The Ecophilosophy of Deep Ecology

This ecophilosophy believes that humans should participate in but not dominate the natural environment. We are a creature of Planet Earth and as such we should live as part of the community of life rather than seeking to bring it under our control. The world does not exist for the purpose of serving humans, it was not designed as a resource for our consumption.

The sum total of all living things on Earth is called the biomass.  There is a maximum amount of biomass that Planet Earth can support at any one time. This is any kind of life – forests, chickens, plankton and humans. The reason for this maximum limit is because all the Earth’s energy comes from the Sun and the Sun only provides us with a finite amount.

snail
image by jenny downing

Sunlight falls onto the ground and the energy is captured by plants. Plants turn this into an energy that can then be eaten by animals.

The volume of sunlight determines the quantity of plant life, the quantity of plant life determines the numbers of the animal population.

Most people seem to think that the basic natural regulations that exist on Planet Earth do not apply to human beings. They seem to think that we somehow exist outside the boundaries of nature. Ecophilosophy and Deep Ecology challenge that assumption. We are very much a part of nature and our actions have a profound effect on the rest of the ecosystem on this planet.

This ecophilosophy recognises that every increase in total human biomass must equal an equivalent decrease in the biomass of other living creatures. The more humans there are on the planet the less room there is for seaweed, kauri trees, grizzly bears and grasshoppers. As the human population skyrockets 200 species of plant and animal are becoming extinct everyday.

The ecosystem flourishes because of biodiversity.

The dominant culture of the world would like to see it filled only with us, our food and our food’s food. If any other creatures or wilderness were to be spared it would only be because they had some sentimental value to us, were nice to look at or had recreational value.

The ecosystem of this planet survives and flourishes because of biodiversity. The way we are acting at present is destroying this biodiversity. The ecosystem cannot survive with just us, our food and our food’s food.  If the human species is to survive we must change the way we interact with the rest of nature.

We Are A Creature; A Part of Nature

The common belief in our culture is that human beings are superior to nature. It’s an “us and them” mentality. Us living in our world with nature being somewhere out there.

This view generally comes from one of two belief systems:

  1. Humans began their time on Earth as an animal, like all the rest, but then due to our superior brain capacity and our two thumbs we evolved into homo sapiens, discovered civilization and took our rightful place as superior to the natural world.
  2. Plants and animals were created as the natural world and that humans were created as a higher order of being, above the natural world.

It is this belief that we are separate from nature that means I can tell you 200 species are becoming extinct everyday without alarm bells going off. “So what if 200 species are dying. It’s not us, it’s them.”

The ecophilosophy of Deep Ecology asserts that whatever human origins may have been we are nevertheless a creature of Planet Earth. We belong to the community of life; we are part of this ecosystem. Every part of creation is deeply interconnected and interrelated. If we destroy the ecosystem we will ultimately destroy ourselves.

In order to live in a way that works it requires us to recognise that other living and non-living things have value in themselves, regardless of their benefit to us. The ecosystem functions for the benefit of all the participants, not just the one on the top.

This Ecophilosophy Applies To All Belief Systems

Ecophilosophy is not a religion or way of life in itself. It is a lens through which anybody from any belief system can view the world and a movement through which one can take positive action.

Arne Naess, the man who coined the term ‘Deep Ecology’ believed that person’s beliefs and actions could be represented in four stages. He called it the ‘Apron Diagram.’

At the top is a person’s Ultimate Premise or guiding philosophical or religious views. For example:

At the second level are a person’s principles. With their principles they are able to support movements such as the Deep Ecology Movement or Social Justice Movements or Peace Movements. At level three are a person’s policies and at level four are their practical actions.

Deep Ecology is a principle that is able to be held whether someone believes in evolution or creationism, whether they believe human beings are merely the most evolved of all animals or whether we are the only creatures made in the image of God.

The crux of the matter is that regardless of our origins and purpose we are destroying the ecosystem in which we live because we have a false belief that we do not actually live there. We do not eat angel food. We belong to the food chain. We must accept our place there.

We do not eat angel food.

The rest of nature has a right to live and to flourish. It is not acceptable that we consume all the world’s resources in order to create more humans.

We are wonderful and glorious creatures, but so is every other creature. We may or may not be the creature with the highest consciousness and we may or may not be the only creature made in God’s image, but it is not our place to deny other creatures the right to life.

Deep Ecology Is Pro Human

There is a common misunderstanding about Deep Ecology and ecophilosophy. People perceive it to be anti-human; they believe that supporters of Deep Ecology don’t think very highly of humans or that we think the world would be better off without us. This is not the case and is a misunderstanding of ecophilosophy.

humans
image by The Dilly Lama

Broadly speaking there are two types of human cultures to have ever existed. The first and oldest culture believed that man was a part of the world. This culture believed that man belonged to the world but never owned it.

The people that hold this view are the indigenous peoples from all across the globe that have existed for millions of years and still exist today.

The second human culture to have existed is a relative newcomer. This is the culture that believes humans are separate from the rest of nature. This culture believes that playing fair is beneath us and that we should subdue the rest of nature so that it can serve us.

People of this culture first emerged in the Near East somewhere between 6,000 and 12,000 years ago. By bending nature to its will this culture produced a lot of food and thus a lot of people. It gradually spread across the planet and by the 21st Century we have reached a point where 99% of human beings live in this culture.

When people write and talk about culture and humans and the future of this planet they often forget that there ever was a different way of life, a different type of culture. Admittedly it is an easy mistake to make, 99% of us live this way and indigenous cultures tend to be thought of as an irrelevant precursor to history.

Ecophilosophy recognises the distinction between the two different ways of life. Deep Ecology does not criticise humans. It criticises the culture we live in. Those who perceive deep ecology to be anti-human mistake a criticism of our culture to be a criticism of human nature.

People mistake the nature our culture as human nature, an easy error to make when you forget that there is another way human beings have lived.

Humans are an integral and valued member of the ecological community on Planet Earth. Far from being anti-human Deep Ecology is very much pro-human. As humans we must put humans first. But putting humans first does not equal wanton destruction of other species.


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