In considering my stance on the subject of environmental ethics, I tend to place myself at the more ecocentric end of the spectrum of beliefs. My experiences and influences have all geared me toward an appreciation and respect for natural life and its preservation; one of my most firmly held beliefs is that humankind can no longer continue to exploit the Earth’s resources without facing disastrous consequences. I believe that a richer, more fulfilling experience can be gained through a new, environmentally-conscious relationship with nature, and that humans can only stand to benefit spiritually and physically through less exploitative practices. Processes that destroy and pollute the landscape destroy and pollute mankind in return.
I have come to this particular viewpoint through a wide variety of influential experiences and people. Growing up, I was surrounded by nature; my house backed up to an abandoned orchard, behind which sprawled the Patapsco State Park. My father was always throwing me and my brother outside, and left to our own devices we would wander the park, soaking ourselves catching crawfish in the river, or hanging from the apple and pear trees that spotted the field. We once found a dead grey mouse curled up by an old shed by the orchard and held an elaborate burial ceremony, heaping wildflowers and planting a tree at the head of the grave, over which we erected a headstone consisting of a piece of bark upon which we tenderly inscribed “here lies the mouse.” That grave is gone now, as are the pear trees, and the apple trees, and the fields of tall waving grasses dotted with goldenrod, all plowed over by the developer who planted a grove of beige houses in their stead. The places where I used to play as a child are now somebody’s driveway, somebody’s kitchen. The neighborhood grows a little more each year, eroding the wall of green that used to surround it, grasping with asphalt tentacles at what little remains. Having seen places in nature that I treasure succumb to development, I know the value of protecting what we have left.
Later, long after the disappearance of the orchard, I traveled to Costa Rica where I worked on an organic banana farm that focused on sustainability. I saw how the sustainable initiatives of El Yue enriched the community and limited the amount of waste and pollution that the farm produced. Though I was without any sort of technology, I did not miss it, and in fact welcomed the change. The abundance of plant and animal life I encountered everywhere only served to reiterate to me what we have lost in the United States as a result of our relentless pursuit of industrialization and ecologically insensitive development. We traveled around the entire country. First we roamed the hot grey sand beaches where tiny blue crabs scuttled over the rocks and waves crashed and swirled, spitting out surfers. Then to the misty, cool mountains of Monteverde, where you could see the clouds billowing out of the cloudforest at sunset, looking as though you could walk away across the treetops. Being in a place where nature was so close at hand, so unrestrained, cemented my attachment to the environment. I held a baby toucan in my hands, saw a coral reef out of which fish of every color exploded if you got too close. It is hard to understand the importance of conserving these things if they are already gone, lost to a shopping mall parking lot or a McDonalds.
My mother is essentially the backbone of my ethic; her beliefs have transmitted to me an environmental consciousness and a realization of the impacts we all have on our surroundings. As a holistic health counselor, my mother has oriented my family toward an appreciation and understanding of the relationship between the human body and the healing that can come from nature. And while my father likes to joke about her “witchcraft” and gobbledegook mumbo-jumbo crackpot theories, I have taken a lot of the more practical applications of her beliefs to heart. Eat locally. Eat organic. Use natural remedies in place of pharmaceutical medication. Believe in your body’s power to heal itself. Positive thinking yields positive results. I know that it all sounds very “new-agey”, and in high school I was constantly mortified by my mother’s bizarre behavior, but now it seems to make more sense.
I suppose that my environmental ethic centers around a respect and appreciation for those things that nature has to offer us. I believe in a future where sustainable development is widespread, and the places we have left to us are preserved. I believe in the power of individual effort, but I also know that policy changes must occur in order to promote a general reorientation towards ecocentric and environmentally responsible practices.
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