deep ecology

noun

Etymology: Coined by Arne Næss.

1. An ecological and environmental philosophy that advocates the inherent worth of living beings regardless of their instrumental utility to human needs.

   “Shallow ecology is anthropocentric, or human-centered. It views humans as above our outside of nature, as the source of all value, and ascribes only instrumental, or “use,” value to nature. Deep ecology does not separate humans—or anything else—from the natural environment.”

   “In the early 1970s, after three decades teaching philosophy at the University of Oslo, Mr. Naess (pronounced Ness), an enthusiastic mountain climber and an admirer of Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring,” threw himself into environmental work and developed a theory that he called deep ecology.”