Ecologism revision cards

- Modern environmental politics emerged in the 1960s

- Can be traced back to Pagan religions which talked about 'The Earth Mother'

- Ecologism was a reaction against industrilisation

- The spread of industrial life in the 19th century made people want to go back to having a rural existence

- Countries where the most rapid forms of industrilisation like Germany seemed to generate the strongest want for a rural existence

- There has been a growth in ecologism since the 20th century, sparked by further industrilisation and urbanisation and growth in desires for material possessions

- There has been a growth in concern for the environment because it is now thought to endanger humans and the planet

- There is a range of pressure groups concerned with environmental issues including Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth

- Pressure groups focus on issues like pollution, deforestation, experimenting on animals, and the dangers of using fossil fuels

- Questions about the environment have been prominent since the 1980s

- Concern for the environment is now the global issue

- The biggest issue is global warming, thought to have been caused by the emission of greenhouse gases

- It has proved difficult to bring about effective action when it comes to the environment

- Central theme of all green thought is ecology

- Ecology developed by people realising that plants and animals are sustained by self -regulating eco-systems which maintain an equilibrium

- Resources are recycled and population adjusts to what food is available

- Ecosystems interact with each other

- The natural world is made up of a complex web of ecosystems

- Ecology presents a different view to most who see humans as masters of the world

- Ecology suggests that a delicate network of interrelationships sustain each human community

- Ecology thinks humans face disaster because they want material goods and in this pursuit have harmed the planet they need to live such as causing pollution by the cars they drive

- Ecologism favours ecocentrism over anthropocentrism so is different from all other ideologies

- 2 different branches of ecology - shallow and deep

- Shallow ecology believes in harnessing the lessons of ecology to human's needs and ends. Sometimes classed as environmentalism

- Deep ecology rejects the belief that humans are in any way superior and thinks the purpose of human life is to sustain nature not the other way round

- Shallow ecology criticizes deep ecology for being irrational and for producing solutions that are unrealistic and not going to appeal to people

- Deep ecology criticizes shallow ecology for being anthropocentric, that it only maintains the health of people in developed countries.

- Ecology thinks humans face disaster because they want material goods and in this pursuit have harmed the planet they need to live such as causing pollution by the cars they drive

- Traditional political ideologies think humans are the masters of the world and use nature as an economic resource

- People have to learn that they are part of the natural world, not its masters

- Ecologists want a new paradigm and are attracted to holism - belief that the whole is more important than its parts

- Each part only has a meaning in relation to other parts

- Quantum theory understands the physical world as a network of systems

- Eastern mysticism encourages a way of life that gives compassion for fellow humans, species and the natural world

- Religions like Christianity & Islam view humans as God's stewards whose duty it is to cherish the planet

- concentional political creeds think human life has unlimited possibilities for material growth and prosperity

- Boulding said humans act like they live in a cowboy economy that has unlimited possibilites

- Having a closed system makes for disentegration