1.1 ENVIRONMENTAL VALUE SYSTEMS
Significant ideas
● Historical events, among other influences, affect the development of environmental values systems
and environmental movements.
● There is a wide spectrum of environmental value systems each with their own premises and
implications.
Applications and skills
● Discuss the view that the environment can have its own intrinsic value.
● Evaluate the implications of two contrasting environmental value systems in the context of given
environmental issues.
● Justify the implications using evidence and examples to make the justification clear.
Understandings
1. Significant historical influences on the development of the environmental movement have come from
literature, the media, major environmental disasters, international agreements and technological
developments.
2. An EVS is a worldview or paradigm that shapes the way an individual, or group of people,
perceives and evaluates environmental issues, influenced by cultural, religious, economic and
socio-political contexts.
3. An EVS might be considered as a system in the sense that it may be influenced by education,
experience, culture and media (inputs), and involves a set of interrelated premises, values and
arguments that can generate consistent decisions and evaluations (outputs).
4. There is a spectrum of EVSs, from ecocentric through anthropocentric to technocentric value systems.
5. There are extremes at either end of this spectrum (for example, deep ecologists– ecocentric to
cornucopian–technocentric), but in practice, EVSs vary greatly depending on cultures and time
periods, and they rarely fit simply or perfectly into any classification.
6. Different EVSs ascribe different intrinsic value to components of the biosphere.
,Development of Environmental Movement
Before the 1960s
○ Romans reported on problems such as air and water pollution.
○ Late 14th century - mid 16th century, human-produced waste associated with the Black Plague.
○ Soil conservation was practised in China, India and Peru as early as 2,000 years ago.
Who is involved in the environmental movement?
○ Influential individuals often use media publications (e.g. Rachel Carson's Silent Spring) to
raise issues and start the debate.
○ Independent pressure groups (i.e. NGOs) use awareness campaigns to effect a change (e.g.
Greenpeace on Arctic exploration). They influence the public who then influence government
and corporate business organisations.
○ Corporate businesses, especially MNCs and TNCs, are involved since they are supplying
consumer demand and in doing so using resources and creating environmental impact.
○ Governments make policy decisions including environmental ones, and apply legislation to
manage the country. They also meet with other governments to consider international
agreements.
○ Intergovernmental bodies such as the United Nations have become highly influential in recent
times by holding Earth Summits to bring together governments, NGOs, and corporations to
consider global environmental and world development issues.
Outline of the environmental movement
○ Neolithic Agricultural Revolution (10,000 years ago)
■ Humans settled to become farmers instead of nomadic hunter-gatherers.
■ Human population began to rise.
■ Local resources were managed sustainably from around the settlement.
○ Industrial Revolution (early 1800s)
■ Population growth and resource use escalated.
■ Large scale production of goods and services for all.
■ Burning of large amounts of fuel in the form of trees and coal.
■ Mining of minerals to produce metals to make machines.
■ Limestone quarried for cement production.
■ Land was cleared, natural waterways polluted, cities became crowded and smoky.
■ Our urban consumer society arose.
○ Green Revolution (1940s - 1960s)
■ Mechanized agriculture and boosted food production.
■ The building of machinery and burning of enormous amounts of oil.
■ Technology was applied to agriculture.
■ New crop varieties were developed and fertilizer and pesticide use rose sharply.
■ World population grew to about 3 billion.
■ Resource use and waste production rocketed.
○ Modern environmental movement (1960s onwards)
■ The impacts became more global: collapsing fish stocks, endangered species, pesticide
poisoning, deforestation, nuclear waste, ozone layer depletion, global warming, etc.
■ A new breed of environmentalists surfaced who had scientific backgrounds and
spearheaded the modern environmental movement.
■ Greenpeace founded in 1971.
, ■ Influential individuals wrote books (e.g. Silent Spring).
■ NGOs campaigned and the media reported.
■ Governments formed nature reserves and put environmental issues on their agenda.
■ Some businesses marketed themselves as environment-friendly.
■ UNEP organised Earth Summits on the environment.
■ The movement became public and gained momentum.
○ Environmentalism today
■ More research on loss of biodiversity and climate change leading to more action to
protect the environment and encourage sustainability from governments, corporations,
and individuals.
■ Climate change globally accepted as an environmental problem.
■ Discovery of fracking process to release shale gas and oil shale reserves increases
tensions between technocentrists and ecocentrists.
Historical influences in the Environmental Movement
, Environmental Value Systems
An environmental value system (EVS) is a worldview or paradigm that shapes the way an individual or group of
people perceive and evaluate environmental issues.
● influenced by cultural, religious, economic and socio-political context.
Categories of EVS
ecocentrists anthropocentrists technocentrists
deep ecologists self-reliant soft ecologists environmental cornucopians
managers
Ecocentric
● puts ecology and nature as central to humanity.
● emphasizes a less materialistic approach to life with greater self-sufficiency of societies.
● is life-centered - which respects the rights of nature and the dependence of humans on nature.
● integrates social, spiritual and environmental aspects into a holistic view of life, earth-centred.
● prioritises bio-rights, emphasises the importance of education and self-restraint in human behaviour.
● summary:
○ the Earth is here for all species.
○ resources are limited so we need to use them carefully.
○ we should manage growth so that only beneficial forms occur.
○ there should be minimum disturbance of natural processes.
○ we must work with the Earth, not against it.
○ we need the Earth more than it needs us.
Anthropocentric
● believes humans must sustainably manage the global system.
○ i.e. through the use of taxes, environmental regulation and legislation.
● encourages debate to reach a consensual, pragmatic approach to solving environmental problems.
● is human-centred - humans are not dependent on nature but nature is there to benefit humankind.
● summary:
○ economic growth and resource use can continue as long as improvements are made in legal
rights to a minimum level of environmental quality.
○ compensation arrangements are made satisfactory for people who experience bad
environmental and social effects.
Technocentric
● believes that technological developments can provide solutions to environmental problems.
● a consequence of a largely optimistic view of the role humans can play in improving humanity.
● encourages scientific research to form policies.
● a pro-growth agenda is deemed necessary for society’s improvement.
Significant ideas
● Historical events, among other influences, affect the development of environmental values systems
and environmental movements.
● There is a wide spectrum of environmental value systems each with their own premises and
implications.
Applications and skills
● Discuss the view that the environment can have its own intrinsic value.
● Evaluate the implications of two contrasting environmental value systems in the context of given
environmental issues.
● Justify the implications using evidence and examples to make the justification clear.
Understandings
1. Significant historical influences on the development of the environmental movement have come from
literature, the media, major environmental disasters, international agreements and technological
developments.
2. An EVS is a worldview or paradigm that shapes the way an individual, or group of people,
perceives and evaluates environmental issues, influenced by cultural, religious, economic and
socio-political contexts.
3. An EVS might be considered as a system in the sense that it may be influenced by education,
experience, culture and media (inputs), and involves a set of interrelated premises, values and
arguments that can generate consistent decisions and evaluations (outputs).
4. There is a spectrum of EVSs, from ecocentric through anthropocentric to technocentric value systems.
5. There are extremes at either end of this spectrum (for example, deep ecologists– ecocentric to
cornucopian–technocentric), but in practice, EVSs vary greatly depending on cultures and time
periods, and they rarely fit simply or perfectly into any classification.
6. Different EVSs ascribe different intrinsic value to components of the biosphere.
,Development of Environmental Movement
Before the 1960s
○ Romans reported on problems such as air and water pollution.
○ Late 14th century - mid 16th century, human-produced waste associated with the Black Plague.
○ Soil conservation was practised in China, India and Peru as early as 2,000 years ago.
Who is involved in the environmental movement?
○ Influential individuals often use media publications (e.g. Rachel Carson's Silent Spring) to
raise issues and start the debate.
○ Independent pressure groups (i.e. NGOs) use awareness campaigns to effect a change (e.g.
Greenpeace on Arctic exploration). They influence the public who then influence government
and corporate business organisations.
○ Corporate businesses, especially MNCs and TNCs, are involved since they are supplying
consumer demand and in doing so using resources and creating environmental impact.
○ Governments make policy decisions including environmental ones, and apply legislation to
manage the country. They also meet with other governments to consider international
agreements.
○ Intergovernmental bodies such as the United Nations have become highly influential in recent
times by holding Earth Summits to bring together governments, NGOs, and corporations to
consider global environmental and world development issues.
Outline of the environmental movement
○ Neolithic Agricultural Revolution (10,000 years ago)
■ Humans settled to become farmers instead of nomadic hunter-gatherers.
■ Human population began to rise.
■ Local resources were managed sustainably from around the settlement.
○ Industrial Revolution (early 1800s)
■ Population growth and resource use escalated.
■ Large scale production of goods and services for all.
■ Burning of large amounts of fuel in the form of trees and coal.
■ Mining of minerals to produce metals to make machines.
■ Limestone quarried for cement production.
■ Land was cleared, natural waterways polluted, cities became crowded and smoky.
■ Our urban consumer society arose.
○ Green Revolution (1940s - 1960s)
■ Mechanized agriculture and boosted food production.
■ The building of machinery and burning of enormous amounts of oil.
■ Technology was applied to agriculture.
■ New crop varieties were developed and fertilizer and pesticide use rose sharply.
■ World population grew to about 3 billion.
■ Resource use and waste production rocketed.
○ Modern environmental movement (1960s onwards)
■ The impacts became more global: collapsing fish stocks, endangered species, pesticide
poisoning, deforestation, nuclear waste, ozone layer depletion, global warming, etc.
■ A new breed of environmentalists surfaced who had scientific backgrounds and
spearheaded the modern environmental movement.
■ Greenpeace founded in 1971.
, ■ Influential individuals wrote books (e.g. Silent Spring).
■ NGOs campaigned and the media reported.
■ Governments formed nature reserves and put environmental issues on their agenda.
■ Some businesses marketed themselves as environment-friendly.
■ UNEP organised Earth Summits on the environment.
■ The movement became public and gained momentum.
○ Environmentalism today
■ More research on loss of biodiversity and climate change leading to more action to
protect the environment and encourage sustainability from governments, corporations,
and individuals.
■ Climate change globally accepted as an environmental problem.
■ Discovery of fracking process to release shale gas and oil shale reserves increases
tensions between technocentrists and ecocentrists.
Historical influences in the Environmental Movement
, Environmental Value Systems
An environmental value system (EVS) is a worldview or paradigm that shapes the way an individual or group of
people perceive and evaluate environmental issues.
● influenced by cultural, religious, economic and socio-political context.
Categories of EVS
ecocentrists anthropocentrists technocentrists
deep ecologists self-reliant soft ecologists environmental cornucopians
managers
Ecocentric
● puts ecology and nature as central to humanity.
● emphasizes a less materialistic approach to life with greater self-sufficiency of societies.
● is life-centered - which respects the rights of nature and the dependence of humans on nature.
● integrates social, spiritual and environmental aspects into a holistic view of life, earth-centred.
● prioritises bio-rights, emphasises the importance of education and self-restraint in human behaviour.
● summary:
○ the Earth is here for all species.
○ resources are limited so we need to use them carefully.
○ we should manage growth so that only beneficial forms occur.
○ there should be minimum disturbance of natural processes.
○ we must work with the Earth, not against it.
○ we need the Earth more than it needs us.
Anthropocentric
● believes humans must sustainably manage the global system.
○ i.e. through the use of taxes, environmental regulation and legislation.
● encourages debate to reach a consensual, pragmatic approach to solving environmental problems.
● is human-centred - humans are not dependent on nature but nature is there to benefit humankind.
● summary:
○ economic growth and resource use can continue as long as improvements are made in legal
rights to a minimum level of environmental quality.
○ compensation arrangements are made satisfactory for people who experience bad
environmental and social effects.
Technocentric
● believes that technological developments can provide solutions to environmental problems.
● a consequence of a largely optimistic view of the role humans can play in improving humanity.
● encourages scientific research to form policies.
● a pro-growth agenda is deemed necessary for society’s improvement.
