Deep Ecology

Deep ecology seems to attempt to simultaneously figure out a way in which we can define ourselves as individuals and a way in which we fit into nature. To me it seems to have little reasoning behind it, rather it is just a glimpse into way a person could view the world if that is what they tended to believe. While I understand that deep ecologists believe that all “living”(even rivers/ecosystems) things have intrinsic value because they are part of a whole I am unsure as to who being part of that whole gives them intrinsic value though I suppose those parts are instrumental to the functioning of the whole. Even if a complex system with intrinsic value does convey intrinsic value to its components, I am not sure how we can assign intrinsic value to such a system. I do not feel that any of the papers we have read so far have given an adequate way of determining what has intrinsic value which is something that has value as its own property, rather it seems most people assign things intrinsic value.
It seems that deep ecologists make many claims based on how they feel in general the world and environment is doing, and it may or may not be based in fact; it appears that deep ecologists are even being encouraged to form their own opinion on the matter. Deep ecologists seem to want to say that we are not or should not be the masters of nature, and while I would never say we have complete control over nature just as a king never has complete control over a subject, we have become a dominant force of change on the planet and if we chose not to interfere so much nature the fact that it is our choice to make demonstrates to me that we are in fact dominant over nature(though I am not trying to say that we can escape our biotic needs/avoid the catastrophes that accompany overpopulation). The one basis for a respect for the protection of nature I feel I can agree with is the fact that we are so ignorant of its complexity, it seems difficult to defend destroying something we do not understand because such an action cannot be reasoned out as the right thing to do.