Exploring Contemporary Environmental Crisis and ‘Deep Ecology’: A Critical Study of the Select Writings of Ruskin Bond

Abstract

Humanity is endowed with all the luxuries due to the development of contemporary civilization. Gradual urbanisation creates several advantages and improves the quality of life. However, it takes away the pleasure of the green environment, making life more susceptible to different diseases and jeopardising ecological equilibrium. In the essay, “The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis,” Lynn White argues, “that the environmental crisis is fundamentally a matter of the beliefs and values that direct science and technology” (Glotfelty xxvii). Specifically, he disapproves of the Judeo-Christian religion because of its anthropocentric condescension and domineering attitude towards nature. Christopher Manes uses Michel Foucault’s theory to examine how literacy and Christian exegesis have silenced nature in Western discourse. Environmental literary studies have opened new possibilities for reevaluating our relationship with the world. It emphasises the shift from an anthropocentric to a biocentric perspective that prominent theorists emphasize. Through his profusion of literary productions, Ruskin Bond has significantly influenced the awakening of environmental and ecological concerns. In his work, he depicts the harmonious cohabitation of man and nature, where panthers and humans coexist in building cooperation and where the inconspicuous parts of the natural world play essential roles in God’s unique designs. The present paper focuses on Bond’s representation of the nonhuman natural world from a deep ecological perspective to provide an alternative way of addressing the contemporary environmental crisis.