Blog 6

Arne Naess brings up an interesting point when he talks about the differences between "deep ecology" and "shallow ecology". Whe he talks about deep ecology he is talking about the deep human attitudes that center on nature. Naess sees consumerism as a source of alienation from nature. In this way, I agree with Naess. I do feel consumerism has seperated man from nature. Anymore, people have no idea how to appreciate what nature gives us. Instead of chopping down trees for warmth, we get it from the vent. Instead of raising our own vegetables and storing them in the cellar for winter, we now have a choice of fresh food all year round. Instead of knowing where our food comes from personally, many times it comes from half way across the country. Consumerism has increased our life style so that it is more cushy, but at the same time, it has caused us to lose sense of our true self in nature.
When Naess talks about shallow ecology, he is refering to how humans are always seeming to find a technological way to solve our environmental problem. We need power? No problem! We will just build a giant hydroelectric dam on the river and disrupt the entire ecosytem of the area. Have you ever noticed how we as humans are always trying to fix problems in the environment that we caused in the first place? Invasive species are a great example of this. People decide that it would be a great idea to bring plants and animals over from different countries and expect them to act the same. Then they are surprised when that new species fills in a niche that is not occupied here and takes over. Some examples of this are Kudzu, zebra mussels, Lesser celandine, and the cane toad. There is a whole branch of the government in which its entire job is working to rid America of invasive species! Way to go humanity!