Deep ecology
Jeroen
Not all those who wander are lostNetherlands Veteran
A friend recommended the author Daniel Quinn, who wrote various novels espousing what he called “new tribalism”. In his Wikipedia article I came across mention of a philosophy called “deep ecology”, which I found very interesting because it largely aligns with what I have come to believe.
In short, deep ecology adherents believe that wild habitats and animal populations have a right to exist, and that human populations should be reduced and a large chunk of the Earth given over to wild space. I agree with that, but I also know that the ideas and urges which govern the human race won’t allow it to happen. The human population won’t peak until 2100 or thereabouts and may well reach 9 or 10 billion people.
In a way it is useless to adhere to a philosophy like this, because it is not close to “what is”, and you end up just resisting the reality of things. And so I generally don’t think about it. But in my dreams I’d like to see the planet return to a wild state.
Comments
I think for things like this it helps to look very long term rather than in our lifetime, as well as appreciating that for humanity to learn and change it seems it has to come in cycles of loss and renewal rather than deliberate behavior change. If humanity ends up at a place of greater harmony with the world and ourselves in 300 years, I call that a win.
I think it is more likely that we are looking at a thousand years of gradually declining population as the planets nature deteriorates and the topsoil gets worse, until the crops start to fail because the ecosystem is collapsing and it takes most of the human race with it. It unfortunately will leave the planet in bad shape.
I saw some news pieces about this…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decline_in_insect_populations
And came across this in the article:
Ecologist Dave Goulson told The Guardian in 2017: "We appear to be making vast tracts of land inhospitable to most forms of life, and are currently on course for ecological Armageddon."
It makes me so sad. Things like pesticides and insecticides leach into the soil and are terrible for the little beetles and creatures at the bottom of the food chain, but these do essential work for the ecology. It’s a poisoning of the planet.
The return of the Lotus...
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/aug/05/wular-lake-kashmir-lotus-flowers-bloom-after-three-decades-aoe