*This article was also published on Medium.com
Quite frankly, I was going to come here and write some article pandering to the masses about 7 ways to reduce your plastic use.
But the more I thought about it, the less appealing it sounded, which isn’t good for the environment (nor for me as the writer).
So I decided to make things fun, fresh and exciting by exploring some environmental philosophy topics.
Now don’t boo at me just yet. We’ll make this as painless and as relevant to you as possible.
Here’s the thing. I get it.
I get why people, in masses, don’t care about the environment or at least actlike they don’t care, even if they say they do.
From my perspective, if it costs me money and if it requires extra effort from me but it’s not going to benefit me directly, in theory, I’d like to participate but in reality, it just isn’t realistic.
I’ll be honest with you. I still buy an odd plastic bag every now and then because I didn’t intend to go grocery shopping for the week. It happens. Does anyone deserve to be shamed for it? No and honestly, that’s not how you change behaviour (but we’ll get to that later on).
We’re humans, we act selfishly. I can sit here and say ‘we need to change’ but I’d be a hypocrite. So I’m getting down from my high horse and I’m going to explain why we act the way we do and why I act the way I do when I don’t mean to, especially when it comes to our living environment (and yes, I said *living* on purpose).
ANTHRO-PO-CENTRIC
Many would say that the way humans think of the world is ‘anthropocentric’. The term ‘Anthropocentric’ has been a hot topic for a couple years now (ok for more than a couple years) but what exactly does it mean?
Anthropocentric: The worldview stating that ‘humans are the most important thing in the universe’ or at least on planet earth.
Sounds about right to be fair. Unfortunately, this explains why we act the way we do when it comes to the environment.
Let’s take an example of this.
If I had a boat and wanted to go for a ride on the sea, I don’t need to ask permission from environmental agencies (though they might give me a few boundaries, if any) or from nature herself, even if it’s going to impact her in some way.
All I need is money and resources. We, effortlessly, separate our self from the surrounding world and always put our needs first. This highlights the solitary and egocentric nature of the ‘self’.
The short-term and long-term impacts around our decisions mainly revolve around us as humans, and the environment doesn’t concern us because we don’t mingle with it enough to include it our circle of consciousness. It’s a distant afterthought.
And even if we do regularly come into contact with the earth, we think of the environment in terms of how it’ll benefit us or, what purpose it will fulfill in our lives.
DEEP ECOLOGY AND ECOCENTRISM
However, there was a radical notion that was put forth by the legendary Arne Naess, a Norwegian philosopher who coined the term ‘Deep Ecology’ and started an almost spiritual movement.
Deep Ecology is a philosophy that simply means we should consider the living environment as having the same right to flourish as humans have. It extends the ‘self’ to the ‘ecological self’ that acts in harmony with nature.
Along with deep ecology, ecocentrism states that ‘nature has the right to exist and has intrinsic (value in itself) and on the same paradigm as humans have intrinsic value’.
There is no need for humans to explain why we’re valuable, we just are. Sure, we think and have a conscience, whereas the environment and it’s elements don’t, it all exists within a cycle that requires each element equally.
And, for us to try and separate each element and decide which ones are important and which ones aren’t depending on how each element benefits us simply highlights our selfish, egoistic nature.
(Additionally, there are other environmental philosophies I can put forth, such as ecofeminism, conservation versus preservation and social ecology however, this will then become a short novel and I value your time too much to make you sit through that right now)
So where does deep ecology and ecocentrism sit with all this human-centric stuff?
Incorporating deep ecology can radically shift the way we think and act towards the environment.
Some people might say it’s too late. You don’t teach kids the alphabet when they’re ten and right now, we’re too cynical and tainted to change our worldview so drastically.
Sure that may be true, but I could argue that even though the best time to have learned this stuff was when we were younger, the second best time is now.
Like culture or manners are engrained into children, philosophies like deep ecology have to be engrained in humans.
The way we carry out every single task in our lives- from doing business, to making dinner, to socializing with friends- would be radically different if we took into account the impact it would have on our external environment, not because of the actual impact per se but, because it would be like hurting a friend. And, for that to happen, we need to change our perspective drastically and see the environment as having intrinsic value.
It’s a shift in mindset; in how we think of our surroundings and; in how we think of others. What you’ll soon notice is that the rest- our actions- will follow effortlessly and naturally, to follow our thoughts.
THOUGHTS TO ACTIONS
Someone out there is definitely wagging their finger at me through their screen and saying ‘thoughts aren’t going to reduce waste in landfills’. Oh, but they will.
You see, you can’t force or scare people to stop them from doing something that’s not going to immediately and directly benefit them. Yes, I said ‘benefit them’ because people are self-interested and will be more willing to change when it impacts them directly (remember the ‘Self’?).
Ok sure, sometimes threats can work and it has worked so far but it’s not how we should be handling any crises. We can’t scare people to stop them from committing a crime. There are numerous reasons why people do what they do and a good portion of those reasons are internal and external.
Instead, we have to appeal to people’s self-interest.
‘What is the exact benefit that a person can derive from something AND how can this help the environment?’
Sure it’s not going to solve the issues that stem from our anthropocentric way of thinking but, what it is doing is flipping anthropocentrism on its head and using it as a transitioning period. It’s a short-term, bandaid solution.
Additionally, we can address long-term behaviour and mindset change by actually shifting the way we think about the environment.
By taking a few notes from the deep ecologists of our time, we can start thinking of our surroundings as being valuable with or without us and as having inherent intrinsic value.
Maybe you don’t agree with it now but we didn’t exactly want to learn alphabets as children either. It’s something that has to be ingrained in us and ultimately, becomes so second nature that our actions unconsciously follow.
Now picture this, we’re thinking of the environment as having value, we don’t know why it does but we don’t question it anymore because we believe, deep down, that there’s some truth to it. So, we accept it.
Soon enough, we start acting as if Mother Nature is sensitive to our actions. We use less water, less plastic, we waste less food and we recycle more. We’re not vegan yet but baby steps, right?
These are small (maybe even insignificant) things but to be fair, we’re not doing it because some campaign says ‘use less plastic’ or ‘waste less’, we’re doing it because we know it’s something we just do — like putting together letters to form words- we know that we’re supposed to do it this way. Some people may argue that it’s a part of culture, others may say it’s a way of life but, like language, it has a purpose and that’s just the way it is.
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