Methis. Studia humaniora Estonica

Keskkondlus / Environmentalism

2022-12-18T21:45:39+02:00

Reproduced only in the print version of the journal Methis with permission of the Licensor through PLSclear .

Sõjakas kaitse – konfliktid loodus- ja kultuuripärandi hoiu kujundamisel / Warlike Protection – Conflicts in Shaping the Preservation of Natural and Cultural Heritage

2022-12-18T21:45:15+02:00

Artiklis uurime Eesti looduse ja kultuuri kaitsel tekkinud teravaid vastasseise, mida osalejad on mõnikord nimetanud sõdadeks. Näitejuhtumid ulatuvad pühapaikade kaitselt metsa ja linnalooduse kaitseni. Vaatleme artiklis, kuidas vastasseisud on arenenud, milliseid argumente kasutatakse ning millised konflikti osapooled neis eristuvad. Meie eesmärk ei ole otsida konfliktidele lahendusi või neid ennetada – selle asemel soovime mõista, miks mõnikord muutub looduse ja kultuuri kaitse sõjakat retoorikat kasutavaks konfliktiks.

Summary

This paper studies examples of the protection of natural or cultural objects in Estonia developing into sharp conflicts during the past couple of decades. Various mechanisms have been developed to avoid, prevent and solve conflicts, yet sharp oppositions still occur. Our aim is not to provide yet another methodology of conflict solving, but rather to look behind it: who participates in such conflicts, what their reasons and arguments are, what kind of rhetoric they use. Such an approach proceeds from Juri Lotman’s suggestion that it is not agreements, but contradictions that make a dialogue fruitful.

The case studies discussed in the paper range from folkloric sacred sites to the protection of forest and natural objects in urban environments. In all examples, we could observe the presence of two parties that we call the ‘developers’ and the ‘protectors’. In all cases, the developers found themselves in the middle of a conflict they had not foreseen and could not handle, as their only purpose was to develop the initial project, be it a building, forest clearing or the like. In terms of conflict management, ‘developers’ have always been followers of the conflict, reacting to it, but not leading it. The other side, ‘protectors’, consists of an amorphous group of people, some of whom are local inhabitants, while others participate in the protection because of their world view, moral or ideological reasons. In all cases observed it is the ‘protectors’ who lead it to a conflict – mostly as they are un-institutionalised, and thus less visible, so in order to become an equal partner and force developers into a discussion, they use conflict rhetoric and methods. Conflicts are usually expanded in public and on social media in the form of short and easy-to-read messages. Mediatisation is the main characteristic of contemporary conflicts and is adopted by both sides.

Our cases demonstrate that a clear and uniform narrative is important in order to control a conflict and make the other side accept it. Protection of folkloristic sacred sites has been guided by Maavalla Koda, a representative body of a leading contemporary pagan organisation in Estonia. Likewise, protecting forests from clearcutting has been directed by grass-root organisations. In the case of the folkloric sacred sites, the protectors have been successful and the developments have been stopped in almost all cases. Avoiding forest clearcutting has not been so unambiguously successful, but the aggressive rhetoric and active public campaigns have certainly influenced the public opinion in Estonia. Other cases, in which there have been no organisations in the background and that have lacked a common narrative, e.g. protecting a white willow in Tallinn’s suburb of Haabersti, have not been successful. Due to the missing common narrative and lack of a leader, several persons or groups were trying to act as leaders and distribute their message, which ended with a mixture of dissimilar statements, which eventually led to the protectors losing their credibility.

The core of such conflicts lies in a collision of different worldviews, characterised by opposing rhetoric, in which one party is using economical reasoning, while the arguments of the other are based on nature conservation, protecting of cultural and national values, and mixed with spiritual claims. Such different standpoints lead any discussion into a situation of opposition in which a compromise and solutions are difficult or even impossible to find. However, in Metsapoole the local dwellers, who acted against the State Forest Management Centre, deliberately excluded any spiritual arguments. Choosing rational rhetoric let them speak the same “language” as the Forest Management authorities and the conflict ended with a reappraisal of the plans of the State Forest Management Centre.

There certainly are multiple reasons why conflicts arise in protecting natural and cultural objects. In addition to differences in world views, the effects of NIMBY attitudes or personal disagreements are obvious. Still, often the cases follow a similar pattern in which the conflict is brought to the public and is guided by social media and media rules. In this process, emotional arguments become more important than rational ones, which deepens the gap between the two sides involved in the conflict.

Eesti loomakaitseliikumine sõdadevahelisel perioodil / Animal Protection Movement in Interwar Estonia

2022-12-18T21:45:17+02:00

Eestis oli 1920.–1930. aastatel aktiivne loomakaitseliikumine. Kui 1918. aastal oli Eestis vaid üks loomakaitseorganisatsioon, siis iseseisvuse ajal kasvas nende hulk 22-ni, liikumisega seotud isikute hulk aga lausa 10 000-ni. Artiklis on kirjeldatud Eesti loomakaitseliikumise kujunemist, edenemist ja hääbumist sõdadevahelisel perioodil, keskendudes liikumise olulisima eestvedaja, Tallinna Loomakaitse Seltsi inspektori Erich Kattenbergi tegevusele.

Summary

The article gives an overview of the Estonian animal protection movement during the interwar period (1918–1940). The interbellum era was an especially active period for the Estonian animal protection movement, yet very little has been written about it. Hence, the main purpose of the article is to acknowledge the existence of the movement in general. The main sources used are newspaper articles from the interwar period; additional sources include the animal welfare magazines published in the 1930s.

The first animal welfare organisation in the Baltics was the Riga Society against Cruelty to Animals, founded in 1861, while in Estonia the first society of this kind was the Tallinn Animal Protection Association, created in 1869. When Estonia gained independence in 1918, the Tallinn Animal Protection Association was the only animal welfare organisation in the country. It had approximately 600 members, most of whom were Baltic Germans.

A significant turn in the Estonian animal protection movement came in 1924, when Erich Kattenberg started working for the Tallinn Association as an animal protection inspector. Kattenberg was a dedicated animal welfare enthusiast who carried out inspections, organised events, wrote articles and gave speeches about the topic, and collaborated with schools, churches and governmental organisations. In particular, he focused on youth work. In 1927 he created a youth group at the Tallinn Animal Protection Association, which had more than 4000 members by 1934.

In the autumn of 1926, Kattenberg wrote articles to the Estonian newspapers, inviting all friends of the animals to spread the animal protection movement across the country. As a result of his call, several new animal protection groups were created and by 1932 there were 22 animal protection associations in Estonia. Also the number of activists in Estonia started rising so that by 1933 there were approximately 10,000 people connected with the Estonian animal protection organisations.

Under the leadership of Kattenberg, the Estonian animal protection organisations founded the Estonian Union of Animal Protection in 1928. It united all animal protection groups in Estonia and became the central and most important organisation of animal protection in Estonia. In the 1930s the activists started publishing journals of animal protection: the first among these was Loomakaitsja (‘The protector of animals’), published by Erich Kattenberg and the Estonian Union of Animal Protection. It first appeared in 1931, and, after a hiatus, resumed publication in 1934. In 1935 the journal changed its name to Eesti Loomasõber (‘The Estonian friend of animals’) and was published under that name until 1939. The second journal, published by the members of the Tartu Estonian Animal Protection Association in 1934–1936, was called Loomakaitse Ajakiri (‘The magazine of animal protection’). Since Eesti Loomasõber and Loomakaitse Ajakiri were published at the same time, there was a strong rivalry between the two, which turned into a conflict between the Estonian Union of Animal Protection and the Tartu Estonian Animal Protection Association. As a result of the conflict, Erich Kattenberg decided to resign from the board of the Union in 1935.

After Kattenberg’s resignation, the Estonian Union of Animal Protection’s new chairs, who also became the spokespersons of the Estonian animal welfare movement in general, included Elmar Vau (1935–1936), Bernhard Methusalem (1936–1938) and Peeter Päts (1938–1940).

The animal protection movement in Estonia ended in 1940, when Estonia was occupied by the Soviet Union, and recovered only in the 20th and early 21st century, when Estonia had restored its independence.

Vladimir Beekman, Aatomik ja fosforiidisõda / Vladimir Beekman, Atom-Boy, and the Phosphorite War

2022-12-18T21:45:16+02:00

Kirjanik Vladimir Beekman kirjutas Nõukogude Eesti lastele kaheosalise raamatu nimega „Aatomik“ (1959) ning „Aatomik ja Küberneetiline Karu“ (1968), kus uraanituuma lõhustumisel tekkinud energiale on antud inimeselaadne kuju. Piiritu jõuga peategelane osaleb looduse ümberkujundamisplaanides, millel on suur keskkonnamõju. Raamatud järgivad Nõukogude Liidu tuumaenergeetika arendusplaane, nii nn rahuaatomi kui ka külma sõja jutupunkte. Artiklis on võrreldud raamatuis kujutatud tegevusi tõelisuses aset leidnud sündmustega, uuritud kirjutamiskonteksti ning teema levikut lastekirjanduses. Fosforiidikaevandamise ohu algusaegadel ilmus Beekmanil aga keskkonnakatastroofi eest hoiatav romaan „Eesli aasta“ (1979).

Summary

In Soviet Estonia, Vladimir Beekman (1929–2009), a writer with a degree in engineering, wrote a two-story sequence for children: Aatomik (‘The Atom-Boy’, 1959) and its sequel Aatomik ja Küberneetiline Karu (‘The Atom-Boy and the Cybernetic Bear’, 1968), in which the energy generated by the fission of uranium nuclei was given a human form. The publishing of the books was followed by puppet-animation films. The protagonist, a boy with immense power, is involved in several plans of transforming the natural world, projects that had or would have had major environmental impact and caused catastrophes. The stories follow the Soviet Union’s nuclear development plans, both the narratives introducing the “Atoms for Peace” policy and the Cold War propaganda. The article juxtaposes the adventures of the Atom-Boy with the nuclear tests and the achievements of the nuclear industry in the Soviet Union.

Beekman began his literary career as a poet, eagerly reflecting the ideals of Soviet society, including the Cold War propaganda and the nuclear arsenal development. He had a background that suited the regime, having spent part of his boyhood in a Soviet orphanage and making his literary debut in the Stalinist period. He graduated from the Tallinn Polytechnic Institute as a chemical engineer, but made his career as a literary administrator, serving as a long-standing secretary and chairman of the Writers’ Union. He left behind a valuable legacy as a translator of Western children’s literature into Estonian (Selma Lagerlöf, Astrid Lindgren, Tove Jansson, Annie M. G. Schmidt, etc).

Beekman’s stories of the Atom-Boy fit into the tradition of writing about nuclear energy for children. Both Soviet and Western literatures provide examples of this genre in children’s and young adult literature. Such books might belong to the genre of popular science for kids (The Walt Disney Story of Our Friend the Atom), face the fears or casualties of the nuclear accidents in power plants (Joe Holliday’ s young adult book series in the 1950s, Leonid Daien’s Chornobyl – the Bitter Grass), or advocate and justify this energy source. Beekman’s stories belong to the last category: the experiments of the Atom-Boy finally all end well, without doing irreversible damage to the environment. He even melts the ice of the Arctic Ocean with the help of nuclear power.

As nuclear testing and the related problems and accidents were classified in the Soviet Union, it remains unclear whether Beekman's tales of the Atom-Boy belong to the realm of popular science or science fiction for kids. They are usually given the label of ‘the fairy-tale of the Century of Technology’. The stories follow the Soviet Union’s propaganda points on nuclear power, but also on nuclear arms race.

In 1979 Beekman published the novel Eesli aasta (‘The year of the donkey’), which warned of environmental disaster during the early days of the phosphate mining plans. The Writer’s Union played a role in the campaign against phosphate mining, known as the Phosphorite War.

Kunst, keskkond ja keskkonnaliikumine Eestis 1960.–1980. aastatel / Art, Environment, and Environmentalism in Estonia in the 1960s–1980s

2022-12-18T21:45:16+02:00

Artikkel vaatleb keskkonnaprobleemide kajastumist ja kajastamist Eesti kunstis 1970.–1980. aastatel, käsitledes viise, kuidas Eesti kunst (ennekõike maal ja graafika) reageerib keskkonnaprobleemide ja looduskaitse esiletõusule nii kohalikus kui globaalses plaanis. Teiseks uuritakse, millisena nägid kunsti rolli Eesti looduskaitsjad ehk millist kunsti, lähenemisviise ja teemasid nemad keskkonna kujutamisel soosisid. Laiemas plaanis seostub artikkel sotsialismileeri keskkonnaliikumiste ümbermõtestamise uue lainega, mis loob uue tõlgendusliku ruumi ka sotsialismileeri kultuuri ja keskkondluse seostele.

Summary

The article focuses on the representation of environmental issues in Estonian art from the turn of the 1960s–1970s until the 1980s, examining the different ways in which it reacted to the rising awareness of, and concern for, environmental problems on the local as well as global levels. While the emergence of environmental topics in art is often linked to avant-garde practices such as land art or performance, this article mainly focuses on more traditional forms of art such as painting and graphic print, on the grounds that this enables to discuss a wider body of works and include artists beyond the modernist canon. As the analysis of Late Soviet Estonian art from ecocritical perspectives is only beginning, the present study does not aim at making any definite or extensive claims, but rather offers some preliminary thoughts on how to map the diverse approaches to the changing environment that are becoming increasingly more noticeable in the art of the period. Asking when environmental issues become visible in Estonian art, the article points to different approaches and bodies of work.

The late 1960s witnessed the rise of a new generation of painters in Estonia whose works mark a radical shift from the collective and extractivist values of Socialist modernism. Several of their works could also be considered as landmarks in the changing attitude towards the environment, as they questioned the progress of industrial modernity, as well as pointed to the complexities and uneasiness of the increasing environmental pollution. In parallel to this, also a tradition of explicit visualisations of environmental problems was developing which can be seen also in the works of the established artists of the period. Another strand of works relates environmental issues to more universal global problems, entangling them with militarisation, the threat of nuclear war, etc. One of the questions this tradition raises is concerned with the relationship between the global and the local. Many of these works with themes concerned with environmental problems relate vividly to the transnational discussions and symbols of environmentalism in the 1970s and 1980s, while the links between the global problems and the local context remain more ambiguous.

The article also addresses the lack of research and reception traditions concerning the relations between Estonian art, the environment and environmentalism. The art of the 1970s and 1980s gradually comes to bear witness to the expansion of an entirely new approach to the environment, as many of the leading painters and printmakers of the period abandon the genres of landscapes and cityscapes and instead begin to show the natural and the human-made or technological environments as closely entangled and inseparable. While this change has so far been interpreted in the generic context and thus related to the transformation of the tradition of landscape painting, the shift can also be reinterpreted as a sign of an entirely new perception of the environment according to which there exists no nature that would be separable from the human-affected environments.

Next to the developments of visual culture, the article also addresses connections between the art world and the increasingly more popular nature conservation societies and activities, looking at the Estonian nature conservationists’ ideas regarding the role of art in environmentalism, as well as their vision of the topics and approaches that art should deploy in order to contribute to environmentalism. Highlighting the conservationists’ preference for visualisations of the beauty of wild nature and harmonious co-existence with it, the article links this with the spread of a retrospective and ethnographic turn in the Late Soviet period. The fascination, or even escaping into the past, is visible in different spheres of culture, as well as subject matters that range from peasant and indigenous culture to the more elite heritage of the pre-revolutionary period. The close combination of the conservation nature and (both folk and noble) heritage is also embodied in the founding of the first national park in Estonia, Lahemaa in 1971. The article also asks whether the conservationists’ preference of the art idealising the past indigenous, folk, or aristocratic modes of co-existence with nature also had an effect on their relations with the art dealing with the issues of contemporary environment, as well as about the afterlife of such attitudes. On a broader level, the article also relates to the new interpretations of Eastern European environmentalism. While the global history of environmental activism and thought has largely been defined by Western norms and standards, many recent studies point to the extent and heterogeneity of environmentalism in the socialist countries well before the late 1980s, a decade that has often been associated with the beginnings of environmental activism in this part of the world.

Põrkuvad „ilmamaad“ 17. sajandi Liivimaal / Clashing “Weatherlands” in 17th-century Livonia

2022-12-18T21:45:17+02:00

Johannes Gutslaffi 1644. aastal ilmunud teos „Lühike teade ja õpetus“ ja selles sisalduv „pikse palve“ kuuluvad Eesti varauusaegsete tüvitekstide hulka. Lugedes seda keskkonnahumanitaaria vaatenurgast, saavad ilmsiks seni tähelepanuta jäänud kliimaajaloolised kihistused ja seosed. Artikkel väidab, et „Lühike teade ja õpetus“ on üks varasemaid siinmail ilmunud teoloogilisi käsitlusi ekstreemsetest ilmastikutingimustest 17. sajandil. Raamatus on kirjeldatud esimest teadaolevat ilmastikutingimustest põhjustatud mässu Balti ajaloos. Artikkel pakub seega esimesi tõlgendusi Balti nn „ilmamaade“ sügavamatest kihtidest ning analüüsib „kliimamässu“ tekkimise probleeme, kasutades selleks keskkonnahumanitaaria ja kliimaajaloo metoodikat.

Summary

Johannes Gutslaff’s Kurtzer Bericht und Unterricht Von der Falsch-heilig genandten Bäche in Lieffland Wöhhanda ('Short Report and Lesson on the Võhandu River, Wrongly Regarded as Sacred in Livonia') that was printed in 1644, and the “Thunder prayer” included in it belong to the main corpus of Early Modern texts in Estonia. Hitherto, this material has been interpreted mostly from the perspective of cultural history. Reading the text from an environmental humanities perspective, we claim that so far unrecognised layers and connections to climate history can be found in it: the book and can be read as a scholarly piece about changing climate conditions and their different interpretations.

Kurtzer Bericht belongs among Baltic theological reflections written in German about the extreme weather in the 17th century, which was marked globally by rapidly worsening climatic conditions and social unrest caused by these. In Gutslaff’s book we can also find a detailed description of the first climate-caused uprising in Baltic history known so far. In the Early Modern period, or during the peak of the “Little Ice Age”, the Baltic region, similarly to the rest of the world, was affected by a wider trend of cooling, with extreme fluctuations of temperature and precipitation proving to be the biggest problem for peasants growing crops. A look at climate history, however, makes it clear that cultural or social reactions need not be linked to particularly extreme weather phenomena, as they can culminate and explode at a favourable later moment. Climate does not dictate cultural behaviour, but the latter’s interweaving with climate needs to be studied more broadly on the basis of the existing regional sources.

When looking for traces concerning climate in Baltic German religious literature, we can contextualise Gutslaff’s text as belonging to Early Modern “weatherlands” (Tim Ingold) that transgress cultural and regional borders. The article offers first interpretations of the clashing Baltic early modern “weatherlands”, combining methods deriving from literary scholarship, environmental humanities and climate history. The interconnectedness of climate and culture makes it possible to see the challenges climate change poses to culture and social order. Thus weather can be a mirror of relationships and a “moral barometer” of society that can measure not only the state of relations between God and people or society, but also the tensions between people. According to such an interpretation, weather plays almost as significant a role in religious thinking as do measuring instruments in secular science. As weather phenomena are loaded with different societal and religious meanings, explosive conflicts can emerge in climatically extreme times, showing the tension between different layers of society. Conflicts around weather and climate can therefore be seen as inevitable in periods of climatic challenges.

Johann Gutslaff's Kurzer Bericht is placed among the theological-meteorological literature that had spread across Europe and can be traced back to the Antiquity and the Bible. As phenomena related to vernacular religion are of a cross-ethnic nature and with migratory motivations, it is no wonder that the rebellion by the Võhandu was not limited to ethnically Estonian peasants, but linked representatives of different linguistic and social layers. It can be noticed that in interpreting the events Gutslaff attempted to attribute the power and competence to change the weather only to God, and the ability to react to the weather changes only to upper classes – the agency of peasants in reacting to climatic extremes was not taken seriously. They were left alone with their concerns caused by climate change due to the lack of a societal process of addressing climate fears. It was from here that the potential for the conflict that exploded on the banks of the Võhandu derived.

The article shows that combined analysis of historical, cultural and natural sources that was started in Estonia about half a century ago, but has been forgotten due to the complexity of the phenomenon and for ideological reasons, is needed to explain the connection between climate and culture.

Keskkonnakaitse autoritaarsetes ühiskondades / Environmental Protection in Authoritarian Societies

2022-12-18T21:45:16+02:00

Artikkel käsitleb riigi sekkumist keskkonnaprobleemidesse autoritaarse riigikorraga riikides, tuues võrdluseks ka näiteid liberaalsetest demokraatiatest 20. sajandi teisel poolel. Keskkonnast kõnelemisel ökoloogiliste argumentide asemel majanduslikele kaalutlustele rõhumine on võte, mida on kasutatud mõlemal pool nn raudset eesriiet. Üksiknäidetena käsitleb artikkel Reini jõe reostust Lääne-Saksamaal, Ladina-Ameerikast Guatemala ja Tšiili juhtumeid, kus eri argumentide toel on autoritaarsed võimud olnud huvitatud džunglite muutmisest keelualadeks. Keskkonna kahjustamist tarbimise kaudu esindab Tallinna Limonaaditehase juhtum. Sotsialistliku Ungari näitel analüüsitakse moodsate reoveepuhastussüsteemide ehitust ning nende rakendamist propagandavankri ette.

Summary

This article discusses the complex relationships between the natural environment and authoritarian governments in comparison to addressing similar problems in liberal democracies during the second half of the 20th century. A brief survey of the main theoretical sources is provided. Emphasising economic instead of ecological arguments in addressing environmental problems is a method that has been used on both sides of the Iron curtain of the Cold War.

Individual cases discussed include the management of the pollution of Rhein river in Western Germany, establishing of jungle areas as no-go-zones by the Guatemalan and Chilean juntas, but also Hungarian cases of the construction of wastewater treatment plants and the shortcomings in the production in Tallinn Lemonade Factory. The individual cases are related to a broader context of environmentalism to study how and why authoritarian and democratic governments have used technology and propaganda to promote the conservation of natural resources. In conclusion, this article aims to explain how and why various approaches under various political and economic circumstances to mend the environment eventually failed.

Vastuseisust protestideni / From Opposition to Protests

2022-12-18T21:45:15+02:00