What is deep ecology? What are its principles? Are the aspirations of deep ecologists achievable? Why or why not?
The term “deep ecology” is a subdivision of ecological philosophy that regards all human kinds as a fundamental element in this environment. This philosophy gives the idea that all living beings have an equal right to live and thrive in the environment. This philosophy was introduced by a Norwegian philosopher, namely Arnie Naess, in 1972. (Zimmerman, 1997). It was not he who first thought to have a drastic change in regard to a human being in nature, but it was he who first introduced this term. According to Judi Bari, “Nature does not exist to serve humans. Rather, humans are a part of nature, one species among many. All species have the right to exist for their own sake, regardless of their usefulness to humans.” (Church of deep ecology, n.d., What is deep ecology, para.2). All human beings should have a duty to serve nature and they must learn nature’s law. The life of each and every being in the world is very valuable and at the same time nature is a treasure house for all beings and because of this reason no one has the right to diminish the richness of nature. Nowadays one can see that the meddling of human beings over the non-human world has increased a lot, and this has resulted in the destruction of nature. As the world became so busy, it is the nature itself that has become the victim of this busy world as each and every individual is ill-treating the nature with their misbehavior. Deep ecology shows the idea that like every human being all other living beings should have equal rights to live in this world. If the attitude of human beings towards the nature changes, the present destructive condition of nature can be changed.
Are all humans equally responsible for environmental problems? If so, why? If not, who bears more responsibility and why?
Today, our world is facing various environmental problems like air pollution, water pollution, sound pollution, global warming, smog, ozone reduction, and so on, which may cause a great problem to the environment. These pollutions mainly occur due to the destructive nature of humans. These environmental pollutions are not only destructing our atmosphere but they cause various diseases to humans. As the population is increasing, pollution is also mounting up along with that because when the population is increasing the number of buildings will rise; so the people will cut the plants and trees; destruct the fields for building their houses which may cause soil erosion and decrease in the rain. Rapid economic development can lead to an increase in pollution because there are many factories, industries and vehicles emitting bad smoke which contaminates our air. These factories produce substances like plastic which destroy our environment.
The people throw the wastes in the river which makes the river-water polluted and various diseases are caused because the people eat the fishes of the polluted river. Finally, all these pollutions reduce the ozone layer which might produce harmful ultraviolet rays. These are radiated to the earth thereby causing skin burn, skin cancer, exhaustion etc. to human beings. Thus, we can say that humans are mainly responsible for environmental pollution. Pollution can also occur due to natural causes like floods, frequent dust, storm etc.
What are the similarities and differences between shallow and deep ecological movements?
Shallow ecological movement is more powerful ecological movement than deep ecological movement. Shallow ecological movement is mainly to destroy pollution and its main aim is to make a pollution-free environment and make the people healthy without any harmful effect. In shallow ecological movement, the main concern is to oppose the destruction of wildlife even though they will not nourish trees and plants. In their opinion, any living beings should not be killed and eaten by the human beings; instead they should be protected by humankind. Deep ecological movement gives much concern to all living beings. They think that all living beings including human and non-human beings are needed in an ecosystem. Deep ecology is of the view that the nature should be preserved and protected from destruction by human beings. The deep ecology movement argues that humans have no right to diminish the prosperity of nature except for the unavoidable needs of their life. Therefore, deep ecological movement thinks that as the human interferences in nature make the condition of nature worse, the policies of humankind should be changed. “The ideological change is mainly that of appreciating life quality (dwelling in situations of inherent value) rather than adhering to an increasingly higher standard of living. There will be a profound awareness of the difference between big and great.” (Drengson, 1999, The platform principles of the deep ecology movement, para.7).
Therefore, humans should have awareness of their deeds towards the nature.
Reference
Church of deep ecology: What is deep ecology?. (n.d.). 2009. Web.
Drengson, A. (1999). Ecophilosophy, ecosophy and the deep ecology movement: An overview: The platform principles of the deep ecology movement. Ecocentrism Homepage. 2009. Web.
Zimmerman, M E. (1997). Introduction to deep ecology. In Context: A Quarterly of Humane Sustainable Culture. 2009. Web.