Environmental issues are increasingly on the agenda and education is recognised as an important part in turning the negative trend. Originally formulated in 1976, the intent of environmental education was toprotect the nature from human impact and to induce in students a sense of the natural worlds’ own values.However, this has come to change during the years and the focus now lies on the values that nature possess for humans, in the shape of education for sustainable development. Though creating a concern for the environmental issues, critics point out that the anthropocentric attitude is not as strongly committed to protecting the nature as the ecocentric attitudes are, and therefore suggest that ecocentrism should be included in the curriculums. Assuming that biology in Swedish upper secondary school is the only subject where such values may be considered this study examines whether there is a significant difference between students who undergo these classes and students who do not, in terms of their attitudes. The study was divided in two parts, where firstly a content analysis was performed to confirm that biology was indeed the only subject to include ecocentric values, and secondly a comparative study was performed with students (n=82) taking biology and students not taking biology in Swedish upper secondary school. The results imply that biology is unique in including ecocentric attitudes, however, not to the extent that was expected. Furthermore, the results reveal that there is no significant difference between students taking the biology classes and students who do not, implying that the subject biology is not successful in increasing students ecocentric attitudes.

The oppression of nonhuman animals in Western culture observed in societal institutions and practices such as the factory farm, hunting, and vivisection, exhibits alarming linkages and parallels to some episodes of the oppression of human animals. This work traces the foundations of anthropocentrism in Western philosophy and connects them to the oppressions of racism, sexism, and ethnocentrism. In outlining a uniform theory of oppression detailed through the marginalization, isolation, and exploitation of human and nonhuman animals alike, parallels among the groups emerge as the fused oppression of each exhibits a commonality among them. The analysis conducted within this work highlights the development and sustainment of oppression in the West and illuminates the socio-historical tendencies apparent in the oppression of human and nonhuman animals alike.

Eftersom det inte finns något universellt rätt eller fel sätt att hantera jordens resurser så håller etiska frågor på att bli en allt viktigare del av diskussionen kring våra gemensamma tillgångar. Det övergripande syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka och beskriva gymnasieungdomars etiska tankar kring människans förhållande till naturen. För analysen används två perspektiv som står i konflikt med varandra, nämligen de miljöetiska centrismerna och ekofeminismen, som kritiserar centrismtanken. Sex gymnasieungdomar har intervjuats i grupper om tre angående sin syn på människans förhållande till naturen. Resultatet pekar på att elevernas miljöetik är mestadels antropocentrisk, med vissa inslag av djurrättsbiocentrism, och att de ser omsorg som ett moraliskt motiv. I diskussionen problematiseras resultatet i förhållande till de två synsätten och kopplingar görs till den svenska samhällsdebatten, media och tecknad film. Slutsatsen är att omsorgsdimensionen bör stärkas i naturkunskapsundervisningen eftersom den idag är en outnyttjad resurs i fråga om att skapa engagemang för miljöfrågorna, men att man samtidigt inte får glömma bort att fakta utgör en viktig del av välgrundade beslut. / Solving environmental issues is not only a matter of good knowledge but also of ethics, since there is no absolute right or wrong in man’s way of handling nature. To be able to design a science education that meets governmental requirements and enables the students to participate in future environmental discussions it is important to be aware of their own ethic reflections. The over all aim of this study is to describe and survey the environmental ethics of students in the age of 16-19 years. Six students at the age of 16-19 was interviewed concerning their opinion on man’s relationship to nature. The result shows that the environmental ethics of these students is mostly anthropocentric with a certain amount of animal rights biocentrism and that they consider care to be a moral reason. The result is discussed in relation to the two different perspectives and the author makes connections to social debate, media and cartoons. The conclusion is that the perspective of care should receive more attention in science education. Care is today an unused resource of involvement to environmental issues. Finally the author pinpoints the fact that also good knowledge is absolutely necessary when making sensible decisions.

This paper used the constant comparative method to examine the 12 animated features released by Disney between 2000 and 2010 for: (1) their representation of nonhuman animals (NHAs) and the portrayal of race, class, gender, and speciesism within this representation, (2) the ways they describe the relationship between humans and NHAs, and (3) whether they promote an animal rights perspective. Three major themes were identified: NHAs as stereotypes, family, and human/NHA dichotomy. Analysis of these themes revealed that Disney’s animated features promote speciesism and celebrate humanity’s superiority by justifying the subordination of NHAs to human agency. Furthermore, while Disney’s representation of NHAs remains largely anthropocentric, most of its animated features do not reflect the tenets of animal rights.

Denna uppsats ämnar med hjälp av av teorier från ekokritik och posthumanism besvara frågorna hur Mary Shelley i sin roman skildrar relationen mellan natur och människa, samt hur man med utgångspunkt i Frankensteins monster (i uppsatsen refererad till som Skapelsen) kan diskutera begreppet människa. Med ekokritik menas här att studera det mänskliga jämfört med det ickemänskliga samt att också diskutera detta mänskliga, vilket är en av huvudpoängerna inom posthumanism. Den vetenskapssyn och natursyn som var gällande på Mary Shelleys tid var antropocentrisk, en världsåskådning som alltid utgår ifrån människan, och som oftast ger människan högre status än allt annat. I romanen skildras detta genom Kapten Waltons syn på sitt upptäcktsresande, och Victor Frankensteins önskan att besegra döden, eller naturen, genom att skapa en ny varelse, för vilket han får plikta med sitt liv, då han inte klarar det hårda klimatet vid Nordpolen. Det blir alltså naturen som dödar honom. I detta kan ses Mary Shelleys kritik mot ett oansvarigt utforskande av naturen och dess processer. Vid försök att diskutera konceptet människa kan upptäckas att en definition lätt motarbetas genom att inte alla människor passar in på denna definition, och att det också kan finnas andra varelser som helt eller delvis gör det. Saken kompliceras dessutom av att en maskin, en robot, eller en artificiell intelligens, numera kan fungera mycket likt en hjärna, och att den mänskliga hjärnan beskrivs som en serie elektrokemiska impulser. Vi leds att acceptera Derridas tanke att människa inte är något som går att definiera. Även denna diskussion kan ses som antropocentrisk, vilket är en av svårigheterna; att bortse från sin egen kulturs världsåskådning. / The main focus of this essay is to attempt to answer the questions of how Mary Shelley, in her novel Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus, portrays the relationship between man and nature, and how Frankensteins creature can serve as a starting point in a discussion of the term human. The theories of ecocriticism - here described as the study of the relationship between human and nonhuman - and poshumanism, which contains the premisses for discussing this human, reveal many interesting things about the novel. The scientific approach to the world, and by extension, nature, can in Shelleys novel be considered anthropocentric, which is portrayed as a damaging world-view. Attempts to discuss the concept of human reveals that any definition can be met with resistence and objections. Not all humans meet the criteria of a certain definition, and there may be other creatures that do. The conclusion here may be that the human simply cannot be defined properly.

How and why do organizations approach greening? How can we conceptualize approaches and how can we encourage reflexive dialogues on them? These are the main questions addressed in this qualitative study on organizational greening. The study sets off by discussing matters of research philosophy, arguing that our trust in science ought to be revised and that a more postmodern and constructionist philosophy might be a way to go. This is then followed by a theoretical review, showing that organizational studies have a history in environmental issues, but that it is basically technocentric in orientation. A more reflexive organizational approach is suggested. The empirical part of the study is based on qualitative research of five case studies, representing a mix of organizations situated in Sweden, all with an explicit ambition to approach greening. The analyses target the organizations' approaches from practice to assumptions, pointing at the commonalities as well as the tensions. Basically, greening was an issue for all studied organizations, but an increasing pressure to market-orient their operations in line with the business rhetoric dominated their identity construction. The environment was included if there were opportunities of win-win situations between environment and economy in sight. Once embarked upon, the organizations tended to focus on technocratic practices, developing or implementing management systems, product development indexes, life-cycle methodologies and other tools. On a more philosophical level, in the study referred to as the worldview level, the approaches were predominandy characterized by a representative epistemology and a dualistic ontology, that is, they were clearly anthropocentric. With a base in these findings, an alternative approach is discussed as a way out, or as a way of constructing a reflexive dialogue on greening. This is partly based on the tensions within and between the cases, which encouraged reflections on how greening was approached. In the alternative, organizations are seen as actors on a symbolic agora where transparency, participation and self-reflexivity are keys to organizational legitimacy. This view frames organizations in the dominating approach as agoraphobic producers of materialistically dependent satisfiers. The alternative also targets the limits of a preference and materialistically oriented view on die satisfaction of human needs. Instead, it is argued that environmental and cultural sensitivity should be acknowledged as natural parts of organizational greening. This, however, demands more room for reflexive dialogues encouraging ontological awareness and a respect for more ecocentric views. / digitalisering@umu

During the last 50 years, western European societies have been successful in creating economic growth, a functioning democracy and uniting these with social welfare. At the same time, environmental problems have become a major political challenge. Although some measures have been taken to introduce environmental protection, there continue to be serious problems. These can be related to democratic priorities and public information in the sense that they may, amongst other things, be a result of misinformed democratic publics. Jürgen Habermas's work is important for our understanding of how environmental problems can be managed better than today if, contrary to the ecoauthoritarian ideas, we consider that the solution to these problems calls for more democracy and better democratic forms. One can argue that his theory of communicative action makes it difficult to ignore him in debates about today's environmental problems. There are, nevertheless, three difficulties associated with developing a model based on Habermas's theory. Critics argue that, firstly, his theory has theoretical weaknesses; secondly, it is formulated in a way which makes empirical analysis impossible; and, thirdly, it cannot explain the rise of environmental protests and environmental movements, even if Habermas has this ambition. In the thesis, it is considered that environmental problems are political-cultural questions. Accordingly, a political cultural theory is constructed to interprete Habermas's ideas and assess the arguments of his critics. This theory consists of assumptions about notions and types of language-use used in co-ordinating collective action. It is built on the following variables: view of knowledge, view of social values and nature, and view of language-use. It is argued that Habermas's ideas can be defended, if one elaborates a political subculture that is biocentric (nature-centred), as a complement to anthropocentrism (a human-centred view of nature). Thus, his theory of communicative action can be used to develop a cultural model for empirical studies of environmental policy processes. The model consists of three cultural ideal types: anthropocentric material; anthropocentric immaterial; and biocentric immaterial. Obstacles to social learning and public participation, such as forms and styles of reasoning and the exclusion of citizens, are brought into focus. Finally, the model functions as a criticism of a neo-liberal view of environmental problems. Such a view lacks concepts for understanding how individuals consciously can co-ordinate their ideas and individual actions into a collective action. / digitalisering@umu

As the population of the earth expands the natural world shrinks in order to give space to our growing population. This is a problem since humans have a big part in the destruction of natural habitats. In Gretel Ehrlich’s The Solace of Open Spaces we find a close interaction between human culture and nature. The Solace of Open Spaces can be categorized as creative non fiction, and with this is mind I intend to employ a theoretical approach called ecocriticism when analyzing The Solace of Open Spaces. The following essay will examine how the narrator of The Solace of Open Spaces has depicted the relation between nature and culture. The study will be conducted by a close reading of The Solace of Open Spaces. Other than the close reading a series of important articles and websites have been consulted for further information regarding certain keywords and concepts. Important keywords which are found throughout the essay are: anthropocentrism, cowboy, culture, dualism, nature and sheepherder. My initial theory is that even though it might not be intended, a nature and culture dualism is present in The Solace of Open Spaces. I base the assumption on my belief that all humans objectify nature and see nature as a possession. The aim of the essay is to establish whether there is a nature and culture dualism present in The Solace of Open Spaces.

In this work, I scrutinize Leopold&rsquo / s land ethic and Callicott&rsquo / s interpretation of it both from normative and meta-ethical perspectives by making textual and conceptual analyses. Leopold suggests that an ethic which makes us responsible for the protection of whole nature is evolutionarily possible and ecologically necessary. Callicott tried to buttress Leopold&rsquo / s land ethic by developing a nonanthropocentric axiology and some meta-principles. Moreover, in his view, Leopold&rsquo / s views are not only compatible with nonanthropocentric axiology but also imply it. I show that Leopold did not build the land ethic on nonanthropocentrism and he did not enforce attribution of intrinsic value to nature and its constituents. I argue that weak anthropocentrism is quite compatible with Leopold&rsquo / s views, and it provides a way to maintain normative power of land ethic without being ecofascistic. Furthermore, I discuss that Leopold might not have objected attribution of intrinsic value to nonhuman beings although he primarily referred to instrumental values of nature. Moreover, I argue that Leopold preferred a middle position between the concepts of preservation and conservation. As a man of practical wisdom Leopold has always tried to find middle and practicable ways between opposing extremes to harmonize human realm with nonhuman one and to grow the embryo of the conservationist movement. Finally, I argue that Leopold&rsquo / s land ethic is a human ethic which requires human moral agents to accept responsibility for protecting whole nature in order to attain good life.

<p>As the population of the earth expands the natural world shrinks in order to give space to our growing population. This is a problem since humans have a big part in the destruction of natural habitats. In Gretel Ehrlich’s The Solace of Open Spaces we find a close interaction between human culture and nature. The Solace of Open Spaces can be categorized as creative non fiction, and with this is mind I intend to employ a theoretical approach called ecocriticism when analyzing The Solace of Open Spaces. The following essay will examine how the narrator of The Solace of Open Spaces has depicted the relation between nature and culture. The study will be conducted by a close reading of The Solace of Open Spaces. Other than the close reading a series of important articles and websites have been consulted for further information regarding certain keywords and concepts. Important keywords which are found throughout the essay are: anthropocentrism, cowboy, culture, dualism, nature and sheepherder. My initial theory is that even though it might not be intended, a nature and culture dualism is present in The Solace of Open Spaces. I base the assumption on my belief that all humans objectify nature and see nature as a possession. The aim of the essay is to establish whether there is a nature and culture dualism present in The Solace of Open Spaces.</p>