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Deep ecology

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Deep ecology


Deep Ecology/Ecosophy



The ideas behind deep ecology have major implications today. They allow people to think more profoundly about the environment and possibly come to a better understanding of their own meaning. People are intensely concerned about the world's technological adolescence, massive consumerism, and overpopulation. A man named Arne Naess, former head of the philosophy department at the University of Oslo founded an idea that can direct people's anxiety away from their "shallow" notion of the problem to one that is much "deeper." "Deep ecology goes beyond the limited piecemeal shallow approach to environmental problems and attempts to articulate a comprehensive religious and philosophical worldview." (EE p.145) In its most basic form, deep ecology is a wisdom, an ecosophy, which requires humans to see themselves as part of the bigger picture. Naess, Devall, and Sessions outline basic principles of deep ecology in their writing. Furthermore, they address the roles that scientific ecology plays as well as the concept of self-realization. Aside from these ideas, ecosabotage needs to be discussed in terms of how it fits with the practice of deep ecology.

The basic principles of deep ecology as characterized by the authors mentioned, show us what is supposedly wrong with the world and also give us a framework by which we can make a change. In fact, Naess and Sessions went camping in Death Valley, California in order to gain a different perspective. They condensed fifteen years their thought on the topic of deep ecology in an effort to make it appeal to people from all kinds of backgrounds. They also emphasize that these principles must all be considered together.

The first principle states that the value of life, human or non-human, is intrinsic. This means that everything about it is valuable, including individuals, species, populations, habitat, and culture. When considering non-human life, it important to remember that deep ecology likes to include that which can be classified as non-living such as bodies of water and landscapes. Essentially, "the presence of inherent value in a natural object is independent of any awareness, interest, or appreciation of it by a conscious being." (EE p.147)

Another principle states that the diversity of life forms contributes to our appreciation of their value, but again, they also have values in and of themselves. The ecological field worker (persons with first hand experience with life forms) is highly aware of this. "To the ecological field worker, the equal right to live and blossom is an intuitively clear and obvious value axiom. Unfortunately, most humans limit this care for humans only, which is a terrible ?anthropocentrism.? Modern society has done much to prevent us from relationships with non-human life and thus contributed to our own loss. Diversity improves chances of survival by means of creating new ways to live in many different forms. Deep ecology likes to reevaluate the concept of survival of the fittest to one that preaches harmonious coexistence instead killing and domination. Again, this idea is included in the context of human culture and economy. " ?Live and let live? is a more powerful ecological principle than ?Either you or me? " (EE p.135)

Sessions and Naess make it another principle that humans have no right to reduce richness and diversity of life, except to fulfill vital needs. First-world nations are not going to reduce their negative effects on the non-human world in record breaking time. Strategies need to be adopted to bring about change to get rid of human delusion and laziness on these issues. Time is of great importance, considering the longer we wait the greater the problem will become. Richness and diversity face major losses given the extinction rate in our time is exponentially greater than in the past.

A significant decrease in human population would be beneficial for both human and nom-human life. Undoubtedly, the world's population is growing faster than at any time before due to such a large base despite declining growth rates. Governments need to make even greater efforts and more drastic goals for the future. One key point they argue is that most effort should go into lowering population growth in developed industrial societies. Obviously, these people's lifestyles have far more negative influence on the environment.

This ties into the principle that human interference with the non-human world is out of control and getting worse. Naess and Sessions concede humans do and can modify ecosystems, just as other species do the same. Just how far we go with that ability remains the concern. Preservation, is the key, specifically ?large wilderness? areas because they allow and promote speciation of plants and animals. It is important to note that these deep ecologists do not specifically address pollution problems. They do this because they feel it falls in the context of shallow ecology. They think that worrying about pollution face value is really just a Band-Aid solution. Naess gives an example that show how anti-pollution implements could increase "evils of the other kinds," (EE p.135) by somehow increasing the price of vital needs, resulting in greater class differences. This is somewhat abstract, but it allows for new and interesting perspective.

The next principle demands a major change in the policies that effect economic, technological, and ideological norms. They admit that it would be a dramatic shift from the present structure. Economics and ideology today revolve around commodity value, which results in impulsive consumerism and mass waste. Action needs to take place beyond the "think globally act locally" mentality and move around the world. Most Third World countries neglect ecological ideas. There is success among nongovernmental organizations (Greenpeace?) because they are less imposing and not affiliated with anything. Technology needs to be developed to promote the education of these ...

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Keywords: deep ecology meaning, deep ecology definition, deep ecology philosophy, deep ecology examples, deep ecology pdf, deep ecology and shallow ecology, deep ecology worldview, deep ecology arne naess

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