What is Deep Ecology?
Deep ecology is a philosophy and social movement that calls for a fundamental change in how humans relate to the natural world. The Norwegian philosopher Arne Naess coined the term to contrast it with what he called shallow ecology, which tries to reduce pollution and resource use mainly for the benefit of people in rich countries. Deep ecologists argue that nature has value independent of its usefulness to humans and that the environmental crisis has roots in the values and assumptions of modern industrial society. They favor smaller, decentralized communities, lower consumption, the protection of wilderness and, over time, a smaller human population.
Core beliefs
- All living things have value in themselves, apart from their usefulness to humans.
- The richness and diversity of life forms are values in their own right.
- Humans have no right to reduce this diversity except to meet vital needs.
- Human interference with nature is excessive and growing worse.
- Policies on the economy, technology and ideology must change in basic ways.
- Quality of life matters more than a rising standard of material consumption.
- Personal self-realization comes through identifying with the wider natural world.
History
Naess introduced the distinction between shallow and deep ecology in a lecture in 1972 and an article published in 1973. His own philosophy, which he called Ecosophy T, drew on Spinoza, Gandhi's nonviolence and his experience as a mountaineer. In 1984 Naess and the American philosopher George Sessions drafted an eight-point platform for the deep ecology movement, and in 1985 Sessions and Bill Devall published Deep Ecology: Living as if Nature Mattered. The ideas spread through environmental groups in North America, Europe and Australia. Some activists in the radical group Earth First!, founded in the United States in 1980, drew on deep ecology to defend wilderness through direct action.
Variants
Naess's own ecosophy is philosophical and nonviolent, and he encouraged people to develop their own ecosophies from different religious and cultural starting points. Activist deep ecology emphasizes wilderness protection and direct action. Bioregionalism focuses on organizing communities around natural regions such as watersheds. Related currents include ecofeminism and social ecology, which share some aims but disagree with deep ecology on the causes of environmental harm.
Criticisms
The social ecologist Murray Bookchin argued that deep ecology ignored the social and economic causes of environmental damage and could slide into misanthropy, pointing to statements by some Earth First! activists about famine and disease. Ecofeminists argued that it overlooked the link between the domination of nature and the domination of women. The Indian historian Ramachandra Guha argued that its focus on wilderness reflected the concerns of wealthy Western societies and could harm rural people in poorer countries. Other critics say its calls for population decline lack a clear and humane path, and that its reasoning rests on intuition or spirituality rather than argument.
In practice
Deep ecology has never been the official program of a government. Its influence can be seen in wilderness and biodiversity campaigns, the rights of nature movement, ideas about bioregional living and parts of green parties. Its distinction between shallow and deep ecology remains widely used in environmental philosophy and debate.