My Own Perspective on Environmental Problems

by David Orton

I believe that the fundamental environmental problems cannot be “solved”, unless we all move to an ecocentric or deep ecology world view - an Earth-centered theoretical outlook- and we have a society whose institutions and thought processes reflect this.

We need to see humanity as part of nature, that is, as part of the biological community. Injuring Nature would be seen as injuring ourselves. We must concern ourselves with the larger theoretical/philosophical issues of how to bring about such a paradigm shift. We need to move in our basic thinking from the “Taker” to the “Leaver” mentality.

The spiritual side is important. Not of course organized religion, which by giving people “souls” helped to remove them from the community of life. I believe that we have to bring back some kind of animism. Humans could then see themselves without superior status, as part of a biological and living spiritual community. Then, destroying other species and their habitats would be unthinkable from a moral or ethical viewpoint. From everything I have read animism facilitated such beliefs. It is interesting to reflect on how with computerization, human-to-human communication has expanded, yet it has also narrowed, as we have come to exclude the rest of Nature!

There is a pertinent quote from Arne Naess for an environmental problem solving class, which I like. “The strength of the deep ecology movement depends upon the willingness and ability of its supporters to force fact-dependent experts who underpin environmental decisions into discussions in terms of values and priorities.”

I would say that environmental problem solving must pay a lot of attention to a philosophical critique of the values of industrial capitalist society.

(Ecology, community and lifestyle, p.72)