Deep Ecology for the Twenty-First Century

by SESSIONS, GEORGE

• ISBN13: 9781570620492
• ISBN10: 1570620490
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 1995-01-24
• Publisher: Shambhala

Summary

Every day, in newspapers and on television, we read and hear about the ongoing destruction of the environment: the greenhouse effect, ozone layer depletion, deforestation, and air and water pollution. Deep Ecology offers a solution to the environmental crisis through a radical shift in human consciousness-a fundamental change in the way people relate with the environment. Instead of thinking of nature as a resource to be used for human needs, Deep Ecology argues that the true value of nature is intrinsic and independent of its utility. Emerging in the 1980s as an influential philosophical, social, and political movement, Deep Ecology has shaped the environmental debate among leading activists and policymakers-from former Vice-President Al Gore to Dave Forman, cofounder of Earth First!Deep Ecology for the Twenty-First Centurycontains thirty-nine articles by the leading writers and thinkers in the filed, offering a comprehensive array of perspectives on this new approach to environmentalism, exploring: The basic philosophy of Deep Ecology. Its roots in the writings of Henry David Thoreau, John Muir and Rachel Carson. The relationship of Deep Ecology to social ecology, ecofeminism, the Greens, and New Age futurism. How Deep Ecology as a way of life is exemplified by two important environmentalists: poet Gary Snyder and Norwegian philosopher Arne Naess. The philosophical dimensions of this environmental movement by its leading theorist. The politics of ecological sustainability and the social and political implications of Deep Ecology for the next century.

Author Biography

George Sessions is chairman of the philosophy department at Sierra College in Rocklin, California. He is the coauthor of Deep Ecology: Living As If Nature Mattered and coeditor of Environmental Philosophy.

Table of Contents

Preface
The Viable Human	p. 8
Deep Ecology: A New Paradigm	p. 19
Simple in Means, Rich in Ends: An Interview with Arne Naess	p. 26
Recovery from Western Civilization	p. 37
Gary Snyder and the Practice of the Wild	p. 41
Cultured or Crabbed	p. 47
The New Conservation Movement	p. 50
Ritual - the Pattern That Connects	p. 57
The Deep Ecological Movement	p. 64
The Heart of Deep Ecology	p. 85
Environmental Consciousness in Modern Literature: Four Representative Examples	p. 104
Killing Wilderness	p. 113
Four Forms of Ecological Consciousness Reconsidered	p. 121
Ecology and Man - a Viewpoint	p. 131
Four Changes	p. 141
The Shallow and the Deep, Long-Range Ecology Movements: A Summary	p. 151
Ecocentrism and the Anthropocentric Detour	p. 156
Living in the World: Mountain Humility, Great Humility	p. 195
Deepness of Questions and the Deep Ecology Movement	p. 204
The Deep Ecology "Eight Points" Revisited	p. 213
Equality, Sameness, and Rights	p. 222
Self-realization: An Ecological Approach to Being in the World	p. 225
Ecosophy and Gestalt Ontology	p. 240
Metaphysics of the Treeline	p. 246
The Place of Joy in a World of Fact	p. 249
Deep Ecology and Lifestyle	p. 259
The Deep Ecology-Ecofeminism Debate and Its Parallels	p. 269
Deep Ecology and the New Age Movement	p. 290
Leaving the Earth: Space Colonies, Disney, and EPCOT	p. 311
"In Wildness Is the Preservation of the World"	p. 331
The Incarceration of Wildness: Wilderness Areas as Prisons	p. 339
Ecocentrism, Wilderness, and Global Ecosystem Protection	p. 356
Wildness, Wise Use, and Sustainable Development	p. 376
The Third World, Wilderness, and Deep Ecology	p. 397
The Shaky Ground of Sustainability	p. 417
Global Ecology and the Shadow of "Development"	p. 428
Politics and the Ecological Crisis: An Introductory Note	p. 445
The Rediscovery of Turtle Island	p. 454
Deep Ecology for the Twenty-second Century	p. 463
Selected Bibliography	p. 469
About the Contributors	p. 487
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