Environmentalism

Mathew Humphrey

In the literature on environmental political thought, environmentalism is generally held to be distinct from ecologism on the basis of the degree of social, economic, and political change that is held to be necessary. Ecologism, in its various forms, seeks a comprehensive restructuring of society and economy and a fundamental change in the way the relationship between the human and nonhuman worlds is perceived. In this view, the solution to the perceived environmental crisis can be brought about only through a radical change in ideology, economy, and society. Environmentalism, in contrast, while sharing with ecologism the view that the world is experiencing serious environmental problems, seeks to ameliorate the problems within, rather than by replacing our current economic and political systems. Andrew Dobson, thus, denies it a place as a distinct political ideology. Environmentalism (or what Arne Naess called “shallow ecology”) thus tends to seek such things as better Concern ...

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