Title of a journal article in Ecological Economics, Volume 185, to be published in July, 2021:
"Beyond ecosystem services and nature's contributions: Is it time to leave utilitarian environmentalism behind?".
From the "Highlights" of the article (preceding the Abstract)---
"We plead for a paradigm shift, away from utilitarian, anthropocentric and dualistic conceptions of human-nature relations."
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800921000963
As Homo sapiens attempts to move toward sustainability and all things "Green", it seems to me that we're still missing an important underpinning to the success of those efforts. It's known as ecocentrism.
In the dozens of articles on the circular economy, the doughnut/donut economy, etc. which I've read, the ideology of anthropocentrism appears to prevail. Is that, as Lynn White proposed decades ago, due to the Judeo-Christian worldview of the Nature-Human relationship (which sees humanity both superior to and separate from Nature)? Perhaps, but I really don't know.
In any case and in general, humans do seem to be filled with hubris... especially regarding nonhuman life. That's a problem when we profess to be "going Green". In my view, there will be no successful sustainability without the adoption of ecoethics on a massive scale. Ecoethics will not be the prevailing philosophical standard without a paradigm shift in our view of the natural world. In the meantime, our efforts toward sustainability - though laudable and a good first step - still amount to tinkering around the edges of the socio-eco-econ-ethical Crisis.
Nonhuman life has intrinsic value, not just utilitarian value. The Earth is not here for us to "subdue" (from the Book of Genesis in the Bible). The spark of life in all beings is the spirit of Universal Consciousness.
As Barry Commoner stated in 1971 (in his book, The Closing Circle): "Everything is connected to everything else". We humans are not separate from Nature; we are Nature. We don't "come into the world" when we're born. We come from it. All beings are Universal Consciousness expressing Itself.
Without the above worldview, I don't see how we can live in harmony with Nature, or have any significant degree of sustainability.
Not only my opinion. Be Well
