With a Little Work, Deep Ecology is the Key

When I initially read Arne Naess' essays, I was somewhat confused by what he referred to as “deep ecology” or "ecosophy". It was difficult to pick apart the philosophical jargon and get to the heart of the point he was trying to make. However, when I read Devall and Sessions' view of deep ecology, the pieces that were unclear to me in Naess' piece suddenly made sense, and I was pleased to discover that I agreed with their ideas. According to these ecologists, humans need to stop thinking of themselves as somehow better than or separate from nature and instead realize that we are a component of the much larger biotic community. We need to stop thinking of "I" and instead think of "we", but not just in terms of other humans, but of all living beings. All living beings are dependent upon each other and by destroying one, we do harm to all others including ourselves.
We will get nowhere with our efforts to preserve the earth until rid our minds of the idea that we are somehow apart from nature, while all other living and non-living things are a part of it. Are we that egotistical that we think that we are better than everyone else simply because we have a higher intellectual ability than other species? Earth is our home and we must realize that we are an integral part of it. This is where our higher brain power comes into play. We have the capacity to either destroy or preserve nature. No other species can inflict the damage that our species can and we must recognize this. According to Devall and Sessions, "if we harm the rest of Nature then we are harming ourselves" (230). The reverse of this phrase must also be true. By respecting and taking care of not only our species, but other species we better ourselves as human beings. If we are able to take these suggestions to heart, our next step is to begin to simplify our way of living.
Devall and Sessions admit that this will not be easy and that people cannot be expected to change overnight. This will take time and effort on all of our parts and the authors encourage everyone to take their ideas and add to them their own ideas about deep ecology. The only question I am left with, which seems to be a recurring question with each article I read is how do we get people to accept these ideas and really utilize them? For me Naess, Devall and Sessions ideas make complete intuitive sense, but for skeptics a great deal more convincing is neccessary before they fully embrace the ideas of deep ecology. For some it may take empirical data, for others an emotional connection to the crisis at hand, and for others still maybe an epiphany brought on by religious beliefs, but whatever the case something must be done to change our mindset because as of right now, there is "no grand solution which is guaranteed to save us from ourselves"(230).