Deep Ecology: Living as if Nature Mattered

Abstract

The theory of deep ecology has had a profound effect on many environmental political movements over the past generation. While this notion was first advanced by Arne Naess in Western Europe, deep ecology found its broadest and most influential popularization, especially in North America, in the work of Bill Devall and George Sessions. Their 1985 work, Deep Ecology: Living as if Nature Mattered , outlines their vision of deep ecology, and it is an important source for anyone interested in the ethics and politics of deep ecology.