Response to McFarlane on Felstiners Can Poetry Save The Earth In objecting to the premise of Felstiners monograph Can Poetry

Save the Earth?(2009), Robert Macfarlane provides a position based upon the premise that nature writing and literature is either working by promise or by menace (Macfarlane, 2013). This essay will provide a response to this position from an eco-Marxist/eco-socialist perspective, looking at alternative forms of literature that may work in a third way; that of raising political awareness of the underlying structural causes of environmental damage and creating a paradigm shift in a younger, urban audience toward a more ecocritical worldview. Although dictionaries provide definitions of what literature is, these are ultimately contested and prove unsatisfactory. Terry Eagleton, for instance, devotes a chapter of Literary Theory An Introduction (Eagleton, 2008, chap. 1) to discussing the topic without reaching a satisfactory conclusion. As the definition of literature is vague and contested, the opportunity arises for the exploration of literary forms such as urban art (graffiti), spoken word performance (comedy, poetry and rap) and graphic novels that fall outside the traditional literary canon. For this purpose, this essay will adopt a broader definition of literature : "Though all forms of literature are written, some of them are meant for performance as are plays and video scripts, and some are mixed with visual forms to become comic books, cards, or posters. (Jewell, 2012) In his stand-up routine on environmental attitudes, the American comedian George Carlin states ...the planet isnt going anywhere, we are(Carlin, 1992). The routine continues to provide a scathing anti-anthropocentric critique of the state of environmentalism as perceived by Carlin at the time. This works to challenge the fundamental opinions and motivations that underpin what some describe as light green environmentalism and its individual based philosophy which is responsible

...environmentalists dont give a shit about the planet. They dont care about the planet. Not in the abstract they dont. You know what theyre interested in? A clean place to live. Their own habitat. (Carlin, 1992)

for green fatigue (Steffen, 2009). There are also negative outcomes from the use of comedy in this fashion though: by attacking environmentalism in general, Carlin gives the impression that the task is hopeless and frames all environmental action as an anthropocentric exercise which is limited to the public perception of environmental activities such as recycling and carbon footprint reduction. However, the issue of ecological change is more fundamentally and inextricably tied to the way in which humans both live their own (human) lives and the way in which they relate to the non-human world. The continued production of consumer items as well as the unfettered access to energy which define the lifestyle of the richest nations can be seen from an eco-Marxist ecosophy as the root of what are fundamentally socio-political issues caused by the means of production inherent in global capitalism. Marx, discussing human relations with nature said: Man lives on nature--means that nature is his body, with which he must remain in continuous interchange if he is not to die. That man's physical and spiritual life is linked to nature means simply that nature is linked to itself, for man is a part of nature. (Marx, 2009, p. 31) Similarly, Kovel and Lowy, in An Ecosocialist Manifesto declare A society of freely associated producers does not stop at its own democratization. It must, rather, insist on the freeing of all beings as its ground and goal. (2001)The recognition that man is part of, not above, nature and as such must see the rest of non-human nature as suffering the same oppression under the capitalist system is, I believe, key to any attempts to save the Earth. McIntosh takes this a step further; arguing that community is key and that we need to ...make community with the soil, to learn how to revere the Earth(McIntosh, 2004, p. 284). The eco-Marxist and ecosocialist positions however, depend to a degree on the light green attitude that Carlin disparages: after all, left to their own devices, governments and corporations will not enact the changes required to attack the structural source of the problem this requires the people to make it into an issue which governments cannot resist.

Ultimately, the need is for the creation of a truly community-led process which then interfaces with local politics, but on its own terms(Hopkins, 2008, p. 144) Unfortunately, whilst traditional literature (poetry, novels and other prose) is a valuable focus for academic study, it faces challenges reaching certain sections of the population and thus engendering change within them for several reasons. Theories associated with literary study, such as poststructuralism, post-modernism, eco-feminism and Marxist theory that are used to analyse texts by writers such as Shelley, Byron and Shakespeare may be considered to be inaccessible and of little relevance to a large general readership, as can the texts that are studied. Additionally, the language used by scholars discussing ecocriticism can be unintelligible to non-schollars. For example, in a Facebook chat conversation with S. Thomson on 26th November 2013, I produced the following statement just trying to hook the anarchist angle of urban art into the eco-anarchist ecosophy for my presentation next week. This sort of thing can lead to claims of elitism and that these discussions are too academic, and thus have little impact on the general consciousness. Although ecocriticism also examines more contemporary literature such as Cormac McCarthys The Road, the risk is that the general public may take no more than the transient pleasure of cinema-going from watching the adaptation of the film rather than reading the book. Although the book has sold nearly 1.5 million copies since its 2009 release (The Oprah Effect Closing the Book on Oprahs Book Club), the cinema release grossed around $27.5 million dollars in less than 6 months (The Road (2009) - Box Office Mojo). This demonstrates an issue of consumption that modern audiences are more likely to watch a film adaptation of a book than read it. Similarly, literature is competing with other media, such as computer games, for the attention of the younger audience. Despite these issues, spoken word artists such as the rapper Akala show that working with traditional literature, but presenting it in a form more easily received by a young urban audience(Akala, 2011), can reap rewards. Although alternative literature could provide this bridge between sociopolitical/ecological ideas and a young urban population, the problem appears to be one of how to get the message across.

Spoken word literary forms can work to create a powerful response from listeners. In A Letter From God to Man (Le Sac & Pip, 2007), the artists provide a critique of religion, capitalism and environmental overproduction. Two sections in particular are interesting from an ecocritical perspective: I made the Sun an appropriate distance and laid the stars across the sky, so you could navigate the globe or simply watch a sunrise. I covered the Earth with plants and fruits, some for sustenance and some for beauty, and made the Sun shine and clouds rain so that maintenance wasnt your duty. I tried to give each creature its own attributes but without making them enveloped I gave you all your own space to grow and in your own way space to develop (Le Sac & Pip, 2007) As the poem is targeted at man, the actions of the writer in this epistolic poem can for the most part be described as anthropocentric. However, the theme of the first two stanzas, of beauty for the benefit of mankind is mitigated in the final stanza by bringing in creatures as a distinct element, emphasising the value of non-human animals in the scheme of nature. The use of the term enveloped also stresses their individuality whilst stressing their inclusion in the totality of the natural world, rather than expressing them as a resource for consumption or exploitation. There is vagueness in the

last two lines of the third stanza, as the writer of the letter could be considering the needs of nonhuman animals to grow and develop which also reduces the anthropocentrism of the poem. It was you that invented bombs and the fear that comes with them and it was you that invented money and the corrupt economic systems You invented terms like just wars and terms like friendly fire and it was you that didnt know when to stop digging deeper and when to stop building higher. It was you that exhausted the resources I carefully laid out on this Earth and it was you that even saw these problems coming but accredited them little worth (Ibid) The three stanzas above juxtapose symptoms of the structural issues of capitalism: wars and financial systems with environmental issues. The collocation of these issues highlights and links the problems of capitalism with those of environmentalism. The final stanza, although using the term resources in a anthropocentric way provides a stark description of the fundamental damage being done, and highlights the apathy displayed by many. This poem, with its overarching theme of religion, perhaps unwittingly echoes the sentiments of Lynn Whites The Historical Roots of our Ecological Crisis (1967) by framing the poem as a theological conversation

Although the poem above falls into the traditional idea of literature (at least when presented on paper), works such as V for Vendetta (Moore & Lloyd, 1990), a graphic novel set in a dystopian future, has provided a new generation of political activists, some of whom are aligned with the hacktivist group anonymous with a range of quotes and visual images, notably the Guy Fawkes mask worn by the protagonist, that are used at demonstrations and protests. Although the message of the text is political rather than environmental, it has served to work as a uniting factor, demonstrating that literature can have a tangible effect on
Figure 1 - V for Vendetta (Moore & Lloyd, 1990)

the behaviours of sections of the public. Although there is a contradiction between these masks and the political aims they represent, insofar as sales of the plastic masks provide royalties to Time Warner Corp. (Carbone, 2011) and therefore inadvertently feed consumerism and capitalism, one response to this contradiction, has been the proliferation of self printable Guy Fawkes masks available on the internet. An alternative literature, which pushes the limits of literary minimalism but may be able to make a difference, is graffiti. The work of Banksy and other politically motivated artists echo the sentiments of anti-globalisation organisations and protest groups like Occupy. The artist JULYi, based in Venezuela produces street art in areas that can be considered edgelands. These works frequently contain images of animals alongside a political or ecological message, often combining the two. In effect, JULYi claims edgelands spaces and uses them as a form of advertising space, providing an alternative anticapitalist/corporatist message.

Figure 2 (JULYi graffiti)

Figure 2 utilises an edge lands environment bordered by broken fencing to demonstrate a link between a familiar ecological trope the Native American. However, in a twist, the character is spearing a tin labelled GMO (Figure 3 Detail of JULYi artwork). By calling on this Native American imagery, set in a realistic waterside location, the artist creates a sense of pathos while illustrating the pervasive and harmful nature of genetically modified products by illustrating it as discarded rubbish which has replaced the traditional and anticipated target of the characters hunting efforts. Although it could be argued that the ecocritical message is still anthropocentric as it demonstrates a man using nature as a resource, it is tempered by the use of a Native American as a synecdoche for ecologically aware consumption. The acronym, GMO (Genetically Modified Organism) represents the only text in the image, and resonates with those who are already aware of the potential risks from this type of bioengineering on nature. However, even if the viewer is not aware of the acronym, the image still succeeds in providing an ecocritical message.

Figure 3 Detail of JULYi artwork

Although traditional literature may not be able to save the world, and even alternative literatures are unlikely to either, the accessibility, immediacy and relevance of alternative literature may be able to at least influence its target audience to be amenable to the ideas that ecocriticism can highlight within texts. The minimalism of the text may not be an obstacle to this. However, as the problems with alternative literatures highlight, the insights that ecocriticism can deliver are necessary to provide the right messages via this media. The main question that arises however is: Can we afford to wait for the insights gained through ecocriticism to filter down from academia to the general public?

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