Environmental Ethics

INTRODUCTION
The deep ecology movement was first introduced as a political movement in the 1960’s. The phrase was coined by Arne Naess. Many people who were all concerned with the detrimental environmental effects of industrial technology came together. These people believed that we should respect nature and everything in it with intrinsic value. The word “deep” refers to the deep questioning that is involved when questioning our purposes and values in nature. This is different from shallow ecology because shallow ecology is more concerned with fixing technology. Deep ecology seems to be more a long-term approach to solving the environment crisis rather than a short-term approach.

BELIEFS AND GOALS
This theory is more of a spiritual belief rather than a philosophy. It calls for a complete overhaul of the way humans live on earth and requires a rethinking of our values as a society. They believe that everything has intrinsic value (or value that is independent of human purposes), and we need to realize that we are not superior to anything. Deep ecologists also feel that if we were to identify ourselves with things in nature (instead of ourselves and other humans), than we will develop a respect for nature. For example, if we were to really identify with our environment, we would never purposely destroy a plant just as we would never cut off our own finger.

Deep ecologists are concerned with the current problems in our environment and feel that we need to respect nature and everything in it. Here are some of the current issues that they believe has contributed to the crisis:
• Our loss of traditional knowledge, values, and ethics of behavior that observe the intrinsic value of the natural world
• The economic and development patterns of the modern world because it places primary importance on the market and not on nature.
• The increase in technology and an unlimited faith in the sciences
• Overpopulation that is making the world an unsustainable place to live in.
If these problems are not fixed, every part of nature will suffer. Deep ecologists feel that many other philosophies that address these problems do not take the right approach since they are mainly attempting to fix the problems to benefit humans.

There are two basic components of deep ecology:
• Self-realization: We need to identify with the whole biosphere and everything in it, such as trees, animals, and plants. Doing this would then make our behavior more consistent with what science tells us is necessary for the well-being of life on earth.
• Biocentric equality: We need to see ourselves as integral threads in the fabric of life. We are only a part of nature and not separate beings. We do not have any right to take control or manage the world. Everything has a right to live and humans cannot take that away from any nonhuman thing.

In addition to these, there are 8 basic principles that deep ecologists follow. I’m not going to write them down because someone has already posted them on here. However, these eight principles are essential to deep ecologists. If a person were to follow only a few of them, then they are not considered a deep ecologist.

CONCLUSION
The deep ecology movement is still evolving. Many of their beliefs are collected from different philosophies, and may seem unclear. However, the general goal is to preserve, conserve, and respect our environment. They want to develop a much more fragmented society with new kinds of relationships.

JULIA BUTTERFLY
The movie that we watched in class was about a deep ecologist who called herself Julia Butterfly. She changed her last name to Butterfly in order help identify with nature and take on a more natural name. She is an Earth First! activist who is well-known for the Luna Tree sit. She lived in a 180 foot tall California Coast Redwood tree from December 10, 1997 until December 18, 1999. Her two-year fight for the Redwood became the longest tree sit in U.S. History.

SOME LINKS
Here are some links on deep ecology:
• This shows the interview of Michael E. Zimmerman, a deep ecologist. It helps to explain the views and goals of deep ecology: http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC22/Zimmrman.htm
• These are some critiques of the deep ecology principles: http://www.thegreenfuse.org/deepcrit.htm
• This site helps to explain deep ecology: http://www.resurgence.org/resurgence/185/harding185.htm
• This site has information about Julia Butterfly Hill and her upcoming events. You can also ask her questions and see her blog: http://www.resurgence.org/resurgence/185/harding185.htm

By Allison Rice