Culture
Cultural Diversity
In The Ecology of Eden, Evan Eisenberg discusses the continuing loss of cultural diversity throughout the world, which he closley relates to the loss of biological diversity. Eisenberg explains that animals, agriculture, and people themselves create cultural diversity. However, the power of free trade and industrialization is forcing cultural diversity to fade. Eisenberg demonstrates that it is imperative that we preserve cultural diversity in order to avoid an undesirable “single culture” (46).
Differing languages, foods, arts, and customs each contribute to the diversity of cultures throughout the world. Biologically, diversity comes from the variety of plant and animal life. Eisenberg explains that there is a distinct dependence of cultural diversity on biological diversity. Eisenberg explains, “As natural diversity has been plowed under, cultural diversity has gone down with it” (45). On Earth today, it is clear that biodiversity has undergone severe destruction due to the vast amount of industrialization. Diverse physical features that are imperative for cultural diversity to survive are being demolished. Cultures are being lost as people must conform to the demands of industrialization. Indigenous people that were once free to practice their unique cultures prior to industrialization, will undeniably never be able to exist the same without the presence of their homelands.
Eisenberg provides New York as an example of flourishing cultural diversity. However, “how long can this last?” (Eisenberg 45). New York offers a variety of foods, stores, languages, and people, but how authentic is this cultural diversity? Inevitably, these cultures have undergone some degree of Westernization. As the sources of the cultural diversity in New York are exposed to the powerful influences of American television and ways of life, “how much that is truly Thai or truly Hausa will be left to enrich New York?” (Eisenberg 45). New York is the industrial capital of the United States and inevitably destroys biodiversity on a daily basis. Although New York may present a diversity of cultures on the surface, the lack of biodiversity makes it impossible for authentic cultural diversity to exist.
As industrialization continues to gain control over society, small agricultural farms do not stand a chance. In many ways, free trade is making life much easier. Unfortunately, free trade is leading to the demise of cultural diversity. Eisenberg writes, “thanks to free trade, man-made landscapes that have evolved for centuries-cultures in the most ancient sense, upon which cultures in the broader sense are founded-are vanishing almost as quickly as natural ecosystems” (46). The people that run small farms provide unique knowledge about plants and animals that contribute to cultural diversity. This can be seen in cultures throughout the world, and even right here in the United States. Now that enormous farms can transport products to nearly anywhere at a low price, little farms are being destroyed. Therefore, cultural diversity is fading just as quickly as industrialization is obtaining control over society.
Eisenberg offers excellent insight into the issue of cultures that are unwillingly Westernized. He explains, “loggers, ranchers, miners, oil drillers, and settlers level and scorch other people’s habitat: and the loss of habitat is something which cultural diversity no more than natural diversity can long survive” (47). Many cultures would be perfectly content without free trade laws, but elites force the concept on them. Survival is vital to all people, and many are being forced to assimilate into Western culture in order to survive. As land continues to be stolen “we are squeezing the whole world into a single ecosystem, a single market, and a single culture” (Eisenberg 46).
Maintaining a diversity of cultures is vital to the survival of the world. Eisenberg explains, “human cultures (and for that matter, human “races”) are not, like species, distinct entities, they are fluid and have mingled fluidly from the earliest times of which we have any knowledge” (47). Cultural diversity provides society with excitement, differences, and a world that is desirable. Researchers from the ESRC Centre for Economic and Social Aspects of Genomics (CESAGen) offer evidence that displays the importance of maintaining cultural diversity. The authors reaffirm the relationship between biological diversity and cultural diversity. Furthermore, they present several benefits that cultural diversity can provide the world. Indigenous people, that often represent cultural diversity, account for a large portion of the languages spoken in the world. Additionally, indigenous people possess extensive knowledge regarding native species of plants. If industrialization continues to eliminate indigenous people, the presence of languages and knowledge of native plants will inevitably fade ("Cesagen").