deep-ecology-hub: Making Sense of the Madness
Deep Ecology is the belief that the world does not exist purely as a resource for man's benefit. The world exists for its own sake. We are a part of this wonderful and diverse creation but we do not own it.
heureka: Deep Ecology
I was born a thousand years ago, born in the culture of bows and arrows ... born in an age when people loved the things of nature and spoke to it as though it had a soul.
-- Chief Dan George
The Norwegian philosopher Arne Naess coined the phrase deep ecology to describe deep ecological awareness. Deep ecology is the foundation of a branch of philosophy known as ecophilosophy, Arne Naess prefers the term ecosophy, that deals with the ethics of Gaia.
Fritjof Capra defined deep ecology by contrasting it with shallow ecology and showing that it is a network concept:
Shallow ecology in anthropocentric, or human-centred. It views humans as above or outside of nature, as the source of all value, and ascribes only instrumental, or 'use', value to nature. Deep ecology does not separate humans - or anything else - from the natural environment. It does see the world not as a collection of isolated objects but as a network of phenomena that are fundamentally interconnected and interdependent. Deep ecology recognizes the intrinsic value of all living beings and views human beings as just one particular strand in the web of life.
deep-ecology.org
Deep ecology is often stated as "deep" because it poses the deeper questions about the role of human life in the ecosphere. From a scientific point of view, deep ecology is in the fields of ecology and system dynamics. But from a spiritual side it is the human species that forms parts of the earth and it cannot be separated from it.
Other traditions such as Taoism and Zen Buddhism have influenced deep ecology over the recent years. This is because they have a non-dualistic approach to subjects and objects.
The world does not exist as a resource to be freely exploited by human; this is what many advocates of deep ecology believe. The belief is that the whole system is ethically superior to any of its parts...
Introduction To Deep Ecology
Deep ecology is an environmental movement initiated by a Norwegian philosopher, Arnie Naess, in 1972. He wasn't the first to dream up the idea of a radical change in humanity's relationship to nature, but he coined the term "deep ecology" and helped to give it a theoretical foundation. Deep ecology portrays itself as "deep" because it asks deeper questions about the place of human life, who we are.
Deep ecology is founded on two basic principles: one is a scientific insight into the interrelatedness of all systems of life on Earth, together with the idea that anthropocentrism - human-centeredness - is a misguided way of seeing things. Deep ecologists say that an ecocentric attitude is more consistent with the truth about the nature of life on Earth. Instead of regarding humans as something completely unique or chosen by God, they see us as integral threads in the fabric of life. They believe we need to develop a less dominating and aggressive posture towards the Earth if we and the planet are to survive.
The second component of deep ecology is what Arnie Naess calls the need for human self-realization. Instead of identifying with our egos or our immediate families, we would learn to identify with trees and animals and plants, indeed the whole ecosphere. This would involve a pretty radical change of consciousness, but it would make our behavior more consistent with what science tells us is necessary for the well-being of life on Earth. We just wouldn't do certain things that damage the planet, just as you wouldn't cut off your own finger.
more > Introduction To Deep Ecology - Michael E. Zimmerman
Encyclopedia of Earth: Deep ecology
Deep ecology is one of the principal schools in contemporary environmental philosophy. The term was first used by the Norwegian philosopher Arne Naess in 1972 in his paper "The Shallow and the Deep, Long-Range Ecology Movement." The term was intended to call for a fundamental rethinking of environmental thought that would go far beyond anthropocentric (human-centered) and reform environmentalism that sought merely to adjust environmental policy. Instead of limiting itself to the mitigation of environmental degradation and sustainability in the use of natural resources, deep ecology is self-consciously a radical philosophy that seeks to create profound changes in the way we conceive of and relate to nature.
Foundation For Deep Ecology
The Foundation for Deep Ecology, The Conservation Land Trust, and Conservacion Patagonica have offices at Fort Cronkhite in the Marin Headlands in Sausalito, California. Together, these organizations are dedicated to the preservation of wild nature.
In recent years, the Foundation for Deep Ecology has been active in publishing large-format books on diverse environmental topics. These include Wildfire: A Century of Failed Forest Policy, Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture, Welfare Ranching: The Subsidized Destruction of the American West, Clearcut: The Tragedy of Industrial Forestry, Plundering Appalachia: The Tragedy of Mountaintop-Removal Coal Mining, and Wildlands Philanthropy: The Great American Tradition.
The Conservation Land Trust works to protect wildlands, primarily in Chile and Argentina. Pumalin Park, a project of the Conservation Land Trust, is comprised of more than 700,000 acres and functions as a national park under a private initiative. While most of the park is pristine wilderness, it has extensive public access and is a popular destination.
Created in 2000, Conservacion Patagonica has already placed 450,000 acres of critical Patagonian habitat into permanent protection. Conservacion Patagonica has successfully created one Argentine national park, and is in the process of creating a second in Chile.
The Foundation for Deep Ecology has endorsed the position on economic growth developed by the Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy (CASSE). CASSE is the leading organization in educating the public and policy makers about the impacts of economic growth on the environment, national security, and international stability. Please join notable sustainability thinkers like David Suzuki, Vandana Shiva, and Bill McKibben, and sign the CASSE position on economic growth.
Deep ecology - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Deep ecology is a contemporary ecological philosophy that recognizes an inherent worth of all living beings, regardless of their instrumental utility to human needs. The philosophy emphasizes the interdependence of organisms within ecosystems and that of ecosystems with each other within the biosphere. It provides a foundation for the environmental, ecology and green movements and has fostered a new system of environmental ethics.
Deep ecology's core principle is the belief that, like humanity, the living environment as a whole has the same right to live and flourish. Deep ecology describes itself as "deep" because it persists in asking deeper questions concerning "why" and "how" and thus is concerned with the fundamental philosophical questions about the impacts of human life as one part of the ecosphere, rather than with a narrow view of ecology as a branch of biological science, and aims to avoid merely anthropocentric environmentalism, which is concerned with conservation of the environment only for exploitation by and for humans purposes, which excludes the fundamental philosophy of deep ecology. Deep ecology seeks a more holistic view of the world humans live in and seeks to apply to life the understanding that separate parts of the ecosystem (including humans) function as a whole.
