Columbian Legacy Summary

In order to understand the extent to which Old World ideals are embedded into the fabric of our own institutions it is necessary to search for the truths about the Western discoverers amongst the plethora of myths and nationalistic propaganda. The Columbian legacy is one of discovery and dominion over native peoples, the ecological environments that natives were participants of, and all natural resources within the new found American paradise. And while it can be said that tribes of humans dominating other humans and their habitat was not uncommon in the world, including amongst the people of the Americas; the anthropocentric behaviors of Columbus and other Europeans were unique amongst the cultures inhabiting the new European discovery of the American continent.
Schumacher Lectures entitled The Columbian Legacy and the Ecosterian Response that form “the cornerstones of European civilization(Sale, lecture)” that were transferred to the new lands in America. Humanism, defined as the celebration of the human species and their dominion over other animal and plant species as well as the “processes of the earth (Sale, lecture)”. Rationalism, the belief that “all is knowable… (Sale, lecture)” meaning knowable by mankind through science which is the means by which we control nature. Materialism, which is defined as the valuation of the world in terms of accumulation and possession, the cornerstone of capitalism; capitalism being the system used with the primary goal of producing profit. And the fourth essential characteristic is nationalism, which has its foundations in institutions used to govern peoples and land. These characteristics become the pillars of the American way of interacting with nature and people in the new