1. Ecologism  Andrew Dobson Distinguishes between Minmalist’s, who hold an environmental anthropocentric view and Maximalist’s who hold an environmental holistic view.  Maximalists define ecologism in very strict terms; they draw their beliefs upon the definition of ecology.  Ecology is defined as the relationship between organisms and their environment, because every individuals survival is dependent upon the relationships, which they exercise within an ecosystem no part of that ecosystem may be valued above another.  Because of this concept Maximists are always trying to advance the concept of equality.

2.  Maximists are opposed to heirachy because they see ecological relationships as non-hierachical and they therefore claim that any hierarchy can only act in an exploitative way.  Some Maxamists have also extentend such a concept to the non-human world, an example of this could include the issue of genetic engineering, where organisations such as Earth First!  And Green Anarchist have argued that manipulation of nature in such ways is wrong because no sector of life may be valued above another.  Other Maxamists such Singer have argued that only sentient beings are worthy of intrinsic moral value and therefore claims that no animal (including human beings) should be placed in a hierarchy.

3.  Minmalists tend to be less radical in their believes and they allow for many more views to be taken into account.  Minmalists tend to show many characteristics of environmentalism e.g. Friends of the Earth.  Environmentalism is where less emphasis is placed on the preservation of the environment in absolute terms, it is a form of engineering, which treats the environment as a resource to be manipulated or consumed while seeking to minimise pollution and adverse effects.  A good example of how a minmalist would react to the depletion of resources is by the encouragement of recycling schemes.

4.  Minamalists such as the English Green Party have developed different approaches to conventional economics, they have criticised current economic indicators such as GNP and GDP (Gross Domestic Product) on the basis that they take no account of environmental costs.  This has led to the development of alternative economic indicators; these include ANP (adjusted national product).  Such indicators take into account environmental impact.  Maximists have criticised such indicators on the basis that they are seen to condone the maximisation of throughput.

5.  Minamilats have tried to counter argue such a point by claiming that throughput can be reduced by such measures as recycling, Maxamalists have however responded to such a claim by stating that recycling still causes pollution and pollution can not be environmentaly justified in a closed system such as the earth.  Under no circumstances do maxamists condone an increase in throughput because in the end they claim that the physical limits of the biosphere must be addressed.  A good example on an international level that illustrates such a point, could include the industrially developed countries needing to exploit the 3rd world so as to maintain their level of growth.  The consequences of such expolotation have included mass starvation, because 3rd world countries are forced to grow cash crops instead of using the land to feed their own people.

6.  Further consequences have included political unease, where western oil companies have exploited Nigeria.  A final consequence could include a big reduction in biodiversity and native tribes e.g. in Brazil due to commercial logging.  Ecologism generally argues that it is favorable for people to take control of resources at a local level.  This is why ecologism often proposes decentralisation because it allows local communities to utilise their local resources.  It argues that utalization of resources at a local level is helpful because people are naturally going to have more respect for their local community and therefore will act in a more sustainable way.

7.  Many argue that decentralisation is crucial for eliminating the need for mass transport networks thus reducing environmental impact.  Others argue that desentralization is desiriable as it reduces exploitation of the third world.  Maxamilists such as Bookchin argue that decentralisation is crucial to quality of life as it will help in scaling down, so people are able to organise themselves as a community and re-establish their ecological relationship with the land.  Bookchin goes on to state that ultimately decentralisation will help to free people of non-ecologically productive work, thus helping psychological well being.

8.  Bookchin also claims that ultimate decentralisation will place more emphasis on the community and the natural environment, which will have the overall effect of helping Freedom, Democracy, and the Environment.  Some have however argued that a Maxamilist definition of ecologism could be seen compatible with Fascism, Feminism or Anarchism.  Walter Darre in Nazi Germany has argued that Faschism could be compatible with ecologism due to the use of biological metaphors, reference to organic communities and an emphasis on intuition.  Right wing thinking has also resulted in the resurrection of a Malthusian perspective and the notion of lifeboat ethics.

9.  However most Maxamalists would discount Fascism from Ecologism on the basis that Fascism is Hierarchical and has shown ethnic genocide, which is at odds with the philosophy of interrelatedness.  The Feminist Judith Plant has claimed that women have a greater affinity with the non-human environment because of their reproductive function / nurturing role and the fact that women have a mindset adjusted to oppression, as both women and nature are objects for patriarchal domination.  Despite such similarities there is still criticism of ecofeminism on the basis that women are not the only oppressed group in society.

10.  Amongst Anarchism there appears to be much more common ground with ecologism than any other ideology.  Both ideologies agree on most of the crucial determinates such as small scale societies, non-hierarchical politics.  Bookchin’s concept of social ecology points to a social hierarchy founded on class, race and gender which causes environmental degradation.  Also domination over humans by other humans leads to domination over non-humans and nature.

11.  Anthropocentrism - human centred political ideologies which are questioned by ecologists as nature is interconnected.  Shallow ecologism- aims to harness lessons of ecology for human ends.  Deep ecologism- rejects the idea that humans are more important species.  Developing from biology, a growing realisation that life is sustained by self-regulating natural systems (ecosystems).

12.  Ecosystems are mutually dependent on one another - the largest of which is the global ecosystem or ecosphere or biosphere a lake is such an ecosystem but fed by tributaries, warmth and energy provided by the sun and it provides water and food for life on its shores.  Ecologists argue that humanity’s pursuit of material wealth endangers the environment via population growth, exploitation of irreplaceable fossil fuels, eradication of rain forests, pollution lakes, rivers and seas, chemical and hormonal additives to food, and threat to biodiversity.  There is a holism in ecosystem.

13.  Physicists such as Niels Bohn (1885-1952) and Verner Heisenberg (1901-1976) indicated that the physical world cannot be understood as a collection individual molecules, atoms, particles but a network of reciprocal interaction.  In the Tao of Physics (1955) Fritjof Capra drew parallels between modern physics and eastern mysticism - Hinduism Taoism, Buddhism preached the oneness of things.  Primitive religions drew no distinctions between different forms of life and even portrayed the earth as a living entity- mother earth.  James Lovelock developed the idea that the planet was alive in the Gaia Theory.

14.  The earth’s biosphere exhibited self-regulating behavior characteristic of other forms of life.  Humans must therefore respect the health of the planet and seek to conserve its beauty and resources.  Unlike humanist ecologists (Green Movement) which focus on what needs to be changed for the sake of human survival, Gaia places as central to the health of the planet.  Lovelock argued that those species which prosper are those which help the planet to regulate its existence whereas those which run counter to this are threatened with extinction.  Sustainability is a very important problem of our time.

15.  Science reveals that there are some species in danger of extinction.  Fossil fuels resources are being over consumed and may soon be out.

16. History and definition of Ecologism  The origins of the term ecology lie in biology and were coined by the German zoologist Ernst Haeckel in 1866.  It is derived from the Greek word ‘oikos’ which means household or habitat.  From the beginning of the 20th century it has been used to name a branch of biology that studied the relationship amongst living organisms and their environment.  Then it was more and more turned into a political term because it was adopted and used by the growing green movement, especially from the 1960s on.

17.  Nevertheless, there has been confusion about what exactly the terms green, environmentalism and ecologism stand for.  From the 1950s the term green had been used to express sympathy for environmental issues or projects.  It has later been used in the naming of environmental parties, with the German Greens (Die Grünen) being the first in 1980.  The term environmentalism has also been used from the 1950s and encompasses a wide field of beliefs – scientific, religious, economic and political – that are concerned with the understanding of human life in context of the natural world.

18.  Therefore, it is essential to understand what the term ‘ecologism’ stands for to avoid further confusion about the correct name of the ‘green’ ideology, whether it is ‘ecologism’ or ‘environmentalism’.  Andrew Dobson’s book Green Political Thought is sometimes seen as the classical text on ecologism as an ideology.  He explains the difference of ecologism and environmentalism as follows:  “Environmentalism argues for a managerial approach to environmental problems, secure in the belief that they can be solved without fundamental changes in present values or patterns of production and consumption, and ecologism holds that a sustainable and fulfilling existence presupposes radical changes in our relationship with the non-human natural world, and in our mode of social and political life.”

19.  Only a theory that is radically different from any other has the ‘right’ to be called an ideology on its own.  Therefore Dobson argues that environmentalism is just an adjusted view of the human–nature relationship within the existing (economic) system and hence lacks the major characteristic of an ideology.  Consequently only ecologism, which has a revolutionary approach and includes a radical new worldview and provides solutions for an alternative organisation, can be labelled as ideology.  There are diverse opinions about the origins of ecologism, but it was foremost a reaction to the process of industrialisation.

20.  In the late 20th century industrialisation and urbanisation were intensified which resulted in the growth of ecologism.  It was driven by environmental concerns, in particular the fear that economic growth threatens both the survival of the human race and the planet it lives on.  Milestones in expressing this fear have for example been the (unofficial) UN report Only One Earth (1972) and especially the Club of Rome’s report The Limits to Growth in the same year.  In this time also new activist pressure groups formed themselves, for example ‘Greenpeace’ and ‘Friends of the Earth’ which drew the public’s attention to issues like the dangers of nuclear power or pollution.

21.  Although the environmental movement emerged out of the concern about the natural world, ecologists do not see themselves as a single issue lobby group.  “Ecologism stands apart from traditional political creeds because it starts from an examination of what they have tended to ignore: the interrelationships that bind humans to all living organisms and more broadly, to the ‘web of life’.”

22. Central themes and key concepts  Ecologism is radically different from all other major ideologies as it criticises the starting points of conventional political thought.  Ecologists argue that the major flaw of traditional doctrines and ideologies is their anthropocentric (human-centred) view.  Ideologies like liberalism, socialism, feminism and nationalism conduct their analyses based on different notions of the human being and social groups, namely individual, social class, gender or nation.  Ecologists on the other side believe that this focus on human beings has disturbed and damaged the relationship between the human species and its natural environment.

23.  Therefore, ecologists turned to a new style of politics which does not build on a theory about mankind and its needs, but on a view of nature as a network of relationships between all living species – including the human species – and their natural environment: “Humankind no longer occupies centre stage, but is regarded as an inseparable part of nature.”  Thus, humans must stop to view the earth just as a resource that they can exploit through science and technology to satisfy their needs.  Consequently, the central themes of ecologism are ecology, holism, sustainability, environmental ethics and self- actualisation.

24.  Interestingly, political ecologists reject the conventional political spectrum of left, center and right as the umbrella of industrialism and are thus politically syncretic.  The UK Ecology Party (1975-1985) along with other green parties, instead, like to describe themselves as ‘neither left nor right, but in front’ as they feel their ideology is distinctly separate from that of other ideologies.  Perhaps the key distinguishing feature of ecologism is the hostility towards, and sometimes rejection of, aspects of modern industrialized society.  Greens believe that the exploitation of non-renewable resources is endemic within the industrial systems that have come into being over the last two centuries.

25.  The modern industrial economy, greens argue, is sustained by the creation of artificial desires which are satisfied only through wasteful and unnecessary levels of human consumption.