How do you value the Environment?

The way you set value to your life affects the way you live it. Value-driven ideologies add a moral & ethical value to your behavior. Do you believe that all non-human entities have worth, regardless of their place in the biotic community? Do you believe that humans should protect them? If yes, you have a value-driven ideology, meaning you believe that humans have duties to natural entities, and believe that they have the right to exist. If a creature can feel pain, it should be considered a moral subject.

The protection of endangered species is an environmental issue that is based on this value-driven ideology. Humans have a moral obligation to not extirpate the last known individuals of a species, and they should do everything they can to protect all living entities. It is important to protect all species, regardless of scientific importance.

You may also see the environment from an ecofeminist perspective, meaning that you believe the oppression of women (and races and classes) and nonhuman entities are interconnected. Ecofeminists believe that society is gendered in ways that exploit and oppress women along with the natural world. The main patriarchy is embedded in our daily life for women, and for the environment. Ecofeminism is a theory of power relations and political action focused on human relationships and the environment. There is a belief that women and nature share a common essential power.

Femininity is a common theme in nature because women are beings that bring life into the world. In “An Unspoken Hunger” by Terry Tempest Willams, he tells a story of the significance femininity had on his life by using a metaphor. In the war, he had shot and killed many men. He went hunting one day and shot and killed a black bear, and immediately felt remorse. As he was skinning the bear, he soon realized that the creature was not actually a bear, but a woman. He describes the feminine as something that humbles him and brings him closer to nature, something that makes him sensible.

In Native culture, there is a large emphasis on environmental practice. The natives also have a feminine view on nature and believe there is a spiritual connection to “mother” earth and the land. Their ideology is that the entire world is alive, and we are on a living planet — not just plants and animals, but rocks, air, water, land, and minerals. They also believe that humans hold a reciprocal and equal, not superior, relationship with it. Natives see this as almost an economic practice. They view every living being in their community as equal to that of nature. All of their activities are influenced by the sacredness of the earth, for example, the sacred hoop. The sacred hoop is a circle that signifies family (or clan/tribe). The hoop has no beginning or end, meaning all parts have equal value. This view of nature is rooted in the way that the natives value the environment.

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