Environmentalism

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Environmentalism

Environmentalism is the ethical and political perspective that places the health, harmony, and integrity of the natural environment at the center of human attention and concern. From this perspective human beings are viewed as part of nature rather than as overseers. Therefore to care for the environment is to care about human beings since we cannot live without the survival of the natural habitat .

Although there are many different views within the very broad and inclusive environmentalist perspective, several common features can be discerned. The first is environmentalism's emphasis on the interdependence of life and the conditions that make life possible. Human beings, like other animals, need clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, and nutritious food to eat. Without these necessities, life would be impossible. Environmentalism views these conditions as being both basic and interconnected. For example, fish contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB), mercury , and other toxic substances are not only hazardous to humans but to bears, eagles, gulls, and other predators. Likewise, mighty whales depend on tiny plankton , cows on corn, koala bears on eucalyptus leaves, bees on flowers, and flowers on bees and birds, and so on through all species and ecosystems. All animals, human and nonhuman alike, are interdependent participants in the cycle of birth, life, death, decay, and rebirth.

A second emphasis of environmentalism is on the sanctity of life—not only human life but all life, from the tiniest microorganism to the largest whale. Since the fate of our species is inextricably tied with theirs and since life requires certain conditions to sustain it, environmentalists contend that we have an obligation to respect and care for the conditions that nurture and sustain life in its many forms.

While environmentalists agree on some issues, there are also a number of disagreements about the purposes of environmentalism and about how to best achieve those ends. Some environmentalists emphasize the desirability of conserving natural resources for recreation , sightseeing, hunting , and other human activities, both for present and future generations . Such a utilitarian view has been sharply criticized by Arne Naess and other proponents of deep ecology who claim that the natural environment has its own intrinsic value apart from any aesthetic, recreational, or other value assigned to it by human beings. Bears, for example, have their own intrinsic value or worth, quite apart from that assigned to their existence via shadow pricing or other mechanism by bear-watchers, hunters, or other human beings.

Environmentalists also differ on how best to conserve, reserve, and protect the natural environment. Some groups, such as the Sierra Club and the Nature Conservancy , favor gradual, low-key legislative and educational efforts to inform and influence policy makers and the general public about environmental issues. Other more radical environmental groups, such as the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and Earth First! , favor carrying out direct action by employing the tactics of ecotage (ecological sabotage), or monkey-wrenching , to stop strip mining , logging , drift net fishing, and other activities that they deem dangerous to animals and ecosystems. Within this environmental spectrum are many other groups, including the World Wildlife Fund , Greenpeace , Earth Island Institute , Clean Water Action, and other organizations which use various techniques to inform, educate, and influence public opinion regarding environmental issues and to lobby policy makers.

Despite these and other differences over means and ends, environmentalists agree that the natural environment, whether valued instrumentally or intrinsically, is valuable and worth preserving for present and future generations.

[Terence Ball ]