Deep Green Earth
A website in support of ecocentrism, by Joe Gray
“ Once she ruled the Earth with love and wisdom. But we were much too smart to live her way. With greed and lust we tried to rise above her. The ignorance of man will reach an end. And now she's gonna die. ” — Kerry Livgren (from the lyrics to Kansas's 'Death of Mother Nature Suite')
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Recent highlights
► 'On algorithms and assassin bugs: Challenging the uncritical promotion of nature identification apps' – an article in The Ecological Citizen [7-minute read | READ ARTICLE]
► 'From darkness back into the light: Humanity’s rewilding imperative' – an editorial in The Ecological Citizen co-authored with Eileen Crist [9-minute read | READ ARTICLE]
► 'WITNESS: The dissipation of wildness (a personal experience)' – a post on the Earth Tongues blog [13-minute read | READ ARTICLE]
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A six-chapter story with an unusual narrator 25-minute read |
The deep green worldview
The deep green worldview sees hawks, hawthorns, and all the other beings that make up the more-than-human world as having value and meaning in their own right, not just as a result of any benefits that humans might derive from their existence. In this worldview, when an ancient hedge is destroyed, for instance, it is ethically wrong not simply because it deprives humans of anything they might have gained – materially, aesthetically, or spiritually – from its continuing existence. It has also caused an immeasurably greater wrong to the living system that is the hedge, as well as to the populations of species that used this as part of their life cycle.
This ethical extension from considering only 'instrumental' (human-benefiting) value to also recognizing 'intrinsic' (independent) value is neither trivial nor merely academic. Rather, its far-reaching practical implications represent an unparalleled opportunity: the chance to save much of the radiation of life with which we share the ecosphere from the cresting wave of extinction. Nothing else, I believe, gives this same hope.
Joshua tree, California, USA
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Deep Green Earth microsites
[ECOCENTRISM.UK] [ECODEMOCRACY.UK] [ECOFORESTRY.UK]
Other links
[THE ECOLOGICAL CITIZEN] [EARTH TONGUES BLOG] [IMPUDENT RAVEN]
Credits
This website has been designed using the following fonts: Barrio (Omnibus-Type; Open Font Licence) and Open Sans (Steve Matteson; Apache Licence, Version 2.0). The stylized howling wolf in the Deep Green Earth logo (below) was adapted from artwork created by 'oriu'. The wolf eyes artwork was created through combining a black-and-white sketch by 'ElemenTxD' with a green fire image by 'schankz'. All photos were taken by Joe Gray. The site is hosted on Kualo's renewably powered servers.
