Am I an ecologist with ecological values or am I a hedonist with consumerist values? I want to accept an ecological ethos to make myself a good and pious citizen of the world. I also want the dress in the window.
I remind myself that consumerist values are destructive to the planet, destructive to societies and destructive to my well-being. Environmental degradation, inequality and angst about not having or being enough are consequences that I see as I consume. So, I celebrate every time I decide not to get the dress in the window because, really, I don’t wear dresses and I don’t need another one to hang in my closet. I don’t make the best choice every day, but I am making better ones.
I am making better choices that don’t undermine the foundation on which my house rests because I want to enjoy the world, selfishly, as a beautiful sanctuary, and I hope that my children and grandchildren can do the same.
What are ecological values? How should be look at them? From our basic metaphor of the world as a sanctuary, immediately follows that the right and inevitable attitude towards the world is that of reverence. Thus reverence establishes itself as the chief ecological value…
A true exercise of reverence immediately implies responsibility…Responsibility is not “heavy”, a burden, but a concept that gives us wings and enables us to practice our reverence as a cosmic dance…
Frugality follows both responsibility and our sense of reverence…IN our interconnected world, and within its limited resources, if some consume too much, there is not enough for others…”What you have and don’t need is stolen from those who need it and don’t have it”…Frugality is born of our awareness that the orgy of consumption is obscene and immoral, of our awareness that in overconsuming we put enormous stress on Mother Earth and therefore on ourselves in the long run…
Diversity, at first sight, appears as an unlikely candidate for an important ecological value…We must maintain diversity to maintain vibrant life…Evolution means diversity. Human cultures mean diversity. Fulfilling human lives means diversity.
Justice has been enshrined in all significant value systems of humanity…Ecological justice signifies justice for all–not only within our own clan and within our own society; not only among nations of people, but also with respect to all living beings; and with regard to the Mother Earth herself…
Ecological values are offsprings of ecological consciousness.”1
Ecological values can seem like lofty ideals. Each, though, can be grounded in daily actions: admiring the sunrise while the gulls, and geese, and swans wake on the sand after picking up discarded masks and coffee cups, in last year’s winter coat.
What decision can I make today that helps me line up with ecological rather than consumerist values? Start there.
“You must take action. You must do the impossible. Because giving up is never an option.”
–Greta Thunberg
- Skolimowski, Henryk. A Sacred Place To Dwell. Great Britain. Element Books Limited. 1993. Page 34-37