What does the environment mean to YOU?
Questioning what the environment means to us, as individuals, in today’s world
By Ria Dalal
In today’s world, being oblivious to environmental issues simply does not suffice; we’re programmed to care about problems like global warming, oil spills, or loss in biodiversity. But before we go ahead and dissect these issues, let’s take a step back.
Environment. What does it mean to you? Does it even have value to you? Or have you just hopped on the ‘eco-activism bandwagon’ to present yourself as socially aware
If you are someone who has done this…Well, it’s not necessarily right, but it is understandable.
The environment is an incredibly complex, interconnected system where an issue arising in one area can trigger an uncontrollable and equally dangerous chain of reactions across the ecosphere. So trying to wrap your head around all that, it’s challenging and quite honestly, confusing. But the important question here is: do you want to care about the environment or do you have to? More specifically…what does the environment mean to you?
Too many heavy questions to deal with on a Tuesday morning? Agreed, so let’s break it down and make it simple. The environment is a system. This means that there are inputs that affect processes within nature like photosynthesis, hydrological cycle, sedimentation, and as a result you get a bunch of outputs. Some may even call this an ecoSYSTEM (how cool, right?). Similarly, when it comes to your perception or philosophy regarding the environment, there are also a bunch of inputs, and processes, and outputs that shape it. Therefore, it’s a system. It’s more formally characterized as an Environmental Value System (EVS).
There are three overarching ‘value systems’ where most people’s ideals regarding the environment tend to fall under:
First, we have Ecocentrism. From the prefix ‘eco’, we can assume it’s nature or ecology-centered. Ecocentrism is a philosophy that places importance on all species and their natural environments. Ecocentrics believe in the intrinsic value of the environment — this reflects the perspective that nature has its own rights and deserves respect purely because of its existence, and not because of their benefits to humans. When it comes to environmental protection, ecocentrics will always argue for more self-restraint on human behavior.
Next, there’s Anthropocentrism. This value system places all the focus on humans. Anthropocentrics are humans who regard humans as the most important entity in the universe i.e. they’re the ones who possess the intrinsic value. At first glance, this seems quite egotistical, right? Well, it actually isn’t. Anthropocentrics are also striving towards environmental conservation, but their motivation and actions differ widely. They believe nature is for human use, and that we need to protect the ‘useful’ ecosystems and species so we can eventually exploit the natural capital. Their method to do this is by relying on humans, once again (who ironically caused the problem in the first place) to instigate laws, and promote widespread education about the environment.
Lastly, we have Technocentrism. Again, the prefix “techno” gives it away — it’s all about technology. Technocentrics believe no matter what issue arises in the environment, it is nothing that technology cannot solve. Technology is self-sufficient and effective, it can stimulate economic growth and increase living standards. Overall, technocentrics see tech as the logical and most effective approach to controlling and protecting the environment.
Although this appears to be quite a rigid structure in terms of environmental philosophies, it’s actually quite fluid and can be seen as more of a spectrum. This would include:
- Deep Ecologists: No human development, and the main priority is the well-being of nature.
- Self-reliance Soft Ecologists (Anthro + Eco): Small scale development is permissive. People should work in communities to protect the Earth.
- Environmental Managers (Anthro + Techno): Natural resources should be managed effectively so humans can fulfill its duty to take care of the Earth.
- Cornucopians — Earth resources are virtually infinite, so development can persist because technology will solve any and all issues.
- Mixed Bag (there’s no technical name for this :p): A combination of all three philosophies, where each issue demands a different perspective.
Where do you think you lie under these vast categories? Are you thinking humans? Technology? Environment? Or perhaps a ‘mixed bag’ like me!
So why does all of this matter? Let me tell you why. It matters because understanding your perception of the environment tells you how you can best contribute to the conservation of the environment.
If you notice, there is no philosophy that is better or worse. Each is seeking ecological preservation but with different aims in mind. However, the benefit of varying aims or intentions is that when it comes together, it can help us achieve a sustainable path towards environmental protection — which as we said in the beginning is a non-negligible duty of humans (especially because the environment is the reason to existence of all life so it’s a little hard to look past that).
