Hello,
I have been invited to New Brunswick to give a workshop on
deep ecology to the Youth Action Group of the NB Environmental
Network (March 19-21), and for the occasion, I made up the
annotated bibliography below. I thought it might be of general
interest to others. Anyone on this list can feel free to use it as
they see fit and in whatever modified form may be appropriate to
their personal circumstances.
David Orton
* * * * * * * * * * *
SELECTED DEEP ECOLOGY AND OTHER READINGS
A note: There are many different personal paths to deep
ecology awareness. That is, different paths to a
fundamental shift from human-centered to ecocentric
consciousness, in the way we relate to the Earth and the
natural world around us. Many of these paths have little to
do with reading books. Deep ecology provides the
philosophical base for the radical ecocentric Earth First
environmental movement. Studying this philosophy of deep
ecology, deepens activist awareness. On my own personal
journey, the following books have been important. They are
listed below for those who want some readings in deep
ecology. There are other deep ecology and related books,
(for example women authors like Delores Lachapelle and
Robyn Eckersley) but this list may get you started on
your own journey.
- David Orton
Arne Naess, "The Shallow and the Deep, Long-Range Ecology
Movement. A Summary", _Inquiry_ 16 (1973) 95-100. This is the
original, now famous article by Arne Naess, the Norwegian
philosopher and founder of the deep ecology movement, which
first made the now familiar distinctions between "shallow"
and "deep" ecology. This article, although of historical
interest, has been superseded by the eight-point _Deep
Ecology Platform_ worked out by Naess and the U.S. deep
ecologist George Sessions in 1984. It is this widely
accepted eight-point Platform, which now serves as a common
basis of unity and guide to action within the deep ecology
movement.
Arne Naess, _Ecology, community and lifestyle_, 1989,
Cambridge University Press. Reading this book is the best
single introduction to the depth, complexity (and obscurity)
of the deep ecology of Arne Naess.
George Sessions, editor, _Deep Ecology For The 21st Century:
Readings On The Philosophy And Practice Of The New
Environmentalism_, 1995, Shambhala Publications. Sessions
has played an important role in introducing and popularizing
deep ecology in North America. This book is divided into six
sections, with excellent introductions by Sessions to each
of the sections, which themselves contain essays by
representative thinkers within or having influence on the
deep ecology movement.
Andrew McLaughlin, _Regarding Nature: Industrialism,
Environmentalism, and Deep Ecology_, 1993, State University
of New York Press. A very important book, which combines a
deep ecology, bioregional and social justice perspective,
in its clarifying analysis of the roots and destructiveness
of industrial society. This book in many ways has provided
support for the theoretical tendency within deep ecology
known as "left biocentrism". McLaughlin has also written on
what he calls the "heart of deep ecology", the unifying
eight-point Deep Ecology Platform.
Richard Sylvan and David Bennett, _The Greening of Ethics:
>From Human Chauvinism to Deep-Green Theory_, 1994, The White
Horse Press. Sylvan, an Australian forest activist and
academic philosopher who died in 1996, was the "bad boy"
of the deep ecology movement and also a personal friend.
Sylvan was the sophisticated critic of intellectual
fuzziness of writings within the deep ecology movement. He
outlined these views in the 1985 _A Critique Of Deep
Ecology_, published by The Australian National University.
The same Critique was published in two parts, in the
journal _Radical Philosophy_ 1986, 40 and 41: 2-12 and
1-22. Sylvan, with his "deep green" theory has been an
important influence on left biocentrism.
Rudolf Bahro, was a German green philosopher and activist
who died of cancer in 1997. His influence is enormous,
particularly from a European perspective. He explored with a
ruthless honesty the real contradictions for a left wing
person of moving to a deep ecological consciousness. He saw
the necessity for a personal and societal spiritual change
if Earth destruction was to end. Industrialized countries
like Germany, the United States and Canada, needed to reduce
their impact upon the Earth to one-tenth of what it was. For
Bahro, "The earth can belong to no one" and "The ecological
crisis will bring about the end of capitalism." There are
five books available in English. Start with _From Red to
Green_, 1984 and then move on to his difficult but inspiring
final work, _Avoiding Social and Ecological Disaster: The
Politics of World Transformation_, subtitled "An Inquiry into
the Foundations of Spiritual and Ecological Politics", 1994,
Gateway Books, Bath, England. Bahro, in a Dec. 1995 letter,
declared his agreement "with the essential points" of left
biocentrism.
John Livingston, _The Fallacy of Wildlife Conservation_,
1981, McClelland and Stewart Limited; and _Rogue Primate:
An exploration of human domestication_, 1994, Key Porter
Books. A powerful Canadian eco-philosopher and naturalist
who David Suzuki has described as his mentor. For
Livingston, wildlife has to be valued and defended for its
own sake. Giving rational arguments for wildlife
preservation is to accept the logic of industrial society.
In the latest book, Livingston says that humans are the only
animal that have entered domestication on their own.
So-called resource conservation, "is a wholly proprietary,
human-chauvinist concept."
Saral Sarkar, _Eco-Socialism or Eco-Capitalism? A Critical
Analysis of Humanity's Fundamental Choices_, 1999, Zed Books,
London, England. While not a deep ecology perspective, this
is an important book for those concerned about whether or
not it is possible to fuse the radical ecology and the
socialist movements. Sarkar believes it is possible,
providing socialism is prepared to redefine itself and learn
"the ecological lesson" from the radical ecology movement.
This book gives an ecological critique of all forms of
socialism, a critique of green politics and an insightful
examination of traditional cultures and what can be learnt
from them. Sarkar was born in India and has lived in Germany
for many years. He is the author of the historical work,
_Green-Alternative Politics in West Germany_ (2 vols), 1993
and 1994, United Nations University Press.
OTHER IMPORTANT BOOKS
Clive Ponting, _A Green History Of The World: The
Environment and the Collapse of Great Civilizations_, 1991,
Sinclair-Stevenson Limited, England. It looks at world
history, e.g. what happened to Easter Island, from an
environmental perspective. A fundamental book to give a sense
of ecological and historical place. However, this book will
not come out and condemn industrial civilization and speak of
an alternative.
Aldo Leopold, _A Sand County Almanac: With Essays on
Conservation from Round River_, first published in 1949,
Sierra Club/Ballantine Book. Leopold illustrates in his life
and writings, the transition from U.S. forester and game
manager to environmental philosopher. His thinking, writings,
and metaphors e.g. the Land Ethic, "thinking like a mountain",
"round river rendezvous", "green fire", have become part of
the consciousness of radical environmentalism in North
America. Leopold's environmental ethics has become
influential: "A thing is right when it tends to preserve the
integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It
is wrong when it tends otherwise."
Calvin Luther Martin, _Keepers Of The Game: Indian-Animal
Relationships and the Fur Trade_, 1978, University of
California Press; and _In the Spirit of the Earth:
Rethinking History and Time_, 1992, The Johns Hopkins
University Press. These two important books aid in
realistically understanding aboriginal land ethics, past
and present. They also give insight, I believe, into
understanding a potential relationship between an indigenous
animism and deep ecology.
Olive Patricia Dickason, _Canada's First Nations: A History
of Founding Peoples from Earliest Times_, 1992, McClelland
& Stewart Inc. This is a progressive and detailed source of
information from Metis historian Dickason, on the aboriginal
peoples living in Canada.
Bill Devall, editor, _Clearcut: The Tragedy Of Industrial
Forestry_, 1993, Sierra Club Books/Earth Island Press. The
book for ecocentric forestry activists. It shows the totally
destructive ecological impact of capitalist industrial
forestry in Canada and the United States, that is
clearcutting. It has illustrations from each province in
Canada and each state in the U.S. This book also has
examples of an alternative forestry, influenced by deep
ecology and a wholistic ecological world view.
Edward Abbey, _The Monkey Wrench Gang_, 1975. A
politically incorrect novel about monkey wrenching in the
U.S. South West desert country, by four people who band
together in the tradition of the Luddites. This novel has
inspired many to activism. As Abbey says in this book
through the character Doc Sarvis: "Let our practice form our
doctrine, thus assuring precise theoretical coherence."
_Earth First! Journal_ It is published 8 times a year. This
is the activists' newspaper in the U.S. and Canada for the
"no-compromise environmental movement". Every ecocentric
radical activist in Canada and the States should read this
on a regular basis. Address: POB 1415, Eugene, Oregon 97440,
U.S.A. E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
LEFT BIOCENTRISM
This is a left focus or theoretical tendency within the deep
ecology movement. There is a ten-point _Left Biocentrism
Primer_ which presents a summary of the position. There is
also an internet discussion group called "left bio" which
supports the Primer and whose members take part in
theoretical and practical discussions.
For a consideration of some ideas important to left
biocentrism, see in particular the following two Green Web
Bulletins:
#63 "My Path to Left Biocentrism: Part I - The Theory," by
D. Orton, April 1998. This Bulletin is a theoretical
introduction to the left biocentric tendency within the deep
ecology movement. Part I includes the important thinkers for
a left biocentric synthesis, and discusses the continuities
and discontinuities of left biocentrism with deep ecology.
It also includes the ten- point "Left Biocentrism Primer."
#64 "My Path to Left Biocentrism: Part II - Actual Issues,"
by D. Orton, April 1998. This Bulletin shows the application
of left biocentrism to actual issues: forests and forestry,
aboriginal issues, relationship to the Left, green movement
and party, protected areas and wildlife, and sustainable
development. This Bulletin shows, in the context of the
listed issues, what is distinctive about left biocentrism
compared to deep ecology.
For more information about Left Biocentrism or anything in
this bibliography, contact the Green Web:
R.R.#3, Saltsprings, Nova Scotia, Canada, BOK 1PO
E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Home Page: http://fox.nstn.ca/~greenweb/gw-hp.htm
March, 1999
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