Norwegian philosopher Arne Næss defined a new understanding of the term "ecology" to give it a theoretical foundation. This happened in 1973 already. He believed that ecology cannot only be understood by logical and scientific arguments but that it needs an "ecological wisdom". Deep Ecology is a combination of emotion and intellect.
He created 10 principles to explain the needed steps for humankind:
- The well-being and flourishing of human and nonhuman life on Earth have value in themselves (synonyms: intrinsic value, inherent value). These values are independent of the usefulness of the nonhuman world for human purposes.
- Richness and diversity of life forms contribute to the realization of these values and are also values in themselves.
- Humans have no right to reduce this richness and diversity except to satisfy vital human needs.
- The flourishing of human life and cultures is compatible with a substantial decrease of the human population. The flourishing of nonhuman life requires such a decrease.
- Present human interference with the nonhuman world is excessive, and the situation is rapidly worsening.
- Policies must therefore be changed. These policies affect basic economic, technological, and ideological structures. The resulting state of affairs will be deeply different from the present.
- The ideological change is mainly that of appreciating life quality (dwelling in situations of inherent value) rather than adhering to an increasingly higher standard of living. There will be a profound awareness of the difference between big and great.
- Those who subscribe to the foregoing points have an obligation directly or indirectly to try to implement the necessary changes.
German Podcast about deep ecology (Tiefenökologie):
http://cdn-storage.br.de/mir-live/podcast-migration/audio/podcast/import/2008_07/2008_07_29_17_20_54_podcast_radiowissen_tiefenoeko_a.mp3
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