My Environmental Worldview

A significant portion of my last week has been spent reading about different environmental worldviews, and I felt it important to determine my own. The majority of my beliefs align with the ecocentric Deep Ecology worldview, however I find the foundations of this worldview to be too philisophical or based in musings on ethics. My conclusions are based mostly on utilitarian reasons. You might call it a ecocentric worldview driven by anthropogenic goals. (If your looking for something to contrast Deep Ecology with, check out the human-centered Wise Use movement.) The process of sifting, sorting, developing, accepting, and rejecting various worldviews was difficult, and the result is most definitely a working collection of opinions. I sought to answer the following three questions:

• What is the value of life? Nature as a whole? Human life? Nonhuman life?
• How am I connected to the earth and other living things?
• What's my role and responsibility as a human being?

Here were my answers:

On the Scale of the Entire Earth
Beliefs:

1. Nature provides the resources and conditions necessary for all life.
2. These resources are limited.
3. We, humans, are a part of nature. We depend on nature for our continued existence.
4. The flourishing of all life on earth depends on the interdependence, richness, and diversity of life forms, as well as life-supporting regulatory systems.

Enacted:

• We must use resources efficiently and sustainably for ourselves and all other species, acknowledging the sun radiation as the only continually renewed resource.
• We should try to understand and work with the rest of nature to help sustain the ecological integrity, biodiversity, and adaptability of the earth's life-support systems.
• When we alter nature to meet our needs or wants, we should carefully evaluate our proposed actions and choose methods that do the least possible short and long term environmental harm.

On the Scale of Our Species
Beliefs:

1. We need the earth, but the earth does not need us.
2. We are one species among many, with equal rights to life.
3. As a member of the human species, my highest priority is our preservation.
4. As stakeholders in ecological integrity, humans should work to preserve the interdependence, richness, and diversity present in the world.
5. Only to satisfy vital needs should this preservation be sacrificed.
6. Better earth care is better self care.
   
7. Some current human behavior patters are causing damage to the world, negatively affecting the lives of both humans and nonhumans.

Enacted:

• We should work to preserve as much of the earth's raw genetic variety as possible, because it is the raw material for all future evolution and genetic engineering.
• We have a right to defend ourselves against individuals of species that do us harm and to use individuals of species to meet our vital needs, but we should strive not to cause the premature extinction of any wild species.
• The best way to protect species is to protect the places where they live and restore places we have degraded.
• It would be better for humans, and much better for nonhumans, if there were a substantial decrease in the human population.
• Western society could benefit from an ideological shift away from quantity and towards quality.
  
• No human culture should become extinct because of our actions.

On the Scale of the Individual
Beliefs:

1. Those who subscribe to these points have a responsibility to directly or indirectly attempt to implement necessary changes.
2. Our existence depends on learning to cooperate with one another and with the rest of nature.

Enacted:

• We should not inflict unnecessary suffering or pain on any animal we raise or hunt for food or use for scientific purposes.
• We should use no more of the earth's resources than we need.
• We should work with the earth to help heal ecological wounds we have inflicted

Unfortunately, much of our life, and the means on which our (my) life is supported, is determined by the system (economic, social, cultural) in which we live. The best we can do is seek to change that systems to align more closely with our own viewpoints, and from day to day engage in behaviors representative of those beliefs, no matter how minor they may seem.

We need to nurture, reassure, understand, and take care of one another. We need to have fun and take time to enjoy life. Everyday, we should laugh and enjoy wild nature, beauty, friendship, and love.