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A deep ecological approach to wetlands

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 June 2015

Richard Sylvan
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Abstract

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Deep Ecology is a philosophical approach well attuned to Environmental Education. It creates a context in which the natural world can be viewed apart from traditional “useful” human-bound categories. Many educators see the “value” of nature as an educational resource, but fail to notice the deeper meanings recognised by deep ecologists. It is in this inner illumination that deep ecology has its greatest educational appeal. It provides a philosophical setting that encourages individuals to seek meaning outside themselves in nature itself. It promotes direct and personal identification with natural systems as an important path towards ecological consciousness.

Type
Section 1: World views and approaches to wetlands
Information
Australian Journal of Environmental Education , Volume 2 , June 1986 , pp. 3 - 5
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1986

References

Notes

1. Abstract prepared by the Editorial Committee.

2. The underlying principle, justifying the titlement, is that sufficiently rich valuable systems ought to continue to exist, especially where scarce and irreplaceable.

3. “Manipulating the flow of water is one of the most seductive and rewarding [!] of man's enterprises, and throughout history the drainage and reclamation of wetlands speeding the flow of water ever more rapidly and elusively to the sea has been second only to forest clearance among major impacts on the environment.” Green, B., Countryside Conservation, (Allen & Unwin, London, 1981), p. 141 Google Scholar.

4. The next paragraphs follow the writings of Arne Naess, who coined the term “deep ecology”.

5. They are also part of the way to the wider Self-realisation that deep ecology emphasizes, with cultivation and development of subjects in ways that are not merely egoistical and self-directed, but relate to and take account of wider human and natural communities.