Deep Ecology Hub

Is The Deep Ecology Movement
In "Eco La La Land?"

One of the major criticisms of the Deep Ecology movement is that it is out of touch with reality and off in "eco la la land." Critics say that it is all idealism but lacks real bite because it doesn't recognize the social issues that have contributed to the ecological crisis.

It is true that those who coined the term "Deep Ecology" and who have written much of the academic philosophy regarding it don't delve too much into social issues. They keep their focus one step back on the ecological views of individuals and society; examining attitudes towards the rest of nature and how humans interact with the rest of creation.

But the view that  people hold regarding the environment that they live in is the biggest factor in determining the kind of society that they build. The ecological vision comes first and the society grows from there.

While Arne Naess and George Sessions don't explore this concept in great detail other authors have. They have compared a society who believes that man belongs to the world with a society who believes that the world belongs to man.

Based on the differing ecological visions different types of societies have emerged. The vision, the story of man's place in the world dictates how he will live. When the ecological vision sees the world as belonging to man the resulting society is oppressive, destructive, hierarchical and patriarchal. When the ecological vision sees man as belonging to the world the society competes without destroying, is egalitarian, more gender balanced and does not seek to oppress other cultures or wipe them out.

So if Deep Ecology is accused of being in "eco la la land" that claim is semi justified. The academic writing focuses more on the abstract vision. But that does not mean that the physical results of that abstract vision are not relevant. They are very relevant. Social critique needs to happen. However Deep Ecology is a lens through which one can critique society, it is not by itself a social critique.

There is little value in going round and round in circles trying to affect social change without examining the underlying vision that has created the negative circumstances in the first place. The most effective way to change a society is to change its vision and this is what the Deep Ecology movement wants to do.

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