Deep Ecology: A Debate on the Role of Humans in the Environment

Deep ecology is a relatively new and highly controversial environmental philosophy, laid out in eight basic principles as a guide for how human thought needs to change concerning the environment and the world around us. My project consists of a research paper which looks into what deep ecology is, how it has been received with society, including praises and criticisms, the role humans play in the environment as suggested by deep ecology, and finally, the comparison of this role of humans as suggested by deep ecology to the role of humans in the environment as interpreted from the Taoist perspective. Considering that we are moving in to an age where the environment is becoming a greater pressing issue, deep ecology is a very relevant topic. Humans are playing more of a role in the environment everyday, and the purpose of my project was to explore this idea further by comparing an environmentally philosophical perspective to an Eastern religious perspective, as I successfully have done.