INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH AND INNOVATION IN SOCIAL SCIENCE (IJRISS)
ISSN No. 2454-6186 | DOI: 10.47772/IJRISS | Volume IX Issue XXVI October 2025 | Special Issue on Education
www.rsisinternational.org
Page 9113
Environmental Collapse and Industrialization in the Ecopoetry of
Roseville Nidea
Britanico, Christopher A., Del Rosario Marissa S., Bagacina Cris S.
University of Saint Anthony, Philippines
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2025.903SEDU0690
Received: 10 November 2025; Accepted: 20 November 2025; Published: 25 November 2025
ABSTRACT
The industrialization of the contemporary is creating agony for the environment. The environment that people
should supposed to live in becomes a material consumption that thrives to survive rather than live to create
harmony with all other living entities. Industrialization gave birth to an anthropocentric view which is
detrimental to the environment’s survival. With this, creative masterpieces in response to Slovic’s Third Wave
of Ecocriticism viewed through the lens of Plumwood’s Ecocriticism provided a guide in reading the two
poems of Roseville Nidea titled Larentine and Sentenced to Death published in The Sustaining the
Archipelago: An Anthology of Philippine EcoPoetry by Rina Chua. Roseville Nidea is a published Bicolano
writer who emerged from Camalig, Albay, and has been writing poems on ecological consciousness which
have been published in varied anthologies. This study aims to draw the environmental collapse in the Bicol
ecopoems of Roseville Nidea and analyze the literary poems using ecopoetry. The collapse of the environment
in the poems underscored the undervaluation of the environment due to the anthropocentric consciousness and
damaging effects of industrialism urged by self-centeredness. The creative expression of the realities in the
environment is also a predictive stance of environmental degradation which appeals to a movement on change.
Keywords: Environment, Collapse, Anthropocene, Ecopoetry, Ecocriticism, Consciousness
INTRODUCTION
Modern times have seen an extraordinary change in how humans relate to their environment primarily because
of industrialization. Nature received worshipful treatment as a living interconnected system until
industrialization brought forth a materialistic perspective that eclipsed this relationship. The advancement of
industrialization created an anthropocentric
worldview which positioned humanity at the universe's center even though this approach caused damage to
nature. This transformation has led to the misuse of natural resources because people started viewing nature as
mere commodities instead of living systems with inherent worth. The environmental consequences of this
mindset now stand as clear indicators of devastated ecosystems together with lost biodiversity and worsening
environmental justice.
The research analyzes environmental collapse in Roseville Nidea's Bicol ecopoetry by examining his specific
poems Larentine and Sentenced to Death. Roseville Nidea serves as a Bicolano poet from Camalig Albay who
has continuously promoted environmental consciousness throughout the Philippines. His published works in
various anthologies expose the destructive impacts of industrialization and environmental deterioration which
he explores through Bicol-specific natural settings while addressing worldwide ecological problems.
This study focuses on specific Philippine poems because the nation maintains diverse ecosystems despite
facing mounting industrialization-related environmental destruction. Nidea uses poetry to showcase Bicol's
current environmental situation while simultaneously warning about an irreparable ecological disaster that may
result from uncontrolled industrial activities. The research investigates these poems using ecocritical analysis
to demonstrate literature's power in promoting environmental change awareness and modifying public
perceptions.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH AND INNOVATION IN SOCIAL SCIENCE (IJRISS)
ISSN No. 2454-6186 | DOI: 10.47772/IJRISS | Volume IX Issue XXVI October 2025 | Special Issue on Education
www.rsisinternational.org
Page 9114
The technological and societal progress of industrialization has introduced multiple environmental problems
into the world. Several negative outcomes stem from ecosystem degradation including biodiversity loss and
increasing environmental injustices. The current environmental crisis demands creative works including poetry
because they serve as essential tools for examining and opposing economic growth which endangers ecological
sustainability. Through her poetry, Nidea demonstrates how literature functions as an effective tool to
challenge industrialization's dominant narrative while advocating for environmentally friendly human-
environment relations.
Ecocentrism in Philippine Poetry
Central to this research is the integration of ecocritical theories, specifically Slovic’s Third Wave Ecocriticism
and Plumwood’s Ecocriticism.
Slovic’s Third Wave Ecocriticism emphasizes literature’s pivotal role in fostering environmental
consciousness. Literature possesses the power to drive social change in addition to reflecting societal elements.
Third Wave Ecocriticism establishes literary works as effective tools for educating readers about
environmental crises that affect humanity. The dominant anthropocentric worldview creates problems because
it positions humans at the center of existence and results in environmental exploitation and degradation. The
core of Third Wave Ecocriticism focuses on literature as a transformative force to teach people about human-
nature connections. Through this analytical perspective, the analysis of Nidea’s poems will show how they
tackle ecological problems and display industrialization's effects along with human separation from nature.
The research uses this analytical framework to study Nidea's poetry and its effects on environmental thinking
among readers concerning human roles in environmental damage and environmental preservation.
Plumwood's Ecocriticism provides analysis of human-focused systems which have controlled environmental
thinking and practice throughout history. Plumwood develops an ecocentric framework that challenges
anthropocentric thinking by promoting human interests above all living things. According to Plumwood, the
human-centered perspective enables nature exploitation while supporting beliefs that non-human entities lack
intrinsic value unless they serve human needs. Plumwood defends ecocentrism because it gives intrinsic value
to non-human life and demonstrates the natural connection between every living being. The analytical
framework works well for Nidea's poetry because it enables researchers to evaluate how industrialization's
anthropocentric ideology causes environmental destruction. The research can examine how Nidea's works fight
against human dominance of nature by advocating for nature-based recognition of intrinsic value in all living
beings.
The analytical foundation of this research relies on Slovic’s Third Wave Ecocriticism and Plumwood’s
Ecocriticism approaches. Through Slovic's approach the study investigates how literary works can create
environmental awareness and drive social change and Plumwood's framework analyzes the ethical foundations
behind environmental exploitation by humans. This research employs both approaches to examine
environmental problems in Roseville Nidea’s poems alongside the ethical dimensions of industrialization and
the necessity to transform human-nature interactions. The research combines these two ecocritical perspectives
to provide an extensive analysis of Nidea’s work while demonstrating literature's power to promote
environmental advocacy and societal change.
Research Questions
This study aims to investigate how Roseville Nidea’s poems, Larentine and Sentenced to Deathrespond to the
environmental collapse caused by industrialization. Specifically, it explores the following questions:
1. How do the poems Larentine and Sentenced to Death represent the environmental collapse in the Bicol
region?
2. What are the effects of anthropocentric ideologies on the environment as depicted in Nidea’s poems?
3. How do the poems reflect the broader themes of industrialism and its detrimental impact on the
environment?
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH AND INNOVATION IN SOCIAL SCIENCE (IJRISS)
ISSN No. 2454-6186 | DOI: 10.47772/IJRISS | Volume IX Issue XXVI October 2025 | Special Issue on Education
www.rsisinternational.org
Page 9115
4. In what ways do Nidea’s poems challenge the reader to reconsider their relationship with the
environment?
METHODOLOGY
Research Design
This study adopts a qualitative research design employing ecocritical textual analysis. The primary analytical
framework integrates Slovic’s Third Wave Ecocriticism, which regards literature as a catalyst for
environmental awareness and social change, and Plumwood’s Ecocriticism, which critiques anthropocentric
worldviews and foregrounds ecocentric ethics.
Corpus of the Study
The subject of this research is two ecopoems by Roseville Nidea: "Larentine" and "Sentenced to Death." These
poems were selected for their vivid environmental imagery, regional specificity to Bicol, and thematic focus
on industrialism and ecological degradation.
The research process involved careful selection and repeated readings of the poems, in conjunction with a
review of the Bicol region’s historical and environmental background. Themes, imagery, and rhetorical
devices were identified and coded to trace representations of environmental degradation and resistance. Each
poem was closely analyzed for use of figurative language, ideological critique, and its potential to challenge
readers’ perceptions of the human-nature relationship, while a comparative reading brought out both shared
and distinct responses to ecological crisis within the texts.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Representation of Environmental Collapse
Both "Larentine" and "Sentenced to Death" use powerful poetic imagery to portray the devastation of Bicol’s
landscapes. "Larentine" describes “soot-choked fields” and “crimson spills across the estuary,” evoking
imagery of mining pollution and agricultural demise. "Sentenced to Death" frames the environment’s
destruction as a court trial, with nature cast as a defendant amid machinery (“machines shrieked over
mountains,” “concrete colonized the soil”) and society’s relentless march toward “progress.”
Anthropocentric Ideology and Industrial Violence
The poems critique anthropocentrism by illustrating nature’s diminished agency (“trees whisper no longer”)
and by personifying the Earth as a silenced victim in an unjust human legal system (“Her plea was gentle,
broken—/She spoke in syllables of soot”). These narratives expose how capitalist and developmentalist
frameworks permit and justify environmental exploitation, transforming living systems into commodities and
rendering ecological destruction as progress.
Ecological Empathy and Ethical Reflection
Both poems foster ecological empathy by using emotionally charged language and rhetorical questions.
"Larentine" exhorts readers to “Remember the lull of leaves before the smoke/And find again the pulse
beneath the ruin,” encouraging reflection on what has been lost to development. "Sentenced to Death" ends
with the haunting question, “Will you let my last breath be a whisper/Or a warning?”—inviting the reader into
a space of moral responsibility.
Regional Identity and Literary Resistance
By grounding ecological critique in the distinct geography of Bicol, the poems position local environmental
histories within broader global concerns. Literary devices such as regional specificity, allegory, and sensory
language are deployed to transform environmental crisis from abstraction into concrete and affective cultural
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH AND INNOVATION IN SOCIAL SCIENCE (IJRISS)
ISSN No. 2454-6186 | DOI: 10.47772/IJRISS | Volume IX Issue XXVI October 2025 | Special Issue on Education
www.rsisinternational.org
Page 9116
memory. The poems serve as counter-narratives to dominant industrialist discourses, advancing a biocentric
ethics in direct response to local and global ecological threats.
DISCUSSION
The analysis reveals that Nidea’s Bicol ecopoetry functions as both documentation and resistance against the
destructive forces of industrialization. Through symbolic inversion and poignant imagery, Nidea’s poems
undermine the supposed inevitability of environmental harm and critique the normalization of “sacrifice zones”
in marginalized regions. The works draw on both local and universal dimensions, demonstrating how regional
poetry can play a vital role in the global movement for environmental justice.
Nidea’s engagement with anthropocentric ideologies—by portraying nature as silenced, judged, or executed—
highlights the deep ethical failures of industrial modernity. By mobilizing memory, emotional engagement,
and moral imagination, the poems call for a transformation in the human-nature relationship—a movement
away from dominion and toward ecological humility and reciprocity. The results reinforce the transformative
potential of literature—not only as a reflection of crisis but as an active agent for ecological consciousness and
advocacy.
CONCLUSION
This study demonstrates that Roseville Nidea’s "Larentine" and "Sentenced to Death" vividly represent
environmental collapse in the Bicol region as a consequence of industrialization and anthropocentrism.
Employing ecocritical analysis, the research shows how these poems resist destructive narratives by centering
non-human agency, exposing the violence of unchecked development, and prompting ethical reflection. The
findings underscore the value of regional ecopoetry as a pedagogical, cultural, and advocacy tool in efforts
toward environmental sustainability.
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