Shallow and Deep Ecology

Question 1

Who was Barry Commoner ?

Answer 1

Cellular biologists, college professor, politician and early leader of the modern environmental movement, put forth the Four Laws of Ecology

Question 2

What are the four laws of ecology? (Barry Commoner)

Answer 2

1. Everything is connected to everything else 2. Everything must go somewhere 3. Nature knows best 4. There is no such thing as a free lunch

Question 3

What is Pantheism?

Answer 3

God is identical with the cosmos, the view that there exists nothing which is outside of God.

Question 4

What is Organicism?

Answer 4

The universe and its various parts ought to be considered alive and naturally ordered, much like a living organism.

Question 5

Who wrote Silent Spring and what was it about?

Answer 5

Rachel Carson; First major piece that was able to bring environmental sciences to the public and, in turn, into public policy.

Question 6

What is DDT?

Answer 6

Considered a miracle pesticide. Target pests the were becoming a problem for the new practices of monoculture in agriculture

Question 7

What is the food chain?

Answer 7

a.Scientific research was showing that DDT worked its way up the food chain (Birds would eat the dead insects and DDT would, in turn, kill them)
C. In general, Carson showed to the public the hubris of modern science in the face of nature
1. Science had not considered the complex nature of living systems and the unanticipated consequences of their intervention
2. Carson took a holistic view of these systems

Question 8

What was the backlash against Silent Spring?

Answer 8

1. Chemical companies said the science was flawed, though didn’t say how
2. During the rise of the Cold War, it was considered “Communist”
3. Attacked by the mainstream press (Time magazine)
4. In not so subtle ways, attacked the ideas by attacking her as a woman (“priestess of nature”, “hysterical”, “cat lover”)

Question 9

With rise of the environmental and literary shockers a strong ecological movement arose and, with it, political successes. Within a few years:

Answer 9

1. 1967: The Environmental Defense Fund (whose work led to the ban DDT)
2. 1968: Grand Canyon Dams defeated
3. 1968: Redwoods National Park established (Northern Cal.)
4. 1970: First Earth Day
5. 1970: National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)

Question 10

What was the goals of the National Environmental Policy Act?

Answer 10

1. Encourage productive and enjoyable harmony between humans and nature
2. Elimination of the damage to the environment and the biosphere, and increased interest in ecological systems
3. Each American had a right to a healthy environment
4. Adopted a worldwide perspective and establish international programs

Question 11

What did the National Environmental Policy Act lead to?

Answer 11

1. The Environmental Protection Agency

2. Environmental Impact Statement

Question 12

What is the Environmental Protection Agency?

Answer 12

It consolidated into one agency a variety of federal research, monitoring, standard-setting and enforcement activities to ensure environmental protection.

Question 13

What is the Environmental Impact Statement?

Answer 13

Must be filed for all projects using federal funds, must study for any irreversible impact

Question 14

What is the Endangered Species Act?

Answer 14

Its job is to monitor and protect all species (“bad” or “good”).

Question 15

Who was Arme Naess?

Answer 15

Coined the term deep ecology. Saw the underlying problem with environmental movement was not things it was fighting against, but its underlying anthropocentrism

Question 16

What is Shallow Ecology?

Answer 16

Fight against pollution/resource depletion for health and affluence of people. Anthropocentric.

Question 17

What is deep ecology?

Answer 17

Saw that among ecological field workers a much deeper relationship was forming

Question 18

Deep ecology is bottom up:

Answer 18

1. Informed by people (ecologists) who commune with nature and induction (bottom up)
2. Deep Ecology is informed by normative values (morality) that is only partly informed by science (Carson)

Question 19

What does Ecosophy (Eco Wisdom) encompass?

Answer 19

a. Norms (values, understandings, perceptions) and hypotheses on where we should go
b. Systems theory: How all things inter-relate with each other.
c. Must only be moderately precise because it is looking at the forest (as opposed to the trees)

Question 20

What is standing?

Answer 20

Right to be represented by self in court

a. Only people had the right to have standing
b. If you wanted to challenge an environmental issue in court, had to show harm done to humans (e.g. live down river)

Question 21

What is expansion of rights?

Answer 21

The “they” becomes “us” : One can see a growing expansion of rights and a growing community:
Standing” will allow:
1. Us to recognize natures rights and our duties to it
2. To Institute legal actions on its behalf
3.Make the court take injury into account when addressing righting wrongs (torts-suing)

Question 22

What was the Sierra Club vs. Morton (1972) ?

Answer 22

Sierra Club sued to prevent Disney from developing a ski resort (Mineral King) in the Southern Sierra’s. Court said Sierra Club had no standing. In response to ecological concerns, environmental objects should be granted legal personhood by the public

Question 23

What was the Nature et al. vs David Slater (2016)?

Answer 23

David Slater, a wildlife photographer, left his camera out hoping the nearby Celebes crested macaques might take a selfie. One, named Naruto, did: Wikimedia Commons and the blog Techdirt posted the photos and David Slater sued for copyright infringement. PETA, wanting to make the precedent for the “rights of nature” sued for Naruto’s claim to the copyright, since he took the picture. The court decided in Slater’s favor, saying nonhumans can’t hold copyrights.

Question 24

What is the first principle of deep ecology?

Answer 24

Total-field image: Against the separation of humans and nature.

Question 25

What is the second principle of deep ecology?

Answer 25

Biospherical Egalitarianism” :The equal right to live and blossom

Question 26

What is the third principle of deep ecology?

Answer 26

Diversity and symbiosis

Question 27

What is the fourth principle of deep ecology?

Answer 27

Anti-class posture: Applying beliefs of egalitarianism, symbiosis and diversity to the biological realm

Question 28

What is the fifth principle of deep ecology?

Answer 28

Pollution and resource depletion.

Question 29

What is the sixth principle of deep ecology?

Answer 29

Complexity, not complication

Question 30

What is the seventh principle of deep ecology?

Answer 30

Local autonomy and decentralization