The  Deep  Ecology  Platform

                                                                                                                                        by  Arne Naess and George Sessions


The eight-point Deep Ecology Platform at present provides the

unifying principles of the deep ecology movement.


                   
                    1. The well-being and flourishing of human and nonhuman life on Earth have
value in themselves (synonyms: inherent worth, intrinsic value,
                        inherent value).
  These values are independent of the usefulness of the nonhuman world for human purposes.

                    2. Richness and diversity of life-forms contribute to the realization of these
values and are also values in themselves.


                    3. Humans have no right to reduce this richness and diversity except to
  satisfy vital needs.

                    4. Present human interference with the nonhuman world is excessive, and the situation is rapidly worsening.

                    5. The flourishing of human life and cultures is compatible with a substantial decrease of the human population. The flourishing of nonhuman
                        life requires
such a decrease.

                    6. Policies must therefore be changed. The changes in policies affect basic economic, technological, and ideological structures. The resulting state
                        of affairs
will be deeply different from the present.

                    7. The ideological change is mainly that of appreciating life quality (dwelling in situations of inherent worth) rather than adhering to an
                        increasingly higher
standard of living. There will be a profound awareness of the difference between big and great.

                    8. Those who subscribe to the foregoing points have an obligation directly or indirectly to participate in the attempt to implement the necessary
                        changes.



                        From: Clearcut: The Tragedy of Industrial Forestry, edited by Bill Devall
(San Francisco: Sierra Club Books and Earth Island Press, 1993).


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         Last updated: September 09, 2012