Return to search

Deep ecology and the environmental crisis: An anthropological inquiry into the viability of a movement

This thesis explores the contemporary environmental movement termed deep ecology. Deep ecologists attempt to understand root causes of the present environmental crisis by investigating values and beliefs that Western industrial nations hold about human relationships to nature. Deep ecologists envision a future society based on egocentrism rather than an anthropocentric orientation. The lifestyles they endeavor to create and propagate are based on the belief that all living things are intrinsically valuable. Deep ecologists borrow ideas from religious traditions around the world expressing parallel notions about the value of non-human life. This thesis will investigate the contributions of two of these traditions, Taoism and Transcendentalism. The paper will also include ethnographic examples of deep ecology living derived from the field experience of the author. There will be a discussion of deep ecology's relevance to ecological anthropology, to understand the potential impacts that both disciplines can have on each other.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/291968
Date January 1993
CreatorsFox, Diana Joyce, 1965-
ContributorsHenderson, Richard
PublisherThe University of Arizona.
Source SetsUniversity of Arizona
Languageen_US
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext, Thesis-Reproduction (electronic)
RightsCopyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author.

Page generated in 0.0561 seconds