The Deep Ecology Platform"

DEEP ECOLOGY
Deep ecology is an environment philosophy that promotes the inherent worth of all living
beings regardless of their instrumental utility to human needs, and the restructuring of
modern human societies in accordance with such ideas. Deep ecology argues that the natural
world is a complex of relationships in which the existence of organisms is dependent on the
existence of others within ecosystems. It argues that non-vital 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.
A Focus On The Biosphere
Conservationism, protectionism, the science of ecology, and deep ecology are some of the
major components in the political and ethical movement of environmentalism. Deep
ecologists often contrast their own position with what they refer to as the “shallow ecology”
of other environmentalists. They contend that the mainstream ecological movement is
concerned with various environmental issues (such as pollution, overpopulation, and
conservation) only to the extent that those issues have a negative effect on an area’s ecology
and disrupt human interests. They argue that anthropocentrism, a worldview that contains an
instrumentalist view of nature and a view of humanity as the conqueror of nature, has led to
environmental degradation throughout the world, and thus it should be replaced with
ecocentric (ecology-centred) or biocentric (life-centred) worl where the the main focus
of concern.dviews, where the the main focus of concern.
The Deep Ecology Platform”
In 1984 Naess and Sessions devised an eight-point statement, or platform, for deep ecology.
The statement was offered not as a rigid or dogmatic manifesto but rather as a set of fairly
general principles that could help people articulate their own deep ecological positions. It was
also meant to serve as a guide toward the establishment of a deep ecology movement.
The eight points of the platform for deep ecology posit:
1. “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.”
2. “Richness and diversity…contribute to the realization of these values and are also values in
themselves.”
3. “Humans have no right to reduce this richness and diversity except to satisfy vital needs.”
4. “Present human interference with the nonhuman world is excessive, and the situation is
rapidly worsening.”
5. “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.”
6. “Policies must therefore be changed…[to] affect basic economic, technological, and
ideological structures.…”
7. “The ideological change is mainly that of appreciating life quality…rather than adhering to
an increasingly higher standard of living.…”
8. “Those who subscribe to the foregoing points have an obligation directly or indirectly to
participate in the attempt to implement the necessary changes.”
Currents Within The Social Movement

From its inception, deep ecology has had a loosely knit array of followers coming from such
disparate groups as feminists (or “ecofeminists”), “social ecologists,” pacifists, mystics, and
postmodernists. Each of those diverse groups has its own perspective of what deep ecology
ought to be and in what directions it ought to proceed. In contrast, social ecologists hold that
the problems of environmentalism are due to an authoritarian hierarchy that is also
responsible for such ills as racism, sexism, and classism. They argue that problems such as
global warming or species extinction are caused in the same way as social problems such as
poverty and crime and can all be attributed to a social structure in which only some enjoy real
power, while the majority remain powerless. They claim that environmental degradation will
continue until such social conditions are addressed.
Critiques
Some critics of deep ecology claim that the movement is based on mysticism and that it
appears to be more of a religion than a rational approach to environmental matters. Those
critics point to the creation of the Church of Deep Ecology in Minnesota in 1991 as an
example of how the movement had devolved into a spiritual and mystical approach to nature
rather than a way to solve environmental problems..

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DEEP ECOLOGY

A Focus On The Biosphere

The Deep Ecology Platform”

The eight points of the platform for deep ecology posit:

Currents Within The Social Movement

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