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Our Role as Humans
Here in the United States, the environmental movement and awareness of environmental ethics are largely associated with the popularity and awareness that resulted from Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. However, decades earlier, Aldo Leopold laid the groundwork for environmental ethics with his “Land Ethic” philosophy in which he suggested that there is an ecological (interdependent) nature of human’s relationship with the land, saying we’re an “interconnected web of inorganic elements and living beings,” that deserve “to be treated with love and respect, for it [all] has not only instrumental, but also intrinsic value.” (p. 96)
Leopold was one of the first people to speak out for the land itself, promoting it as less of a utilitarian resource to be used as an economic vehicle only, and more of an integral player in our well-being; more a part of us versus something to be conquered. In doing so, he attempted to move our land use away from anthropocentric focused endeavors to more ecocentric considerations. He believed that environmental decisions should be made with consideration of what is best for nature, and not what is “most convenient, useful or economically” valuable to people.
Please watch the following video that more thoroughly explains anthropocentrism and ecocentrism and provides an example of when the two ideals collide.
Video: Environmental Humanities MOOC - 10 What is anthropocentrism? (3:15)
Optional Reading
- Working Toward Sustainability: Ethical Decision Making in a Technological World, section on "The Emergence of Environmental Ethics" (p.95-99)
You can find a free electronic version under Library Resources in Canvas. - You can read more about Aldo Leopold and Rachel Carson in Chapter 5: Environmental Dimensions of Sustainability Ethics of our textbook: Working Toward Sustainability: Ethical Decision Making in a Technological World.
You can find a free electronic version under Library Resources in Canvas.