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DEEP ECOLOGY

DEEP ECOLOGY. BEHIND APPEARANCES. DEEP ECOLOGY. “. . . ecological science, concerned with facts and logic alone, cannot answer ethical questions about how we should live. For this we need ecological wisdom .

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DEEP ECOLOGY

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  1. DEEP ECOLOGY BEHIND APPEARANCES

  2. DEEP ECOLOGY “. . . ecological science, concerned with facts and logic alone, cannot answer ethical questions about how we should live. For this we need ecological wisdom. Deep ecology seeks to develop this by focussing on deep experience, deep questioning and deep commitment.” --Arne Naess

  3. Deciphering Determinism Although real wisdom is beyond science: “. . . the aim of science is not to open the door to everlasting wisdom, but to set a limit on everlasting error.” from Bertolt Brecht’s “Life of Galileo”

  4. The “DEEP ECOLOGY” Platform • All life has value in itself, independent of its usefulness to humans. • Richness and diversity contribute to life's well-being and have value in themselves. • Humans have no right to reduce this richness and diversity except to satisfy vital needs in a responsible way.

  5. The “DEEP ECOLOGY” Platform • The impact of humans in the world is excessive and rapidly getting worse. •  Human lifestyles and population are key elements of this impact. • The diversity of life, including cultures, can flourish only with reduced human impact.

  6. The “DEEP ECOLOGY” Platform • Basic ideological, political, economic and technological structures must therefore change. • Those who accept the foregoing points have an obligation to participate in implementing the necessary changes and to do so peacefully and democratically.

  7. We need “a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of animals. Remote from universal nature, and living by complicated artifice, we in civilization survey the creatures through the glass of our knowledge and see them for their incompleteness, for their tragic fate of having taken form so far below ourselves. An therein we err, and greatly err, for we shall not take measure of the animal.

  8. In a world older and more complete then ours they move finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings, they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the earth." (Adapted from Henry Beston, The Outermost House)

  9. INTERDISCIPLINARITY Creates an ideal environment for . . . “. . . the expression of unprecedented or novel perceptions, thoughts, or actions . . .” Exposes disciplinarians to new “ways of seeing, ways of thinking, ways of acting” that can be applied to real problems, and thereby . . . builds bridges between previously unrelated domains of knowledge It is virtually a formula for creativity

  10. Attitudes about our relationship to nature profoundly affect public policy . . . And are forged in part by spontaneous behavioral responses and in part by our cultural environment and development. University Studies Projects In this regard, historians of art, culture, religion, ecologists, sociologists and economists have much to learn from each other. Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est”

  11. The University of Tennessee, Knoxville has designated Spring semester of 2005, the ENVIRONMENTAL SEMESTER. From January through May the University will celebrate the teaching, research, and outreach activities of the University in which concern with the environment, conservation, or sustainable development is a central or significant component.

  12. Campus-wide events featuring lectures, presentations, shows, and performances by distinguished visiting scholars, artists, and performers will provide our 27,000 graduate and undergraduate students and the community many opportunities to experience and learn about the diverse ways in which we affect and are affected by our relationship to the environment.

  13. Campus-Wide Lectures • Robert F. Kennedy Jr. • Michael Klare and David Hill • Jonathan Weiner • E.O. Wilson • Holmes Rolston III • Lisa Newton • Sy Montgomery • Bruce Coull

  14. Anthropology Economics English History Sociology University Honors University Studies Interior design Journalism Philosophy Planning Political Science Almost 200 courses in over 40 departments In addition to the usual suspects, there are innovative courses in :

  15. Campus-Wide Exhibits • Agnes Denes: Projects for Public Spaces • Gregg Schlanger: Holston River Diaries • Lost Worlds: Discovering Past Environments • Solar and Wind Power Demonstration Project • University Center Concourse Gallery Nature Photo shows – Senator Baker and PhotoContest winners

  16. Campus-Wide Performances • Paul Winter Consort

  17. Campus-Wide Conferences • SE Regional Student Clean Energy Conference • Howard Baker Center Clean Air Conference

  18. Campus-Wide Lecture Series • Architecture: Mondays at 5:30 • Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries: Thursdays at 3:30 • “Documentaries in the Library” series • Dedicated environmental topics in many other seminar programs identified in the website calendar

  19. Centripetals • February: Joe Clark – “Ecology of Black Bears in the Okefenokee Swamp” • March: Tom Galligan – “ Toxic Torts” • April: Scott Frey – “ The Globalization of Hazardous Wastes”

  20. Celebrations • “Make Orange Green” Dorm Competition • Earth Day • Earth Fest

  21. Key Sponsors • Office of the Chancellor • College of Arts and Sciences • College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources • College of Architecture and Design • College of Business Administration • Student Central Program Council • Howard Baker Center for Public Policy • Energy, Environment and Resources Center

  22. DEEP ECOLOGY BEHIND APPEARANCES

  23. At this point, to more fully understand the relationship between humanity and nature, we can invoke the powerfully integrative perspective of DEEP ETHOLOGY

  24. DEEP ETHOLOGY • Description • Development • Ecology • Evolution • Physiology

  25. The DEEP ETHOLOGICAL Approach • Causes and consequences of behavior are both “proximate” and “ultimate” • Complementary questions representing relevant biological variables (“DEEP ETHOLOGY”) • Epigenetic cascade of interacting biological and environmental influences

  26. Affect & Moral Judgment BA9/10 (medial frontal gyrus),BA31 (posterior cingulate gyrus), and BA39 (angular gyrus, bilateral)were significantly more active in the moral-personal conditionthan in the moral-impersonal and the non-moral conditions. Greene et al 2001

  27. Brain and Religious Experience Normally, the “orientation area (bottom right) is active Meditating, the area is quiet and the meditator cannot find the border of self and world

  28. The contours of nature ". . . the religious life consists of the belief that there is an unseen order and that our supreme good lies in harmoniously adjusting ourselves thereto" (Wm. James, 1902)

  29. Threads of Evidence MEETING NEEDS Meeting NEEDS is the basic business of life. When real (or perceived) needs are not met, stress is created. Organisms have ancient and powerful mechanisms for relieving stress Needs exist in a hierarch of urgency. When the most urgent need is met, all the organism’s energy is focused on the next need.

  30. MEETING NEEDS ALL our biological adaptations have been preserved by natural selection because of their ability to help us meet our needs more effectively and efficiently. THIS includes BEHAVIORAL PATTERNS Not the least of which is the creation of narratives about causes and consequences. Spiritual experiences are unusual states of consciousness interpreted to support narratives about unseen forces that appear to guide us.

  31. The Hierachy of NEEDS • Physiology(food, drink, exercise, homeostasis) • Safety(security, order, protection) • Belonging( sociability, acceptance, love) • Esteem(status, prestige, acknowledgment) • Self-Actualization(personal fulfillment) --Abraham Maslow

  32. NEEDS “Be all you can be . . .” (US Army recruiting slogan) For most creatures, self-actualization is manifest as fitness

  33. NEEDS "The aim of life is self-development. To realize one's nature perfectly - that is what each of us is here for. . . .” (Oscar Wilde, from The Picture of Dorian Gray)

  34. Sir Francis Bacon • Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est.[For knowledge itself is power. Meditations Sacrae] • Naturam non vinces nisi parendo [You will not master [conquer] nature unless you obey it. Novum Organum, 1620]

  35. Decisions, decisions Responsible citizenship requires broad understanding – education of the heart as well as the mind. "The personal participation of the knower in the knowledge he believes himself to possess takes place within a flow of passion.” (Polanyi 1958:300).

  36. Perceptions of Nature How the sciences, arts, and humanities inform perceptions of nature and guide public policy

  37. The Biologist’s Bias Meeting NEEDS is the basic business of life. When real (or perceived) needs are not met, stress is created. Organisms have ancient and powerful mechanisms for relieving stress; more recent evolutionary innovations include education – the university! Needs exist in a hierarch of urgency. When the most urgent need is met, all the organism’s energy is focused on the next need. The university can give us tools and (hopefully) the judgment to use them wisely.

  38. The Hierarchy of NEEDS • Physiology(food, drink, exercise, homeostasis) • Safety(security, order, protection) • Belonging( sociability, acceptance, love) • Esteem(status, prestige, acknowledgment) • Self-Actualization(personal fulfillment) --Abraham Maslow

  39. NEEDS “Biological fitness” is an expression of self-actualization and it is the same for as for a sea-slug: “Be all you can be . . .” (US Army recruiting slogan)

  40. NEEDS "The aim of life is self-development. To realize one's nature perfectly - that is what each of us is here for. . . .” (Oscar Wilde) “The aim of the University is a true enlargement of mind which is the power of viewing many things at once. .” (John Henry Newman, 1873)

  41. Educating the heart as well as the mind "The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift." --Einstein

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