Ecologism

The term ecology was coined by the German zoologist Ernst Haeckel in 1866 to refer to ‘the investigations of the total relations of the animal both to its organic and its inorganic environment’. Ecological or green political ideas can be traced back to the nineteenth-century backlash against the spread of industrialization and urbanization. Modern ecologism emerged during the 1960s along with renewed concern about the damage done to the environment by pollution, resource depletion, over-population and so on. Such concerns have been articulated politically by a growing number of Green parties which now operate in most developed societies and, at least in the case of the German Greens, have shared government power, and through the influence of a powerful environmentalist lobby whose philosophy is, ‘Think globally, act locally’.

The central feature of ecologism is that it regards nature as an interconnected whole, embracing humans and non-humans as well as the inanimate world. This view is expressed in the adoption of an ecocentric or biocentric perspective that accords priority to nature or the planet and thus differs from the anthropocentric or human-centred perspective of conven-tional political thought. Nevertheless, two strains of ecologism are normally identified. ‘Deep ecology’ completely rejects any lingering belief that the human species is in some way superior to, or more important than, any other species – or, indeed, nature itself. ‘Shallow ecology’, by contrast, accepts the lessons of ecology but harnesses them to human needs and ends. In other words, it preaches that if we can serve and cherish the natural world, it will, in turn, continue to sustain human life.

Shallow or humanist ecologism is compatible with a number of other creeds, creating hybrid political traditions. Ecosocialism, usually influenced by modern Marxism, explains environmental destruction in terms of capitalism’s rapacious quest for profit; eco-anarchism draws parallels between natural equilibrium in nature and in human communities, using the idea of social ecology; and ecofeminism has portrayed patriarchy as the source of the ecological crisis. On the other hand, deep ecology goes beyond the perspective of conventional political creeds. It tends to regard both capitalism and socialism as examples of the ‘super-ideology’ of industrialism, characterised by large-scale production, the accumulation of capital and relentless growth. It supports biocentric equality, holding that the rights of animals have the same moral status as those of humans, and portraying nature as an ethical community within which human beings are merely ‘plain citizens’.

However, the spread of ecological thought has been hampered by a number of factors. These include the limited attraction of its anti-growth, or at least sustainable growth, economic model, and that its critique of industrial society is sometimes advanced from a pastoral and anti-technology perspective that is quite out of step with the modern world. Some, as a result, dismiss ecologism as simply an urban fad, a form of post-industrial romanticism. Ecologism, nevertheless, has at least two major strengths. First, it draws attention to an imbalance in the relationship between humans and the natural world that is manifest in a growing catalogue of threats to the well-being of both. Second, ecologism has gone further than any other tradition in questioning and transcending the limited focus of Western political thought. In keeping with globalization, it is the nearest thing political theory has to a world philosophy and it has allowed political thought to be fertilized by the insights of pagan religions and native cultures, and Eastern religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism and Taoism.

Ernst Friedrich Schumacher (1911–77) A German-born British economist and environmental theorist, ‘Fritz’ Schumacher championed the cause of human-scale production and helped to develop an ecological philosophy. His notion of ‘Buddhist’ economics (‘economics as if people mattered’) stressed the importance of morality and ‘right livelihood’, and warned against the depletion of finite energy sources. Though an opponent of industrial giantism, Schumacher believed in ‘appropriate’ scale production, and was a keen advocate of ‘intermediate’ technology. His seminal work is Small is Beautiful (1973).

James Lovelock (1919– ) A Canadian atmospheric chemist, inventor and environmental theorist, Lovelock is best known for having developed the Gaia hypothesis. This portrays the Earth’s biosphere as a complex, self-regulating, living ‘being’, called Gaia after the Greek goddess of the Earth. Although the Gaia hypothesis extends the ecological idea by applying it to the planet as an ecosystem and offers a holistic approach to nature, Lovelock supports technology and industrialization and is an opponent of ‘back to nature’ mysticism and ideas such as Earth worship. His major writings include Gaia (1979) and The Ages of Gaia (1989).

Murray Bookchin (1921– ) A US anarchist social philosopher and environmentalist, Bookchin is the leading proponent of ‘social ecology’. As an anarchist he has emphasized the potential for non-hierarchic cooperation within conditions of post-scarcity and promoted decentralization and community within modern societies. His principle of social ecology propounds the view that ecological principles can be applied to social organization and argues that the environmental crisis is a result of the breakdown of the organic fabric of both society and nature. Bookchin’s major works include Post-Scarcity Anarchism (1971), The Ecology of Freedom (1982) and Remaking Society (1989).

Rudolph Bahro (1936–98) A German writer and Green activist, Bahro attempted to reconcile socialism with ecological theories. His argument that capitalism is the root cause of environmental problems led him to assert that those concerned with human survival should convert to socialism, and that people who support social justice must take account of ecological sustainability. Bahro subsequently moved beyond conventional ecosocialism, concluding that the ecological crisis is so pressing that it must take precedence over the class struggle. Bahro’s chief works include Socialism and Survival (1982), From Red to Green (1984) and Building the Green Movement (1986).

Carolyn Merchant (1936– ) A US academic and feminist, Merchant’s work has highlighted links between gender oppression and the ‘death of nature’. She developed a socialist feminist critique of the scientific revolution that ultimately explains environmental destruction in terms the application by men of a mechanistic view of nature. According to this view, a global ecological revolution would reconstruct gender relations as well as the relationship between humans and nature. Her ideas have had a considerable impact on environmental history and philosophy as well as on ecofeminism. Merchant’s chief works include The Death of Nature (1980) and Radical Ecology (1991).