis
(Alexander the Great’s Wife)
"If thus it happened to me, an old man most
wise, that I was deceived by a woman, you can
see that I taught you well, that it could happen
to you, a young man." - Aristotle

20. Christian Domination of
Earth-Based Spiritualities
Movement out of nature and into
“Human” as separate from nature!
Nature is where Satan resides !
Technology is Godly & righteous!
Christian missionaries with indigenous
peoples globally, views on nudity!
Killing of at least tens of thousands of
“witches” from 1400s-1600s!
Continued persecution of paganism,
neopaganism, and Wicca

21. Western Enlightenment’s Cultural (Science)
Domination of the Earth
Galileo Galilei
“The Universe is a clock”
Johannes Kepler
“The Universe is a machine”
Francis Bacon
“For you have but to
follow and as it were
hound nature in her
wanderings...Neither
ought a man to make
scruple of entering and
penetrating into these
holes and corners, when
the inquisition of truth is
his whole object”
Thomas Hobbes
“Nature is dead, stupid
matter”
René Descartes
“We can be the masters
and possessors of nature”

22. Is “Progress”
Ecologically Sustainable?
Progress #
Technology#
Individuality/Isolation#
Capitalism#
Competition#
Movement away from
nature#
Sustainability#
Cooperation#
Reciprocity#
Nurturance#
Interconnectedness with
each other and with
nature
“Progress” as typically defined in the first world
nations is the opposite of “sustainability”

23. A Diversity Without
Sustainability
Diversity studies cannot be truly sustainable without
ecological identities as an integral part of the discourse.#
Currently, diversity studies favor Western, industrial
culture as an endpoint for social justice. Students of color
who have more access and success within the current
structures of schools are used as a point for social justice.#
Our schools are cultural vehicles forming all children to
become docile workers in a capitalistic, consumeristic
structure that ultimately creates a global monoculture
that is unsustainable.

24. A Present- & Future-Minded
Educational Vision for SEPS

25. Teach Today
for a Better 2057
Our current group of traditionally-aged students in 2014 will
likely retire by 2057
Even though students may come back to us during their graduate
years, we need to think about our undergraduate students with
their whole careers in mind providing a dynamic foundational
framework of thinking that can be used for 43 years.
Furthermore…By the time Dr. Love retires circa
2044-2057(unless he wins the Powerball or Mega Millions
earlier!), his traditionally-aged students then will be likely to
retire between 2087-2100

26. A New Sustainable and Cultural
Relationship with Nature
The latest UN Report on the Climate (by the IPCC) released this week said:
Fossil fuels need to be phased out completely world-wide by 2100
Renewable energies growth needs to increase from its current 30% to
80% by 2050
Another report by ecologists released this week said:
Currently, 29% of salt-water edible fish have declined by 90%
representing a total collapse in fisheries
A total extinction predicted by 2048

27. Resist Myopic Thinking
It is imperative to
prepare our teachers to
have broadly
encompassing visions
with dynamic
philosophical and
pedagogical approaches
I know that doesn’t roll off the tongue with
ease, but there it is…

28. Sustainability Framework
Sustainability #
Environmental#
Social#
Economic

29. Sustainability -
Environmental
The Earth has the ability on global and local scales to replenish itself
within a human generation (25 years)
- Science, Social Studies, English, Math,TE
Evolving mindset of humans as interwoven parts of nature and the Earth
- Social Studies, Science, English, Art, Music, Counseling, Social Work

30. Sustainability - Social
Working towards peace (non-violent
conflict resolution)
- Social Studies, Health, English, Art,
Music, PE, Counseling, Social Work
Solidarity - Affirmation - Critique
of Power
- Social Studies, English, Social
Work,
Health & Wellness
- Health, PE, English, Social Studies,
Nursing, Counseling, Social Work

31. Sustainability - Economy
Strong local economies
and responsible global
commerce
- Social Studies, English,
Art
Reintegration of the
cultural commons
- Social Studies, English,
Art, Science, Counseling,
Social Work, Nursing

32. A Vision

33. A Visionary Mission for the
School of Education and Professional Studies
The CCSU School of Education and Professional Studies aims to create human service
professionals (nurses, counselors, social workers, administrators, and educators) who are
sustainability-oriented in their careers.These professionals will have a lifelong interest
in developing sustainability literacy, mindsets, and consciousness. SEPS alumni will be
integral in the inevitably challenging ecological, societal, and economic transitions that
are needed to create more sustainable societies of wellness, compassion, ecological
balance, and a sustainability-oriented educational system and economy.

34. References
Bateson, G. (1972). Steps to an ecology of mind. NewYork, NY, Ballantine Books.
!
Bowers, C.A. (2006). Revitalizing the commons: Cultural and educational sites of resistance and affirmation. NewYork: Lexington
Books.
!
Doppelt, B. (2010).The power of sustainable thinking: How to create a positive future for the climate, the planet, your
organization, and your life. NewYork, NY, Routledge.
!
Feagin, J. R. (2001). Racist America: Roots, current realities and future reparations. NewYork,Taylor & Francis, Inc.
Hardt, M. and A. Negri (2000). Empire. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press.
Loewen, J.W. (1996). Lies my teacher told me: Everything your American history textbook got wrong. NewYork, NY,
Touchstone.
Martusewicz, R., Edmundson, J. and, Lupinacci, J. (2011). Ecojustice education:Toward diverse, democratic, and sustainable
communities. NewYork, NY, Routledge.
Merchant, C. (1980).The death of nature. San Francisco, CA, Harper & Row.
!
Nieto, S. (1994). "Affirmation, solidarity, and critique: Moving beyond tolerance in multicultural education." Multicultural
Education.
!
Plotkin, B. (2003). Soulcraft: Crossing into the mysteries of nature and psyche. Novato, CA, New World Library.
Zinn, H. (2003).A people's history of the United States NewYork, HarperCollins.