Again to Wikipedia, deep ecology is 'a body of thought that places greater value on non-human species, ecosystems and processes in nature than established environmental and green movements' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_ecology). Deep ecology supports 'the claim that, like humanity, the living environment as a whole has the same right to live and flourish.' It 'is concerned with the fundamental philosophical questions about the impacts of human life as one part of the ecosphere.' Sorry for all the quotes but that is as much as I know. However for the amount of times I have felt that we as a society do not value other life and put ourselves above other living things, this 'smacks true' to me and feels like a system I can support and believe in. It takes Animal farm (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Farm) a step further in terms of egalitarianism and it is ironic that this story has animals as characters representing human society.
I hope to find a book about deep ecology that is readable. Years ago I tried to read one (forget the title and author) and could not get past the preface.
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I've read a lot of deep ecology books but too long ago to make a recommendation on one formally discussing it. I haven't gotten to my plan of rereading them.
But here are a couple short books of essays reflecting its interest in our relationship with nature that I enjoyed very much:
The Abstract Wild by Jack Turner
The Hopes of Snakes by Lisa Couturier
OOps, I used the wrong google account. As I wrote (and deleted above), I think the most subtle and also readable defense of Deep Ecology is Ed Abbey's "Desert Solitaire". A masterpiece, he writes like no other human. And the work predates the term.
Cheers!
I will keep this book in mind Allan. I have a scary amount of books to read at the moment and only seem to be able to lose them! Is there a book called 'Deep ecology for dummies' or is it waiting to be written?
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