Bron Taylor. Dark Green Religion: Nature Spirituality and the Planetary Future

Amazon.com: Dark Green Religion: Nature Spirituality and the Planetary Future (9780520261006): Bron Taylor: Books




Dark Green Religion: Nature Spirituality and the Planetary Future First Edition
by Bron Taylor (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars 21 customer reviews

Table of Contents

Preface 
Readers' Guide 

1. Introducing Religion and Dark Green Religion 
2. Dark Green Religion 
3. Dark Green Religion in North America 
4. Radical Environmentalism 
5. Surfing Spirituality 
6. Globalization with Predators and Moving Pictures 
7. Globalization in Arts, Sciences, and Letters 
8. Terrapolitan Earth Religion 
9 .Conclusion: Dark Green Religion and the Planetary Future 

Afterword on Terminology 
Acknowledgments 
Appendix: Excerpts with Commentary on the Writings of Henry David Thoreau 
Notes 
Bibliography 
Index

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In this innovative and deeply felt work, Bron Taylor examines the evolution of “green religions” in North America and beyond: spiritual practices that hold nature as sacred and have in many cases replaced traditional religions. Tracing a wide range of groups―radical environmental activists, lifestyle-focused bioregionalists, surfers, new-agers involved in “ecopsychology,” and groups that hold scientific narratives as sacred―Taylor addresses a central theoretical question: 

How can environmentally oriented, spiritually motivated individuals and movements be understood as religious when many of them reject religious and supernatural worldviews? 

The “dark” of the title further expands this idea by emphasizing the depth of believers' passion and also suggesting a potential shadow side: besides uplifting and inspiring, such religion might mislead, deceive, or in some cases precipitate violence. This book provides a fascinating global tour of the green religious phenomenon, enabling readers to evaluate its worldwide emergence and to assess its role in a critically important religious revolution.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

“This ambitious work seeks to set forth a new religious tradition characterized by its central concern for the fate of the planet.”(Nova Religio: The Journal Of Alternative & Emergent Religions 2011-05-04)


“Dark Green Religion is intelligent, well-written, and very much worth reading.”(Worldviews 2011-05-04)


“Names levels of spirituality that are often unacknowledged, unattended to, or rejected, and demonstrates how a new global spirituality (DGR) is becoming a force for positive change on our planet.”(Isle: Interdis Stds In Lit & Environ 2012-01-30)


“Taylor aims to illustrate the existence of an ideological current in contemporary North American society that has nature as its focus, and to argue that this is socially and politically significant.”(Emma Tomalin Environment & History 2011-11-01)


“Recommended.”(Choice 2010-05-01)


"Taylor examines the evolution of 'green religions' in North America, that is, spiritual practices that hold nature as sacred and have in many cases replaced traditional religions."(Leslie Lewis The Compendium Newsletter 2015-07-01)


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“A love of green may be a human universal. Deepening the palette of green scholarship, Bron Taylor proves remarkably to be both an encyclopedist and a visionary.”―Jonathan Benthall, author of Returning to Religion: Why a Secular Age is Haunted by Faith

"This important book provides insight into how a profound sense of relation to nature offers many in the modern world a vehicle for attaining a spiritual wholeness akin to what has been historically associated with established religion. In this sense, Dark Green Religion offers both understanding and hope for a world struggling for meaning and purpose beyond the isolation of the material here and now."―Stephen Kellert, Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies

"In this thought-provoking volume, Bron Taylor explores the seemingly boundless efforts by human beings to understand the nature of life and our place in the universe. Examining in depth the ways in which influential philosophers and naturalists have viewed this relationship, Taylor contributes to the further development of thought in this critically important area, where our depth of understanding will play a critical role in our survival."―Peter H. Raven, President, Missouri Botanical Garden

"Carefully researched, strongly argued, originally conceived, and very well executed, this book is a vital contribution on a subject of immense religious, political, and environmental importance. It's also a great read."―Roger S. Gottlieb, author of A Greener Faith: Religious Environmentalism and our Planet's Future

"A fascinating analysis of our emotional and spiritual relationship to nature. Whether you call it dark green religion or something else, Bron Taylor takes us through our spiritual relationship with our planet, its ecosystems and evolution, in an enlightened and completely undogmatic manner."―Dr. Claude Martin, Former Director General, World Wildlife Fund

"An excellent collection of guideposts for perplexed students and scholars about the relationships of nature religions, spirituality, animism, pantheism, deep ecology, Gaia, and land ethics―and for the environmentalist seeking to make the world a better place through green religion as a social force."―Fikret Berkes, author of Sacred Ecology: Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Resource Management

"Dark Green Religion shows conclusively how nature has inspired a growing religious movement on the planet, contesting the long reign of many older faiths. Taylor expertly guides us through an astonishing array of thinkers, past and present, who have embraced, in part or whole, the new religion. I was thoroughly convinced that this movement has indeed become a major force on Earth, with great potential consequences for our environmental ethics."―Donald Worster, University of Kansas

"In this exceptionally interesting and informative book, Bron Taylor has harvested the fruits of years of pioneering research in what amounts to a new field in religious studies: the study of how religious/spiritual themes show up in the work of people concerned about nature in many diverse ways. Taylor persuasively argues that appreciation of nature's sacred or spiritual dimension both informs and motivates the work of individuals ranging from radical environmentalists and surfers, to eco-tourism leaders and museum curators. I highly recommend this book for everyone interested learning more about the surprising extent to which religious/spiritual influences many of those who work to protect, to exhibit, or to represent the natural world."―Michael E. Zimmerman, Director, Center for Humanities and the Arts, University of Colorado at Boulder


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Product details

Paperback: 360 pages
Publisher: University of California Press; First edition (October 26, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0520261003
ISBN-13: 978-0520261006
Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.8 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars 21 customer reviews
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Biography
Overview

Trained in ethics, religious studies, and social scientific approaches to understanding human culture, Bron Taylor's scholarly work engages the quest for environmentally sustainable societies. Appearing in articles, books, and a multi-volume encyclopedia, he examines a wide range of phenomena, especially grassroots environmental movements and organizations, and international institutions, with special attention to their moral and religious dimensions. An academic entrepreneur and program builder, he led the initiative to create an academic major in the Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, later initiated and was elected the first president of the International Society for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture, while also founding its affiliated journal. Recruited to fill the Samuel S. Hill Ethics Chair at the University of Florida and appointed in 2002, he played a leading role in constructing the world's first Ph.D. program with an emphasis in Religion and Nature. Most recently, he has been involved in an international think tank exploring ways to more effectively promote an environmentally sustainable future, and has published articles on surfing (oceanic not websites) as "aquatic nature religion." His most recent book is mysteriously titled Dark Green Religion: Nature Religion and the Planetary Future.

Personal Biographical Statement

Because our values are embedded in our own stories and these in turn grow from the broader narratives of our cultures, here is a brief personal biography, offered in the hopes that it will help those reading my published work to better understand and evaluate it.

Born and raised in Southern California, my earliest memories include being unable to bicycle home from a swimming pool because of air pollution-induced "lung burn," and the outrage I felt at the bulldozing for new homes of my childhood woodland playground near Los Angeles. Moving to the coast on my 13th birthday, I found cleaner air and discovered a love for the ocean. I studied at Ventura High School and Community College, and finished an undergraduate education at California State University, Chico, earning degrees in Religious Studies and Psychology.

My enduring interest in radical religions, as well as in environmental ethics, politics, and related policy issues (such as those related to biological and cultural diversity) was spawned during an undergraduate course on Latin American Liberation Theology. This course examined the religious ideas, social analyses, and political impacts of such movements. Through this course I began to understand the many connections between the violation of human rights and environmental degradation.

To pursue these issues I entered Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, focusing my studies on Liberation Theology and religious ethics, while serving as the Chair of its student-led Human Concerns Committee. Fueled by youthful idealism we campaigned for social justice, promoted divestment in South Africa, fought U.S. military involvement in Latin America, and sought to eradicate nuclear weapons. A prominent Rector and Rabbi, consequently, asked me to serve as the initial director of the Interfaith Center to Reverse the Arms Race. I agreed, and afterward, enrolled at the University of Southern California, eventually earning a Ph.D. in Religion and Social Ethics.

Throughout my undergraduate and graduate years, I served as an Ocean Lifeguard (and eventually also as a Peace Officer), with the California State Department of Parks and Recreation. Working summers and most weekends along the Southern California Coast throughout the year, I learned a lot about about urban violence, human stupidity and courage, as well as public lands resource conflicts. I saw the California Brown Pelican disappear from the coast due to DDT poisoning, but then return a number of years later, when their numbers boomeranged after the pesticide was banned. All these experiences intensified my desire to bring ethical reflection down from the ivory tower into the morally muddy landscape of everyday life.

About the time I was finishing my dissertation exploring empirically the impacts of affirmative action policies on ordinary people, and using my own empirical data as grist for ethical reflection on these policies, I noticed that environmentalists had begun to deploy sabotage in their efforts to arrest environmental decline. I soon surmised that, like the liberation movements I had studied, the emerging, 'radical environmental' groups were animated by religious perceptions and ideals. Intrigued, I left for the woods to learn more. This turned into a long-term research trajectory exploring the many dimensions of and forms of contemporary grassroots environmentalism, especially the most radical ones.

This research drew me increasingly to the environmental sciences, in part as a means to evaluate the often apocalyptic environmental claims the activists I had encountered were making. I became increasingly convinced about the importance of a truly interdisciplinary Environmental Studies, if Homo sapiens were to grapple toward environmentally sustainable lifeways. Consequently, I led a faculty initiative to create such a program at the University of Wisconsin, where I took a teaching position in 1989.

In the last several years my research into the religious dimensions of contemporary environmentalism broadened yet again into an interest in the role of religion in all nature-human relationships. Thus, it drew me to the emerging field known as Religion and Ecology and to my editorship of the (now award winning) Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature,(2005) which has helped provide me with the background needed to develop a graduate program to explore these themes.

I am now editing the Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture and was the founding President of the International Society for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture, both of which endeavor to explore the religion/nature/culture nexus, and which can be found at www.religionandnature.com. See www.brontaylor.com for further information pertinent to my research, teaching, and activist interests.

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Ron Arnold
5.0 out of 5 starsThe best guide to a serious movement against industrial civilizationFebruary 6, 2013
Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

In Dark Green Religion, Bron Taylor has given us a well-conceived, highly detailed, and profoundly grounded portrait of a global movement to save nature. No other writer comes within light years of Taylor's personal experience with the environmental movement's most radical elements or can claim a more even-handed analysis of the spiritual meaning of the still-evolving movement now struggling to find salvation for our planet in religious terms. His long career as a university professor of religion tempers what could easily have become an insignificant rant but emerges as a deeply felt and vivid exploration of the "nature spirituality" in the book's subtitle.
Readers will admire the care Taylor gives to explaining why he considers the growing social and political spiritual/environmental movement to be a religion (or religious) and how important it is to see it in the religious terms in which its adherents see it. Readers will also thank Taylor for his intellectual honesty in choosing "Dark" as the first word in the title, meaning both the darker, deeper shade of green in nature spirituality and the sense of planetary emergency that could drive adherents to global violence. This book takes on some very tough questions that we all need to think about.
Critics will disagree with Taylor's views on the intrinsic value of nature that he champions, citing the intrinsic value of humans that he seems to scant. I have known Taylor enough years to advise them not to underestimate his human compassion.
Even though I disagree with a number of Taylor's views and conclusions about industrial civilization - as I am sure some readers will also - I respect his judgment sufficiently to ask his critique of points in my own writings before I send them to my editor. He has been a good friend to me, and I am reasonably sure that most readers will feel the same about him after reading this magisterial work, which is a virtual Guide for the Perplexed in the 21st Century..
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Ms. A. Ormsby
5.0 out of 5 starsDark Green ReligionsMarch 12, 2011
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I am so glad Dr. Taylor wrote this book and firmly named the concept of "Dark Green Religion." I'm glad he defined and delimited its boundaries, but left passageways to other green spiritualities - notably gardening and birdwatching, two of the closest ways, I think, a person can get to 'nature'; and above all, I am glad he gave our vague feelings of 'caring more for the earth than being traditionally religious' a name, a heritage, an academic rigor with a vast bibliography, and a path to the future, cleared of dead ends, such as New Age spirituality (which was no longer working for me) consisting only of altars, candles, incense and chants, lovely though they are. The other dead end I am glad he especially clouted was 'greening Christianity'. The more I study Christianity, especially the virulent fundamentalist evangelism so prevalent today and so opposed to environmentalism, the more I know Christianity is an opponent, not something to 'make nice with'. Dr. Taylor gives us a coherent foundational history, which I had only known as scattered actions, such as tree sitting escapades, and towering personages, such as John Muir, so lofty and inspired as to be intimidating, but now I know him and the other pioneers as family. I am more firmly on the "Dark Green Path", and am henceforth fiercely inspired and spiritually armed to help fight environmentalism's battles for the rest of my life.

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Ryan Croken
5.0 out of 5 starsTaylor has created a new and necessary languageApril 17, 2010
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This is truly a remarkable work that has connected many isolated dots that have long belonged together. At first glance, Edmund Burke, radical "eco-terrorists," the Little Mermaid, surfers, Alice Walker, Spinoza and Al Gore might seem to have little in common, but Taylor brings these and many other influential persons, places and things together into a loose but convicted community of phenomena that all share a common belief: the notion that nature has intrinsic value and is worthy of reverent care. "Dark green religion" may be a new phrase, but Taylor shows that it is an ancient force that has been rumbling in the depths of human consciousness for centuries. Now, in 2010, in the context of our growing incredulity regarding revealed religions and our increasing anxieties over the ecological crisis that confronts us, the elements that comprise dark green religion just might be poised to make their way to the forefront.

In his work, Taylor serves as an erudite and impassioned tour guide of the "deep roots and modern expressions" of this hitherto unnamed religion, providing, along with his powerful yet undogmatic analysis, an instructive compendium of ideas and actions that cogently legitimize dark green religion as a concept with significant explanatory power. Through this book we hear of 18th-century philosophers expressing sensations of oceanic unity, modern-day mainstream scientists reflecting upon the "being-ness" of trees, surfers earnestly scrambling to find words to explain the satori that occurs inside the tube of a wave, and Disney's Pocahontas imploring Western colonialists to stop and "ask the grinning bobcat why he grins." It is precisely this diversity of thinkers coupled with the synchronicity of their thoughts that makes Taylor's thesis so compelling. While some may feel that the Earth is sentient and/or animals have souls, and others might take a more naturalistic approach, most all of the "practitioners" of dark green religion share a sense of felt kinship with nonhuman life and a sense of wonder at the structure and flow of the interconnected Earth and cosmos. This religious, or "para-religious," cosmological outlook occasions an ecological conscience that sensitizes humans to the condition of the planet with a depth of feeling that secular, humanistic concerns of sustainability might have a hard time matching. Many of the excerpted passages from Taylor's book are not only extremely convincing, but also extremely moving. If you are at all receptive to these sorts of sentiments, you might find Dark Green Religion to be a source not only of information, but also inspiration.

On a personal level, for most of my life I have found myself violently vacillating between a soothing belief in a supernatural power and a sort of dreary conviction that there is nothing "more" to the universe than the atheism that meets the human eye. Taylor's work implicitly addresses this existential quandary and posits a resolution to it by reconceptualizing the definition of religion, releasing it from a requisite belief in a transcendent sky god, effectively endowing people with the "right" to feel religious even if the lack of scientific support for traditional religions alienates them from what they might sense to be "sacred" in the natural order. In this manner, Taylor enacts an empowering, redemptive paradigm shift, one that enables people to worship the creation even if they're not sure about the existence of a creator. After reading this book, I have looked at the world through slightly more enchanted eyes, as I now find cosmogonic merit in reading "the odyssey of evolution," for example, as a sacred text, and contemplating the simple fact of existence as a miracle comparable to anything that any saint may or may not have done.

This does not, however, mean that there is no place for the supernaturalistic in the scattered yet inclusive church of dark green religion. On the contrary, the book is replete with examples of people who believe that Mother Earth is a conscious entity and/or feel that tactile or telepathic communication between humans and non-humans are spiritual possibilities. Taylor brings to light the ways in which these forms of "spiritual animism" and "Gaian spirituality" (he shies away from such terms as "paganism" and "panentheism" because of the baggage they carry), have manifested themselves throughout history, and muses on the role that such beliefs may play in "the planetary future."

There does seem to be a bit of tension between what Taylor calls dark green religion and the Abrahamic religious traditions. Many -- if not most -- of the scholars, scientists, surfers and activists that Taylor references express a potent condemnation of the overall effects that the Abrahamic religions have had on the planet and its human and non-human inhabitants, criticizing these faiths for their hubristic anthropocentrism, which allegedly led to the domination and desecration of entire continents and the brutal persecution of indigenous peoples who live(d) in a more ecologically sustainable manner. Taylor notes that these Abrahamic religions have experienced a kind of "greening" in the past few decades in response to such criticisms, but he appears to be skeptical that these established traditions can, on balance, ultimately play a constructive role in the protection and restoration of the environment. While this is not the main focus of Taylor's book, it is important to open this subject to debate. Many environmental observers feel that the human species will not be inspired enough to save the planet unless they consider it to be sacred, in one way or another, to the degree that its ruin would be regarded not only as a physical, but also a spiritual tragedy.

In sum, this is a groundbreaking work that comes to us at a crucial moment. By the time you come to the end of this book, you feel as if "the planetary future" is just about to begin, and its outcome is in many ways up for grabs. If you have any interest in how this larger story will unfold, Taylor's book is a must read.
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Dark Green Religion: Nature Spirituality and the Planetary Future

by
Bron Taylor
3.89 · Rating details · 94 ratings · 15 reviews
In this innovative and deeply felt work, Bron Taylor examines the evolution of “green religions” in North America and beyond: spiritual practices that hold nature as sacred and have in many cases replaced traditional religions. Tracing a wide range of groups—radical environmental activists, lifestyle-focused bioregionalists, surfers, new-agers involved in “ecopsychology,” and groups that hold scientific narratives as sacred—Taylor addresses a central theoretical question: How can environmentally oriented, spiritually motivated individuals and movements be understood as religious when many of them reject religious and supernatural worldviews? 

The “dark” of the title further expands this idea by emphasizing the depth of believers' passion and also suggesting a potential shadow side: besides uplifting and inspiring, such religion might mislead, deceive, or in some cases precipitate violence. This book provides a fascinating global tour of the green religious phenomenon, enabling readers to evaluate its worldwide emergence and to assess its role in a critically important religious revolution. (less)


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Jun 24, 2010  Bart Everson rated it it was amazing
Here's a rarity — an academic book that is also a page-turner, at least for me. I couldn't put it down. This is a broad survey of an emergent global phenomenon which might be called earth worship or nature spirituality or "dark green religion." Bron Taylor defines religion broadly and looks a range of cultures and subcultures, from radical environmentalism to surfing to Disney films and many more. I was a bit disappointed that contemporary Paganism got such scant coverage — only about two and a half pages plus some scattered references. Perhaps that's because Taylor seems preoccupied with folks who don't explicitly consider themselves to be practicing "religion" in the most familiar sense of the word. The term "dark" in the title is supposed to connote a sense of potential peril, but according to the author that mostly seems to be in the eyes of Abrahamic practitioners. He hints early in the book that he might examine the potential dangers of ecofascism, but this is never really explored in depth. I suspect there may be a resonance between racism and "dark green religion," especially in Europe, that bears a closer look. But I quibble. This is a good one which I recommend to anyone interested in ecology or religion. (less)
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Jun 15, 2015Jan rated it did not like it
Shelves: audiobook-blast, chekijian
Clearly aimed at the scholarly upper echelon, this work seems to find it's goal attainable by repeating Dark Green Religion several times per paragraph, introducing arcane terminology, and beating the reader over the head with it before moving on to the next OED term. I found the presentation annoying and condescending with an end result of obfuscation rather than clarity.
Kudos to the narrator for laboring to attempt to make this palatable.
I am thankful that I did not have to pay for this item
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Jun 17, 2018Steph Mecham rated it it was amazing
Shelves: favorites
THIS BOOK. IS SO GOOD. Honestly articulated and strengthened my belief system and values in a way never accomplished by any other singular work, except possibly Ishmael by Daniel Quinn (which as it happens is quoted several times in this book). Beautiful!
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Nov 01, 2015Tommy /|\ rated it really liked it
An interesting read on looking at our planet and environment in terms of ecological awareness. Perhaps the only qualm I have with this book is that it is written from a rather academic perspective, making much of the terminology a bit inaccessible for the average reader. But the topic, on the other hand, is on target and on-point. In changing the mindset of people throughout the entire planet towards one of conserving what we have, preserving it for the future sustainability of life on this planet - the language used within is sometimes blunt and to the point, but very necessary, in my opinion. 

Dark Green Religion is embodied in a single quote that Taylor borrows from David Suzuki: "Go out into nature....Feel the rain and wind on your face, smell the fragrance of the soil and ocean, gaze at the spectacle of the myriad of stars in clear air or countless animals making their annual migration. Doing so will rekindle that sense of wonder and excitement we all had as children discovering the world and will engender a feeling of peace and harmony at being in balance with the natural world that is our home. Nature is not our enemy, it is our home; in fact, it sustains us and is in every one of us. All living things are our relatives and belong with us in the biosphere."

One of the more endearing moments in the book, was where I stumbled upon a lovely discussion of Disney's Animal Kingdom, particularly the discussion on the gigantic sculpture that dominates this part of the Disney Park system in Florida: The Tree of Life. I was there just two years ago, and found my time in this part of the Disney theme parks to be one of the most enjoyable days of my entire vacation. A secondary discussion concerning Captain Planet and the Planeteers was a small moment of reconnecting with a part of my childhood that I remember being influential on the Pagan practices I have today.

There is a lot more information to take in - from those that pioneered the movement that Taylor describes to even more radical elements. All of these help to define parts of what Taylor calls "Dark Green Religion"...and which is parsed into separate descriptives as well. All in all, its an interesting several steps into an area where environmentalism, ecology, and spirituality all intersect.
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Aug 08, 2012Michael Pauldine rated it it was amazing
Recommends it for: everyone
I will have to read this comprehensive and scholarly book again. It has caused me to contemplate some complex paradoxes regarding certain sports I love and their affect on the environment. The ecological impact and carbon footprint left by so many of my beloved sports is immense and disturbing. Bron Taylor examines the evolution of Green Religion in America along with our spiritual connection to nature as sacred and fundamental to our collective evolution. We all love the outdoors and joy of experiencing play and sport in nature. I am now motivated to become more involved in environmental activism. I have a deep love for the mountains and the numerous activities available to residents. I want to play and fill my spirit with the sacred Flow experience of sport and play in the wilderness. If I want to enjoy these experiences I must step up my stewardship and responsibility for preservation of those balanced ecosystems. Certain thrills and adrenaline rides that have inspired my way of life will need to be reevaluated. I would like to think I am adopting a more minimalist lifestyle. I must find my Flow States in more harmony with ecology and my spiritual connection to Nature. After watching this program I am planning an early 2013 fall camping trip to Yosemite. Off Season ~ 10 full days of absorbing the healing and generative powers of this majestic monastery. I want to feel a shred of the great Mystery that John Muir experienced their.http://www.pbs.org/nationalparks/ (less)
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Jun 20, 2015Terri rated it it was amazing
I received this audio book as a gift for the purpose of me listening to it an writing a honest and unbiased review.

This subject is both interesting &and informative. This author discusses many different forms of religion , both past and present, many of which I never even knew existed. Religions such as Green Religion and Dark Green Religion and so on. How nature relates with these religions and who has done these religions past and present. Also how these religions fit in with past, present and future of our planet and what these religions do for our planet.

The author, Bron Taylor does a good job of explaining things. He ventures into many different areas, all of which are new to me. I am not a religious person, yet I found it fascinating that there are so many religions out there. The narrator, Jack Chekijian, does a really good job delivering all this information. He reminds me of the narration on the Discovery Channel. I finished this book yesterday, but just now getting around to writing my review. (less)
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Dec 08, 2011Mary Kay rated it liked it
Am not so sure that he makes a convincing case for biophilia as religion and most definitely he does not justify the "darkness" in his nomenclature but his historical survey of the development of environmentalism from the perspective of its spiritual dimensions is a great review of developments. And I applaud his effort at constructing an essay on the spirituality of surfing. Again, I did not get the sense that it is definitive but this chapter alone should make the book useful in coastal academic libraries where, in my experience, students do want to explore this topic. The book's references and bibliography are very comprehensive and will serve future investigators well as a goldmine for more work in this interesting subject area. PS I am no expert opinion, just an interested reader who thinks the attempt to tie all this material together is fascinating and the book rewarding. (less)
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Jan 13, 2016Jeffrey Keefer rated it it was amazing
Scholarly approach to nature-focused groups in the US, including those that are involved in structured eco-action-oriented groups. These are not the ones that immediately come to mind, such as druidry, heathenism, or the like, and in seeing some of these trends with various thinkers and authors whose works were quoted, I feel my horizon in this area is now broader. In many ways this text explored nature groups whose members have a political and social action perspective, and in doing so I found some of my own beliefs questioned and challenged. The author took a scholarly approach, and did NOT advocate on behalf of these groups, rather explaining their origins and directions. Overall, I recommend this book for those who want to read and learn more. (less)
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Aug 13, 2014Jan rated it really liked it
Taylor's book is a scholarly investigation in the rise of nature spirituality and its impact on the world, ranging from environmental activists to participants in UN summits. The author outlines the emergence of this spontaneous phenomenon which at times is hard to disentangle and to identify, though he is attentive to the vocabulary of the movement inherent to many speeches, novels, films, media campaigns and more. As a pantheist I approached this book with different expectations; however, it reassured me on the enduring influence that Earth-centred spirituality can have on the course of human history. (less)
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Apr 19, 2015Jim Rossi rated it it was amazing
Terrific, surprisingly relevant book with an engaging tone that I use as a source in my upcoming book "Solar's Crucible: Vegas, Fraud & the Story of Energy." Environmentalism may in fact be a religion, Bron Taylor argues, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. Dominion vs. stewardship in science AND religion, materialism vs. spirituality... These are urgent questions, especially with all the Big Data arguments about assumptions, variables... Values help determine those. If you're interested in better understanding climate change, renewable energy, population, and sustainability that's more about synthesis and understanding,less about polarization and polemics, give "DGR" a read. (less)
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May 17, 2010Mark rated it really liked it
Something of a consensus has been developing world-wide that the natural world has vast intrinsic value that can best described by saying it is sacred, and many people, when they encounter the natural world in the raw, have powerful feelings that can described as ‘rellgous’ in a broad sense. Taylor’s work is a survey of the diverse forms in which these feeling of awe or reverence have begun to manifest themselves in the contemporary world, from the scientific community to, neopagans, ecofeminists, and even the surfing community. (less)
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Dec 06, 2015Deedra rated it liked it
This was a very long book that basically breaks down to...every culture has religion that is earth based.Due to the American Indian tribes being so hard to break into and learn their teachings,Mr Taylor went to learn Asian cultures and their earth based /body based attitudes and religions.Jack Cheikijan does a fine job narrating,but I found the repetition and long winded explainations tedious and boring.
"This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of Audiobook Blast." (less)
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Aug 25, 2011Bron rated it it was amazing
Shelves: environmentalism, nature-spirituality
Well, I'm biased, of course, but don't take my word for it being worth the read, see the supplemental materials, including all the published reviews (including about my other books), at my website: brontaylor.com
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Dec 21, 2016Mandi rated it did not like it
Shelves: spiritual
Zero Stars. NEW AGE GARBAGE. I PRAY YOU FIND JESUS <3

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Deep ecology is an ecological and environmental philosophy promoting the inherent worth of living beings regardless of their instrumental utility to human needs, plus a restructuring of modern human societies in accordance with such ideas.

Deep ecology argues that the natural world is a subtle balance of complex inter-relationships in which the existence of organisms is dependent on the existence of others within ecosystems.[1]Human interference with or destruction of the natural world poses a threat therefore not only to humans but to all organisms constituting the natural order.

Deep ecology's core principle is the belief that the living environment as a whole should be respected and regarded as having certain inalienable legal rightsto live and flourish, independent of its instrumental benefits for human use. Deep ecology is often framed in terms of the idea of a much broader sociality; it recognizes diverse communities of life on Earth that are composed not only through biotic factors but also, where applicable, through ethical relations, that is, the valuing of other beings as more than just resources. It describes itself as "deep" because it regards itself as looking more deeply into the actual reality of humanity's relationship with the natural world arriving at philosophically more profound conclusions than that of the prevailing view of ecology as a branch of biology.[2] The movement does not subscribe to anthropocentricenvironmentalism (which is concerned with conservation of the environment only for exploitation by and for human purposes) since deep ecology is grounded in a quite different set of philosophical assumptions. Deep ecology takes a more holistic view of the world human beings live in and seeks to apply to life the understanding that the separate parts of the ecosystem (including humans) function as a whole. This philosophy provides a foundation for the environmental, ecology, and green movements and has fostered a new system of environmental ethics advocating wilderness preservation, human population control, and simple living.[3]


Contents
1Origins
2Principles
3Development
4Environmental education

5Sources
5.1Scientific
5.2Spiritual
5.3Philosophical roots
5.3.1Spinoza

6Criticism, debate, and response
6.1Knowledge of non-human interests
6.2"Deepness"
6.3Bookchin's criticisms
6.4Botkin's criticism
6.5Response

7Links with other philosophies
8Early influences
9Notable advocates of deep ecology
10Relevant journals
11See also
12References
13Bibliography
14Further reading
Origins[edit]

In his original 1972/73 deep ecology paper, Arne Næss claims the deep ecology movement arose from scientists – ecologists – who were out in the field studying the biodiversity and wild ecosystems throughout the world. They were also doing the work of philosophers, laying the foundations for the Age of Ecology and a new ecological worldview to replace the anthropocentric, mastery of Nature, and modernist worldview arising in the 17th and 18th centuries. Three of the most influential ecological spokespersons of the 1960s were Rachel Carson, David Brower, and Paul R. Ehrlich.[4] Some consider the publication of Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring (1962) as the beginning of the contemporary, long-range deep ecology movement. When her book appeared there was a long-standing movement for conservation of land and resources, as well as support for creating parks and other areas devoted to preserving wilderness and spectacular nature. 

Carson's writings were especially influential because they clearly showed how human well-being depends on the condition of whole biotic communities. She explained in practical terms how living beings are interrelated within ecosystems. She explained how pesticides used to control mosquitoes and other insects led to declines in some bird populations. Silent Spring helped show how complex food webs and networks of biotic relationships function. Since humans are at the top of many food chains, exposure to chemicals becomes more concentrated as these move up the chains. The chemicals also can be stored in human tissues and gradually accumulate over time, adversely affecting health. Carson showed the need for deep changes in human practices and ways of living.

The 1960s was a decade of vigorous social activism in the United States, Canada, Western Europe, and Australia. Some activism focused on war and peace and the issue of nuclear weapons. A well-known early environmental organization started with a focus on nuclear tests and their environmental hazards. Some people in British Columbia, Canada, were opposed to the test of a nuclear weapon by the US government on Amchitka Island. They hired a fishing vessel and sailed towards the nuclear test site in protest. This action led to the founding of Greenpeace, which became more identified with environmental issues as time went by. These great movements were further catalyzed by the now iconic images of the whole Earth floating in space taken during the return of the Apollo space missions from their journey to the moon. Among the astronauts that witnessed seeing the whole Earth firsthand was Edgar D. Mitchell, who in 1971, during the return mission of Apollo 14, had an epiphany that what is needed to solve the eco-crisis "is a transformation of consciousness".[5]

Principles[edit]

Proponents of deep ecology believe that the world does not exist as a resource to be freely exploited by humans. If material goods do not guarantee happiness beyond a very moderate level, and over-consumption is endangering the biosphere, defining a new non-consumptive paradigm of well-being seems primordial, such a paradigm would be non-acquisitive/non-consumerist and non-hierarchical in relation to our place on Earth.[6] The ethics of deep ecology hold that the survival of any part is dependent upon the well-being of the whole. Proponents of deep ecology offer an eight-tier platform to elucidate their claims:

The well-being and flourishing of human and nonhuman life on Earth have value in themselves. These values are independent of the usefulness of the nonhuman world for human purposes.
Richness and diversity of life forms contribute to the realization of these values and are also values in themselves
Humans have no right to reduce this richness and diversity except to satisfy vital human needs
The flourishing of human life and cultures is compatible with a substantial decrease of the human population. The flourishing of nonhuman life requires such a decrease.

Present human interference with the nonhuman world is excessive, and the situation is rapidly worsening
Policies must therefore be changed. These policies affect basic economic, technological, and ideological structures. The resulting state of affairs will be deeply different from the present.

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.
Those who subscribe to the foregoing points have an obligation directly or indirectly to try to implement the necessary changes.
— Deep Ecology[7]

These principles can be reduced to three simple propositions:
Wilderness and biodiversity preservation
Human population control
Simple living (or treading lightly on the planet).[3]

Development[edit]

The phrase "deep ecology" was coined by the Norwegian philosopher Arne Næss in 1973.[8] Næss rejected the idea that beings can be ranked according to their relative value. For example, judgments on whether an animal has an eternal soul, whether it uses reason or whether it has consciousness (or indeed higher consciousness) have all been used to justify the ranking of the human animal as superior to other animals. Næss states that from an ecological point of view "the right of all forms [of life] to live is a universal right which cannot be quantified. No single species of living being has more of this particular right to live and unfold than any other species."[citation needed]

This metaphysical idea is elucidated in Warwick Fox's claim that humanity and all other beings are "aspects of a single unfolding reality".[9] As such deep ecology would support the view of Aldo Leopold in his book A Sand County Almanac that humans are "plain members of the biotic community". They also would support Leopold's land ethic: "a thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise." Daniel Quinn, in his novel Ishmael, showed that an anthropocentric myth underlies our current view of the world.[10]

The ecological problems faced by the world today are partly due to the loss of traditional knowledge, values, and ethics of behavior that celebrate the intrinsic value and sacredness of the natural world and that give the preservation of Nature prime importance. Correspondingly, the assumption of human superiority to other life forms, as if we were granted royalty status over Nature - the idea that Nature is mainly here to serve human will and purpose - receives a radical critique in deep ecology.[5] Deep ecology developed a response to the anthropocentric view and several different actors played an important historical role in its development. Prominent among them was Joseph W. Meeker, who in 1973 told George Sessions about Arne Næss, whom Meeker knew personally.[11] As Warwick Fox related, "One of the things that initially interested Sessions about Næss was Næss's strong interest in, and innovative approach to, the work of Spinoza. Sessions says that he had himself 'arrived at Spinoza as the answer to the process of teaching history of philosophy by about 1972 and independently of being in contact with Næss.'"[citation needed] Sessions therefore wrote to Næss at this time, beginning a lifelong association. Meeker's (1972, 1997) book The Comedy of Survival: Studies in Literary Ecology emerged through the work of scholars seeking an environmental ethic. That book represents Meeker's founding work in literary ecology and ecocriticism, which demonstrates the relationship between the literary arts and scientific ecology, especially humankind's consideration of comedy and tragedy. It reminds readers that adaptive behaviors (comedy) promote survival, whereas tragedy estranges from other life forms. This thesis rests on Meeker's study of comparative literature, his work with biologist Konrad Lorenz, and his work as a field ecologist in the National Park service in Alaska, Oregon, and California.[5]

Deep ecology offers a philosophical basis for environmental advocacy which may, in turn, guide human activity against perceived self-destruction. Deep ecology and environmentalism hold that the science of ecology shows that ecosystems can absorb only limited change by humans or other dissonant influences. Further, both hold that the actions of modern civilization threaten global ecological well-being. Ecologists have described change and stability in ecological systems in various ways, including homeostasis, dynamic equilibrium, and "flux of nature".[12] Regardless of which model is most accurate, environmentalists[citation needed] contend that massive human economic activity has pushed the biosphere far from its "natural" state through reduction of biodiversity, climate change, and other influences. As a consequence, civilization is causing mass extinction at a rate between 100 species a day and possibly 140,000 species a year, which is 10,000 times the background rate of extinction. Deep ecologists hope to influence social and political change through their philosophy. Næss has proposed, as Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke writes, "that the earth’s human population should be reduced to about 100 million."[13]

Environmental education[edit]

Ecology in the narrow sense refers to the biological science of ecology. However, ecological paradigms and principles are being developed and applied in almost all disciplines, and these paradigms have to do with the way we approach understanding the relationships and inter-connections within and between living beings which give to each its special place and identity. Human ecology, e.g., must certainly take account of the role of our subjective lives and spiritual needs, as well as our biological ones, in terms of their ecological effects. Ecology in this sense is not a reductionist undertaking, but a movement toward a more whole (or holistic) vision and understanding of world processes.[2] Deep ecology seeks to look into all levels of existence and might be viewed as radical by some; for them a more anthropocentric view is appropriate because it put humans at the center. Learning how to live in harmony with our surroundings is beneficial because stopping the global extinction crisis and achieving true ecological sustainability will require rethinking our values as a society. In that way education seems to be the best way to start. Sustainability education aims to help learners understand their interconnectedness with all life, to become creative problem solvers and active citizens, and to engage personally and intellectually in shaping our common future. Experiential learning and critical pedagogy are central to providing opportunities for learners to engage in transformative sustainability learning. The “Environment” broadly defined, remains somewhat neglected within development studies, despite a substantial increase in contributions to the field over the fifteen years since 2000. Undergraduate and postgraduate courses (with some notable exceptions) often “add on” environmental issues as special lectures or modules, and there remains a tendency for those who are grounded in the material and discursive struggles that define the discipline to consider the environment as an exotic special interest, a problem that manifests itself in societies that have the leisure to care about the natural world. Development of a modern education model promoting patriotism and civic responsibility, active social position and healthy lifestyle is closely linked to the development of environmental responsibility in the younger generation. Development of environmentally responsible personality in individual is of particular importance for graduates of educational institutions. Environmental education could be integrated in different curriculum in most fields: education for sustainable development in the context of ecopedagogy.

Ecopedagogy calls for the remaking of capitalist practices and seeks to re-engage democracy to include multispecies interests in the face of our current global ecological crisis. It does so by using different ideas that challenge the way we see education. In Critical Pedagogy, Ecoliteracy and Planetary Crisis: The Ecopedagogy Movement, Richard Kahn (2010) reformulates Herbert Marcuse’s critical theories of society, and supports the kind of education that seizes the power of radical environmental activists and supports the earth democracy in which multispecies interests are represented. The destruction of habitats and threats to biodiversity resulting from expansion of human population and consumption is rarely addressed in a way that confronts students with the necessity to consider moral implications of such destruction.[14]Pedagogically, a return to education associated with significant life experiences, such as hiking in wilderness areas as a youth; as well as strategically significant education, action competence, social learning, and variations and combinations of those and many other pedagogical approaches developed in the past 40 years. Some of these pedagogical approaches have been disputed—for example, the belief that experiencing environment first hand is an essential component of engaging people in conservation has been disputed by arguments that these education efforts have been informed by behaviorist socio-psychology models that assumed a linear causality between education experience and pro-environmental behavior.[15] Rather, the critics have argued that people’s environmental behaviors are too complex and contextually dependent to be captured by a simple casual model. The process of environmental education of schoolchildren has the following methodological characteristics:
Goal-setting as the projected results reflects a model of environmentally responsible personality, taking into account trends in the development of key elements of education system; all natural sciences are involved in the development of basic ecological concepts.
The introduction of interactive training methods takes place at the high school level in teaching self-reflection, hypothesizing, predicting; school natural science education is rebuilt on the basis of system approach in accordance with the planned ecologization results. Implementation of relevant methodology will promote successful development of environmentally responsible personality in high school graduates.[15]

In higher education, the analysis of students’ individual writing assignments after viewing films/documentaries presents an interesting case of using radical ‘messages’ within the aims of environmental education in order to trigger both student’s engagement and critical thinking. The case study “If a Tree Falls and Everybody Hears the Sound” provides an example of how environmental advocacy and the objective of pluralistic education can be combined as mutually supportive means of achieving both democratic learning in which students’ individual opinions are seen as extremely valuable, and simultaneously provide an example of the type of ecopedagogy that supports learning for environmental sustainability. The role of environmental advocacy can be crucially important if the interests of all planetary citizens—and not just one species—are to be taken seriously.[14]

In her book Wild Children — Domesticated Dreams: Civilization and the Birth of Education, Layla AbdelRahim argues that the current institutions responsible for the construction and transmission of civilized epistemology are driven by the destructive premises at the foundation of civilization and human predatory culture.[16] In order to return to a viable socio-environmental culture, AbdelRahim calls for the rewilding of our anthropology (i.e. our place among other species) and of pedagogical culture, which in civilization is based on the same domestication methods of other animals.[16][17]

Sources[edit]

5.1] Scientific[edit]

Old-growth forest in Biogradska Gora National Park, Montenegro

Næss and Fox do not claim to use logic or induction to derive the philosophy directly from scientific ecology[8] but rather hold that scientific ecology directly implies the metaphysics of deep ecology, including its ideas about the self and further, that deep ecology finds scientific underpinnings in the fields of ecology and system dynamics.

In their 1985 book Deep Ecology,[18]Bill Devall and George Sessions describe a series of sources of deep ecology. They include the science of ecology itself, and cite its major contribution as the rediscovery in a modern context that "everything is connected to everything else." They point out that some ecologists and natural historians, in addition to their scientific viewpoint, have developed a deep ecological consciousness—for some a political consciousness and at times a spiritual consciousness. This is a perspective beyond the strictly human viewpoint, beyond anthropocentrism. Among the scientists they mention specifically are Rachel Carson, Aldo Leopold, John Livingston, Paul R. Ehrlich and Barry Commoner, together with Frank Fraser Darling, Charles Sutherland Elton, Eugene Odum and Paul Sears.

A further scientific source for deep ecology adduced by Devall and Sessions is the "new physics", which they describe as shattering Descartes's and Newton's vision of the universe as a machine explainable in terms of simple linear cause and effect. They propose that Nature is in a state of constant flux and reject the idea of observers as existing independent of their environment. They refer to Fritjof Capra's The Tao of Physics and The Turning Point for their characterisation of how the new physics leads to metaphysical and ecological views of interrelatedness, which, according to Capra, should make deep ecology a framework for future human societies. Devall and Sessions also credit the American poet and social critic Gary Snyder—with his devotion to Buddhism, Native American studies, the outdoors, and alternative social movements—as a major voice of wisdom in the evolution of their ideas.

The Gaia hypothesis was also an influence on the deep ecology movement.[19]

5.2] Spiritual[edit]

The central spiritual tenet of deep ecology is that the human species is a part of the Earth, not separate from it, and as such human existence is dependent on the diverse organisms within the natural world each playing a role in the natural economy of the biosphere. Coming to an awareness of this reality involves a transformation of an outlook that presupposes humanity's superiority over the natural world. This self-realisation or "re-earthing"[20] is used for an individual to intuitively gain an ecocentric perspective. The notion is based on the idea that the more we expand the self to identify with "others" (people, animals, ecosystems), the more we realize ourselves.Transpersonal psychology has been used by Warwick Fox to support this idea. Deep ecology has influenced the development of contemporary ecospirituality.[21]

A number of spiritual and philosophical traditions including Native American, Buddhist and Jain are drawn upon in a continuing critique of the philosophical assumptions of the modern European mind which has enabled and led to what is seen as an increasingly unsustainable level of disregard towards the rights and needs of the natural world and its ability to continue to support human life. In relation to the Judeo-Christian tradition, Næss offers the following criticism: "The arrogance of stewardship [as found in the Bible] consists in the idea of superiority which underlies the thought that we exist to watch over nature like a highly respected middleman between the Creator and Creation."[22] This theme had been expounded in Lynn Townsend White, Jr.'s 1967 article "The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis",[23] in which however he also offered as an alternative Christian view of man's relation to nature that of Saint Francis of Assisi, who he says spoke for the equality of all creatures, in place of the idea of man's domination over creation. Næss' further criticizes the reformation's view of creation as property to be put into maximum productive use: a view used frequently in the past to exploit and dispossess native populations. Many Protestant sects today regard the Bible's call for man to have stewardship of the earth as a call for the care for creation, rather than for exploitation.
The original Christian teachings on property support the Franciscan/stewardship interpretation of the Bible. Against this view, Martin Luther condemned church ownership of lands because "they did not want to use that property in an economically productive fashion. At best they used it to produce prayers. Luther, and other Reformation leaders insisted that it should be used, not to relieve men from the necessity of working, but as a tool for making more goods. The attitude of the Reformation was practically, "not prayers, but production." And production, not for consumption, but for more production." This justification was offered to support secular takings of church endowments and properties.[24]

Anthropologist Layla AbdelRahim sees the root of the anthropogenic degradation of the biosphere in the anthropology that constructs the human animal as the supreme predator. The ontological explanation offered for Human Supremacy by both science and religion, she says, alienate the human being from the community of life and allow for an immoral control and destruction of the wilderness, which, according to her contains the spirit and intelligence of life.[17]

Philosophical roots[edit]

5.3] Spinoza[edit]

Arne Næss, who first wrote about the idea of deep ecology, from the early days of developing this outlook conceived Baruch Spinoza as a philosophical source.[25]

Others have followed Næss' inquiry, including Eccy de Jonge, in Spinoza and Deep Ecology: Challenging Traditional Approaches to Environmentalism,[26] and Brenden MacDonald, in Spinoza, Deep Ecology, and Human Diversity—Realization of Eco-Literacies[27][citation needed].

One of the topical centres of inquiry connecting Spinoza to Deep Ecology is "self-realization." See Arne Næss in The Shallow and the Deep, Long-Range Ecology movement and Spinoza and the Deep Ecology Movement for discussion on the role of Spinoza's conception of self-realization and its link to deep ecology.

Criticism, debate, and response[edit]
Knowledge of non-human interests[edit]

Animal rights activists state that for an entity to require rights and protection intrinsically, it must have interests.[28] Deep ecology is criticised for assuming that living things such as plants, for example, have their own interests as they are manifested by the plant's behavior—for instance, self-preservation being considered an expression of a will to live. Deep ecologists claim to identify with non-human nature, and in doing so, deny those who claim that non-human (or non-sentient) lifeforms' needs or interests are nonexistent or unknowable. The criticism is that the interests that a deep ecologist attributes to non-human organisms such as survival, reproduction, growth, and prosperity are really human interests. This is sometimes construed as a pathetic fallacy or anthropomorphism, in which "the earth is endowed with 'wisdom', wilderness equates with 'freedom', and life forms are said to emit 'moral' qualities."[29][30]

--------

"Deepness"[edit]

Deep ecology is criticised for its claim to being deeper than alternative theories, which by implication are shallow. When Arne Næss coined the term deep ecology, he compared it favourably with shallow environmentalism which he criticized for its utilitarian and anthropocentric attitude to nature and for its materialist and consumer-oriented outlook.[31] Against this is Arne Næss's own view that the "depth" of deep ecology resides in the persistence of its penetrative questioning, particularly in asking "Why?" when faced with initial answers.

Writer William D. Grey believes that developing a non-anthropocentric set of values is "a hopeless quest". He seeks an improved "shallow" view, writing, "What's wrong with shallow views is not their concern about the well-being of humans, but that they do not really consider enough in what that well-being consists. We need to develop an enriched, fortified anthropocentric notion of human interest to replace the dominant short-term, sectional and self-regarding conception."[32]

Bookchin's criticisms[edit]

Some critics, particularly social ecologist Murray Bookchin, have interpreted deep ecology as being hateful toward humanity, due in part to the characterization of humanity by some deep ecologists, such as David Foreman of Earth First!, as a pathological infestation on the Earth.[13] Bookchin[33][34] therefore asserts that "deep ecology, formulated largely by privileged male white academics, has managed to bring sincere naturalists like Paul Shepard into the same company as patently antihumanist and macho mountain men like David Foreman who preach a gospel that humanity is some kind of cancer in the world of life."[33] Bookchin mentions that some, like Foreman, defend seemingly anti-human measures, such as severe population control and the claim regarding the Third World that "the best thing would be to just let nature seek its own balance, to let the people there just starve".[33] However, Bookchin himself later admitted that "statements made by Earth First! activists are not to be confused with those made by deep ecology theorists".[35] Ecophilosopher Warwick Foxsimilarly "warns critics not to commit the fallacy of 'misplaced misanthropy.' That is, just because deep ecology criticizes an arrogant anthropocentrism does not mean that deep ecology is misanthropic."[35] Likewise, The Deep Ecology Movement: An Introductory Anthology attempts to clarify that "deep ecologists have been the strongest critics of anthropocentrism, so much so that they have often been accused of a mean-spirited misanthropy"; however, "deep ecology is actually vitally concerned with humans realizing their best potential" and "is explicit in offering a vision of an alternative way of living that is joyous and enlivening."[36]

Bookchin's second major criticism is that deep ecology fails to link environmental crises with authoritarianism and hierarchy. Social ecologists like him believe that environmental problems are firmly rooted in the manner of human social interaction, and suggest that deep ecologists fail to recognise the potential for human beings to solve environmental issues through a change of cultural attitudes. According to Bookchin, it is a social reconstruction alone that "can spare the biosphere from virtual destruction."[33] Though some deep ecologists may reject the argument that ecological behavior is rooted in the social paradigm (which, according to their view, would be an anthropocentric fallacy), others in fact embrace this argument, such as the adherents to the deep ecologist movement Deep Green Resistance.

Botkin's criticism[edit]

Daniel Botkin[37] has likened deep ecology to its antithesis, the wise use movement, when he says that they both "misunderstand scientific information and then arrive at conclusions based on their misunderstanding, which are in turn used as justification for their ideologies. Both begin with an ideology and are political and social in focus." Elsewhere, though, he asserts that deep ecology must be taken seriously in the debate about the relationship between humans and nature because it challenges the fundamental assumptions of Western philosophy. Botkin has also criticized Næss's restatement and reliance upon the balance of nature idea and the perceived contradiction between his argument that all species are morally equal and his disparaging description of pioneering species.

Response[edit]

Some writers have misunderstood Næss, taking his ecosophy T, with its self-realization norm, as something meant to characterize the whole deep ecology movement as part of a single philosophy called "deep ecology". Næss was not doing either of these. He emphasized that movements cannot be precisely defined, but only roughly characterized by very general statements. They are often united internationally by means of such principles as found in the United Nations (UN) Earth Charter (1980), and in UN documents about basic human rights. Næss was doing something more subtle than many thought. He was not putting forth a single worldview and philosophy of life that everyone should adhere to in support of the international ecology movement. Instead, he was making an empirical claim based on overwhelming evidence that global social movements, from the grass roots up, consist of people with very diverse religious, philosophical, cultural, and personal orientations. Nonetheless, they can agree on certain courses of action and certain broad principles, especially at the international level. As supporters of a given movement, they can treat one another with mutual respect. Because of these misunderstandings Næss introduced an apron diagram to clearly illustrate his subtle distinctions.[5] The apron diagram is meant to illustrate logical, as distinct from genetic, relations between views and their connection with social movements, policies and practical actions. By "logical relations" this means verbally articulated relations between the premises and conclusions.[5] There is collective cooperation on global concerns, and yet a great variety of ultimate premises from which each person or group acts locally. Within global movements there is diversity at the local level because each place and community is different and must adapt to its unique setting. Thus, Næss stressed that his ecosophy T is not meant to hold for everyone, since it is tailored to his very modest lifestyle suitable to a place such as Tvergastein. The ultimate premises for his whole view might be conceptually incompatible with those in someone else's whole views. But even if this is true, they could both support the platform principles of the deep ecology movement and other social-political global movements, such as for peace and social justice. In recognizing the principle that all living beings have intrinsic worth, there is an acknowledgement that they are good for their own sake. This does not mean committing to biocentric equality or egalitarianism between species. Within the vast diversity of living beings, there are complex relationships the range of which is predation, competition, cooperation, and symbiosis. Many think that symbiosis and complementarity are important values to embrace as they are consistent with global cooperation, community life, and support for the deep ecology movement platform.

Links with other philosophies[edit]

Parallels have been drawn between deep ecology and other philosophies, in particular those of the animal rights movement, Earth First!, Deep Green Resistance, and anarcho-primitivism.

Peter Singer's 1975 book Animal Liberation critiqued anthropocentrism and put the case for animals to be given moral consideration. This can be seen as a part of a process of expanding the prevailing system of ethics to wider groupings. However, Singer has disagreed with deep ecology's belief in the intrinsic value of nature separate from questions of suffering, taking a more utilitarian stance.[38] The feministand civil rights movements also brought about expansion of the ethical system for their particular domains. Likewise deep ecology brought the whole of nature under moral consideration.[39] The links with animal rights are perhaps the strongest, as "proponents of such ideas argue that 'All life has intrinsic value'".[40]

Many in the radical environmental direct-action movement Earth First! claim to follow deep ecology, as indicated by one of their slogans No compromise in defence of mother earth. In particular, David Foreman, the co-founder of the movement, has also been a strong advocate for deep ecology, and engaged in a public debate with Murray Bookchin on the subject.[41][42] Judi Bari was another prominent Earth Firster who espoused deep ecology. Many Earth First! actions have a distinct deep ecological theme; often these actions will be to save an area of old growth forest, the habitat of a snail or an owl, even individual trees. Actions are often symbolic or have other political aims. At one point Arne Næss also engaged in environmental direct action, though not under the Earth First! banner, when he chained himself to rocks in front of Mardalsfossen, a waterfall in a Norwegian fjord, in a successful protest against the building of a dam.[43]

There are also anarchist currents in the movement, especially in the United Kingdom. For example, Robert Hart, pioneer of forest gardening in temperate climates, wrote the essay "Can Life Survive?" in Deep Ecology & Anarchism.[44]

Early influences[edit]

Mary Hunter Austin
Rachel Carson
Ralph Waldo Emerson
D.H.Lawrence
Aldo Leopold
John Muir
Henry David Thoreau
Friedrich Nietzsche
Baruch Spinoza
Leo Tolstoy

Notable advocates of deep ecology[edit]

Layla AbdelRahim
David Abram
Michael Asher
Judi Bari
Thomas Berry
Wendell Berry
Leonardo Boff
Fritjof Capra
Savitri Devi[13]
Michael Dowd
Vivienne Elanta
David Foreman
Warwick Fox
Chellis Glendinning
Edward Goldsmith
Félix Guattari
Paul Hawken
Martin Heidegger
Julia Butterfly Hill
Derrick Jensen
Bernie Krause
Satish Kumar
Dolores LaChapelle
Gilbert LaFreniere
Pentti Linkola
John Livingston
Joanna Macy
Jerry Mander
Freya Mathews
Terence McKenna
W. S. Merwin
Arne Næss
Peter Newman
David Orton
Val Plumwood
Theodore Roszak
John Seed
George Sessions
Elena Sharoykina
Paul Shepard
Vandana Shiva
Gary Snyder
Timothy Sprigge
Richard Sylvan
Douglas Tompkins
Oberon Zell-Ravenheart
John Zerzan
Relevant journals[edit]
Environmental Ethics
Environmental Values
Resurgence & Ecologist
See also[edit]

Sustainable development portal
Ecology portal
Environment portal
Evolutionary biology portal

ANCEP
ATWA
Biocentrism (ethics)
Biophilia hypothesis
Coupled human-environment system
Earth liberation
Ecocentrism
Eco-communalism
Ecofeminism
Ecotheology
Ecosophy
Ecosystem-based management
Environmental psychology
Gaianism
Human ecology
Intrinsic value (animal ethics)
Negative Population Growth
Neotribalism
Pantheism
Population Connection
Spiritual ecology
Sustainable development
The Revenge of Gaia
Voluntary Human Extinction Movement
References[edit]

^ Ecosystems are also considered to be dependent on other ecosystems within the biosphere.
^ Jump up to:a b Smith, Mick (2014). "Deep Ecology: What is Said and (to be) Done?". The Trumpeter. 30 (2): 141–156. ISSN 0832-6193. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
^ Jump up to:a b John Barry; E. Gene Frankland (2002). International Encyclopedia of Environmental Politics. Routledge. p. 161. ISBN 9780415202855.
^ Sessions, George (2014). "Deep Ecology, New Conservation, and the Anthropocene Worldview". The Trumpeter. 30 (2): 106–114. ISSN 0832-6193. Retrieved 12 May2018.
^ Jump up to:a b c d e Drengson, Alan; Devall, Bill; Schroll, Mark A. (2011). "The Deep Ecology Movement: Origins, Development, and Future Prospects (Toward a Transpersonal Ecosophy)". International Journal of Transpersonal Studies. 30 (1–2): 101–117. doi:10.24972/ijts.2011.30.1-2.101.
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^ Jump up to:a b Næss, Arne (1973). "The shallow and the deep, long‐range ecology movement. A summary" (PDF). Inquiry. 16 (1–4): 95–100. doi:10.1080/00201747308601682. ISSN 0020-174X.
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^ David Landis Barnhill, Roger S. Gottlieb (eds.), Deep Ecology and World Religions: New Essays on Sacred Ground, SUNY Press, 2010, p. 32.
^ "Deep Ecology & re-earthing ~ Q&A". users.on.net/~arachne/index.html. Retrieved 9 December 2011.
^ Aburrow, Yvonne (2013-01-26). "Eco-spirituality and theology". Sermons from the Mound. Patheos. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
^ Næss, Arne. (1989). Ecology, Community and Lifestyle: Outline of an Ecosophy. p. 187. ISBN 0-521-34873-0
^ White, Jr, Lynn Townsend (March 1967). "The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis". Science. 155 (3767): 1203–1207. doi:10.1126/science.155.3767.1203. PMID 17847526. (HTML copy, PDF copy).
^ Schlatter, Richard (1951). Private Property: the History of an Idea. (Rutgers Press)
^ Naess, A. (1977). "Spinoza and ecology". Philosophia. 7: 45–54. doi:10.1007/BF02379991.
^ de Jonge, Eccy (April 28, 2004). Spinoza and Deep Ecology: Challenging Traditional Approaches to Environmentalism (Ashgate New Critical Thinking in Philosophy). Routledge. ISBN 978-0754633273.
^ MacDonald, Brenden James (2012-05-14). "Spinoza, Deep Ecology, and Human Diversity -- Schizophrenics and Others Who Could Heal the Earth If Society Realized Eco-Literacy". Trumpeter. 28 (1): 89–101. ISSN 1705-9429.
^ Feinberg, Joel. "The Rights of Animals and Future Generations". Retrieved 2006-04-25.
^ Joff (2000). "The Possibility of an Anti-Humanist Anarchism". Retrieved 2006-04-25.
^ Pister, E. Phil (1995). "The Rights of Species and Ecosystems". Fisheries. 20 (4). Archived from the original on 2006-08-22. Retrieved 2006-04-25.
^ Great River Earth Institute. "Deep Ecology: Environmentalism as if all beings mattered". Retrieved 2006-04-25.
^ Anthropocentrism and Deep Ecology by William Grey
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^ AtKisson, Allan (1989). "Introduction To Deep Ecology: Deep ecology is a new way to think about our relationship to the Earth - and thinking is a prelude to action". Context Institute.
^ Jump up to:a b Zimmerman, Michael E (1993). "Rethinking the Heidegger-Deep Ecology Relationship" (PDF). Environmental Ethics.
^ Alan Drengson and Yuichi Inoue, ed. (1995). The Deep Ecology Movement. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books. p. 262. ISBN 9781556431982.
^ Botkin, Daniel B. (2000). No Man's Garden: Thoreau and a New Vision for Civilization and Nature. Shearwater Books. pp. 42, 39. ISBN 978-1-55963-465-6.
^ Kendall, Gillian (May 2011 ). The Greater Good: Peter Singer On How To Live An Ethical Life. Sun Magazine, The Sun Interview, Issue 425. Retrieved on: 2011-12-02
^ Alan AtKisson. "Introduction To Deep Ecology, an interview with Michael E. Zimmerman". In Context (22). Retrieved 2006-05-04.
^ Wall, Derek (1994). Green History. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-07925-9.
^ David Levine, ed. (1991). Defending the Earth: a dialogue between Murray Bookchin and Dave Foreman.
^ Bookchin, Murray; Graham Purchase; Brian Morris; Rodney Aitchtey; Robert Hart; Chris Wilbert (1993). Deep Ecology and Anarchism. Freedom Press. ISBN 978-0-900384-67-7.
^ J. Seed, J. Macy, P. Flemming, A. Næss, Thinking like a mountain: towards a council of all beings, Heretic Books (1988), ISBN 0-946097-26-7, ISBN 0-86571-133-X.
^ Deep Ecology & Anarchism. Freedom Press. 1993.
Bibliography[edit]
Bender, F. L. 2003. The Culture of Extinction: Toward a Philosophy of Deep Ecology Amherst, New York: Humanity Books.
Devall, W. and G. Sessions. 1985. Deep Ecology: Living As if Nature Mattered Salt Lake City: Gibbs M. Smith, Inc.
Drengson, Alan. 1995. The Deep Ecology Movement
Katz, E., A. Light, et al. 2000. Beneath the Surface: Critical Essays in the Philosophy of Deep Ecology Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
LaChapelle, D. 1992. Sacred Land, Sacred Sex: Rapture of the Deep Durango: Kivakí Press.
Næss, A. 1989. Ecology, Community and Lifestyle: Outline of an EcosophyTranslated by D. Rothenberg. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Nelson, C. 2006. Ecofeminism vs. Deep Ecology, Dialogue, San Antonio, TX: Saint Mary's University Dept. of Philosophy.
Passmore, J. 1974. Man’s Responsibility for Nature London: Duckworth.
Sessions, G. (ed) 1995. Deep Ecology for the Twenty-first Century Boston: Shambhala.
Taylor, B. and M. Zimmerman. 2005. Deep Ecology" in B. Taylor, ed., Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature, v 1, pp. 456–60, London: Continuum International.
GECEVSKA, Valentina, Vancho DONEV, and Radmil POLENAKOVIK. "A Review Of Environmental Tools Towards Sustainable Development." Annals Of The Faculty Of Engineering Hunedoara - International Journal of Engineering 14.1 (2016): 147-152.
Clark, John P. "What Is Living In Deep Ecology?." Trumpeter: Journal of Ecosophy 30.2 (2014): 157-183.
Smith, Mick. "Deep Ecology: What Is Said And (To Be) Done?." Trumpeter: Journal of Ecosophy 30.2 (2014): 141-156.
HOLY-LUCZAJ, MAGDALENA. "Heidegger's Support For Deep Ecology Reexamined Once Again." Ethics & The Environment 20.1 (2015): 45-66.
Hawkins, Ronnie. "Why Deep Ecology Had To Die." Trumpeter: Journal of Ecosophy 30.2 (2014): 206-273.
Drengson, Alan, Bill Devall, and Mark A. Schroll. "The Deep Ecology Movement: Origins, Development, And Future Prospects (Toward A Transpersonal Ecosophy)." International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 30.1/2 (2011): 101-117.
Kopnina, Helen. "If A Tree Falls And Everybody Hears The Sound: Teaching Deep Ecology To Business Students." Journal of Education for Sustainable Development 9.1 (2015): 101-116.
Kopnina, Helen. "Future Scenarios And Environmental Education." Journal of Environmental Education 45.4 (2014): 217.
Ponomarenko, Yelena, et al. "Modern Methodology And Techniques Aimed At Developing The Environmentally Responsible Personality." International Journal of Environmental & Science Education 11.9 (2016): 2877-2885.
Ehresman, Timothy, and Chukwumerije Okereke. "Environmental Justice And Conceptions Of The Green Economy." International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law & Economics 15.1 (2015): 13-27.
Marc R., Fellenz. "9. Ecophilosophy: Deep Ecology And Ecofeminism." The Moral Menagerie : Philosophy and Animal Rights. 158. Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 2007.
Diehm, Christian. "The Self Of Stars And Stone: Ecofeminism, Deep Ecology, And The Ecological Self." Trumpeter: Journal of Ecosophy 19.3 (2003): 31-45. Humanities International Complete.
Booth, Annie. "Ways Of Knowing: Acceptable Understandings Within Bioregionalism, Deep Ecology, Ecofeminism, And Native American Cultures." Trumpeter: Journal of Ecosophy 16.1 (2000): 1-14.
Vira, Bhaskar. "Taking Natural Limits Seriously: Implications For Development Studies And The Environment." Development & Change 46.4 (2015): 762-776.
Burns, Heather L. "Going Deep: Reflections On Teaching Deep Ecology In Costa Rica." Transformative Dialogues: Teaching & Learning Journal 8.2 (2015): 1-14.
Fox, W. (1990). Toward a transpersonal ecology: Developing new foundations for environmentalism. Boston, MA: Shambhala.
Misiaszek, Greg William. "Ecopedagogy And Citizenship In The Age Of Globalisation: Connections Between Environmental And Global Citizenship Education To Save The Planet." European Journal of Education 50.3 (2015): 280-292.
Sessions, George. "Deep Ecology, New Conservation, And The Anthropocene Worldview." Trumpeter: Journal of Ecosophy 30.2 (2014): 106-114.
Further reading[edit]
Abram, David 1996. The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-than-Human World. Pantheon Books.
Conesa-Sevilla, J. 2006. The Intrinsic Value of the Whole: Cognitive and utilitarian evaluative processes as they pertain to ecocentric, deep ecological, and ecopsychological "valuing." The Trumpeter, 22(2): 26-42.
Curry, Patrick. 2011. Ecological Ethics: An Introduction. Polity. ISBN 978-0-7456-5125-5.
Glasser, Harold (ed.) 2005. The Selected Works of Arne Næss, Volumes 1-10. Springer, ISBN 1-4020-3727-9. (review)
Griffin, Susan. Woman and Nature. Harper Collins 1978.
Keulartz, Jozef 1998. Struggle for nature : a critique of radical ecology, London [etc.] : Routledge.
Huesemann, Michael H., and Joyce A. Huesemann (2011). Technofix: Why Technology Won’t Save Us or the Environment, Chapter 12, “The Need for a Different World View”, New Society Publishers, Gabriola Island, British Columbia, Canada, ISBN 0865717044.
Kull, Kalevi 2011. Foundations for ecosemiotic deep ecology. In: Peil, Tiina (ed.), The Space of Culture – the Place of Nature in Estonia and Beyond. (Approaches to Culture Theory 1.) Tartu: Tartu University Press, 69–75.
Linkola, Pentti 2011. Can Life Prevail? UK: Arktos Media, 2nd Revised ed. ISBN 1907166637
Merchant, Carolyn 1990. The Death of Nature, HarperOne. ISBN 0-06-250595-5, ISBN 978-0-06-250595-8.
Sylvan, Richard 1985a. "A Critique of Deep Ecology, Part I." Radical Philosophy40: 2–12.
Sylvan, Richard 1985b. "A Critique of Deep Ecology, Part II." Radical Philosophy41: 1–22.
Tobias, Michael (ed.) 1988 (1984). Deep Ecology. Avant Books. ISBN 0-932238-13-0.
Turner, Jack 1996. The Abstract Wild. Tucson, Univ of Arizona Press.
de Steiguer, J.E. 2006. The Origins of Modern Environmental Thought. University of Arizona Press 246 pp.