Contemporary Philosophy

The Human Person and the Environment

 This essay is important for the students to understand the dynamic interplay between the human
person and her environment. It will enable them to become aware of their relationship and its
concomitant responsibilities toward their environment. It also presents the pressing
environmental issues in our society and their impact on the lives of human persons. Moreover, it
presents different philosophical views on the environment that will help the students understand
their role in the preservation and conservation of natural resources. Lastly, this essay will enable
the students to become aware of the different environmental risks and, thus, lead them to
formulate some alternatives that aimed at the protection and conservation of the environment.

With this, the essay will then lead the students to acquire the four learning competencies,
namely, the ability to: 1) Notice disorder in the environment; 2) Notice things that are not in their
proper place and organize them in an aesthetic way; 3) Show that care for the environment
contributes to health, well-being and sustainable development; and 4) Demonstrate the virtues of
prudence and frugality towards the environment.

These four competencies can be realized by doing the following: first, by discussing the different
environmental risks that we are facing globally; and second, by presenting some philosophical
views on the environment for the learners to be able to make sense more meaningfully of the
phenomenon under investigation.

Discussion and Analysis

Heraclitus, a Western philosopher in the ancient period once argued that the world is in constant
change. For him, the world involves an ongoing process governed by the law of change
(“Heraclitus,” 1995). This simply means that everything in this world is continuously flowing
and moving in some respect. As we can see, the same principle holds true to our environment.
Many of us may not notice it, but our environment undergoes an unending process of
transformation. This is manifested by the rapid growth and developments in our society, which
have made our lives easy and more convenient. Take, for instance, the creation of mobile phones
and electronic gadgets, infrastructure projects, building of tall edifice and establishments,
concreting of farm to market roads, creation of cellular phones and mobile gadgets, production of
cars and other vehicles. Indeed, these things gave us leisure and allowed us to do things easier. 
Thus, at first glance, this constant change, as Heraclitus views it, works for the benefit of
humanity.

Various rapid changes continue in the advent of economic globalization. For example, as I have
already hinted above, for over a decade we have seen the rising of tall buildings and business
establishments, the booming real estate businesses and the growing numbers of food chains,
coffee shops and entertainments hubs in the urban areas. These developments prove how far we
have gone through in improving and developing our life as human persons. Yet along these
developments are the different environmental issues that pose a threat to our lives as human
persons. It is then important that we have to be aware of these environmental risks, their causes
and their harmful effects to us so that we will be able to address these issues properly. Let me
now briefly discuss the common environmental problems that have seriously impacted our lives
as human beings. Here, I will specifically show that these environmental issues stemmed from
our careless decisions and actions towards our environment. These environmental problems
include air pollution, water pollution, acid rain, climate change, deforestation, depletion of
natural resources, depletion of ozone layer, waste pollution, acidification and increase in
sea/ocean temperature, and overpopulation.

Different Environmental Problems and their Impacts on Human Lives

Let me begin with air pollution. Air pollution refers to the contamination of the air in the
atmosphere, which is primarily caused by harmful gases and toxins released from the smoke of
the industrial factories and the combustion of fossil fuels from our private cars and vehicles,
public transportations facilities, and agricultural machineries (Veetil, 2012). Moreover, the
burning of fossil fuels like petroleum and coal products from our power plants, the use of
insecticides, pesticides and fertilizers, the release of gases from the household cleaning products
and the emissions from gas stoves contribute to air pollution (Veetil, 2012).

Indeed, air pollution has harmful effects on our health, especially to children. In fact, according
to the World Health Organization (2017), over three billions of people all over the world are
exposed to household air pollution due to the use of solid fuels, such as charcoals, paper and
dried leaves. Based on the WHO data, air pollution causes approximately 600,000 deaths in
children under five years old annually. Air pollution also increases the risk of respiratory
infections, asthma, adverse neonatal conditions and congenital abnormalities (World Health
Organization, 2017). According to the WHO, most of these illnesses are acquired from
household air pollution (for example, exposure to smoke from cook stoves), ambient air
pollution and second-hand tobacco smoke. For these reasons, the WHO considers air pollution as
one of the leading causes of peoples’ death globally.

Water Pollution is another environmental problem that is caused by oil spill, acid rain and other
hazardous chemicals that mixed with water (SEPA, 2012). According to the World Health
Organization (2017), contamination in waters causes various diseases in human persons,
particularly to children. Furthermore, the WHO (2017) noted that diarrhea, which is caused by
the use of unsafe water, improper hygiene and poor sanitation, is one of the main contributors to
the death rate of children all over the world.

Acid rain is also considered as one of the common environmental problems we are facing today.
According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US-EPA), acid rain occurs
when the harmful gases like nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides are released into the atmosphere
through burning of fossil fuels and combustion of vehicle engines. When it rains, these harmful
gases mixed with rainwater droplets which cause heavy damage to plants, animals and humans
(US-EPA, 2017).

Moreover, climate change is one of the most trending or mostly discussed environmental issues
today. Climate change refers to an increase in the average global temperatures. The excessive
increase of greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide, contributes largely in climate change.
According to NASA’s Earth Observatory, different human activities have caused imbalance in
the natural cycle of the greenhouse effects as well as disastrous and deadly calamities, such as
extreme cold winters, heavy rains, stronger storms and El Nino and La Nina phenomena. It is
believed that climate change is caused by human activity and its consequences are harmful to
humans as well as to nature (Joshua Reichert, 2009).
According to Greenpeace (2007), an independent international organization campaigning for
environmental protection and preservation, climate change is triggered by global warming,
which is usually unnoticeable in our daily lives. However, according to the report of Greenpeace
(2007), we will know that climate change takes place when some species are slowly becoming
extinct, as well as the increase in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting
of snow and ice, recurrence of stronger typhoons, increase in level of rain precipitation and the
steady rise of sea levels. In fact, in 2009, the National Geographic has recorded the melting of
Antarctic ice and the recession of Arctic glaciers at speed much faster than scientists have
predicted in the past years (Glick, 2006). Likewise, the World Meteorological Organization
report in 2007 has recorded the year 2005 as one of the warmest years since the 1980s, followed
by years 1998, 2002, 2003 and 2004; while the 1990s was recorded as the hottest decade in
history (Climate Central, 2016). However, in December 2014, the National Ocean and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Climate Data Center noted that the year 2014
was the warmest year ever recorded in history (State of the Climate: Global Analysis for Annual,
2014). NOAA noted that since 1880, global temperatures have warmed significantly.

Another most obvious problem in our environment lately is Deforestation. This environmental
problem refers to the cutting of trees for agricultural, industrial, housing or urban use. According
to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (2015), a total of 129 million hectares
of forest have been lost since 1990. Now, deforestation created by humans contributes to various
environmental risks that become harmful to humans, animals and other living creatures. In
particular, it creates climate imbalance, soil erosion, extinction of wildlife animals, flashfloods,
and increases global warming. In the Philippines, most of the landslide prone areas now have
history of deforestation.

The constant Depletion of natural resources is another environmental risk that we are facing
lately. As we all know, natural resources are very important for the survival and welfare of all
living beings, especially humans. In fact, we are so much dependent on the resources we have
found in nature. However, because of the society’s advancements brought about by social and
cultural revolutions, increase in global population, high consumption of resources, as well as
modernization and economic globalization activities, our natural resources are depleting little by
little. If this problem continues, it would threaten the survival of the next generation. Thus, there
is a need for us to be economical and at the same responsible in taking advantage of our natural
resources.

The Depletion of our Ozone Layer is also a seemingly unnoticed environmental problem. Yet,
experts have noted that the depletion of the ozone layer is one of the most serious problems that
our planet earth is facing today. It is said that Hydrochlofluorocarbons (HCFCs) and volatile
organic compounds (VOCs) are the major chemicals that contribute to the depletion of the ozone
layer (US-EPA, 2017). HCFCs and VOCs are commonly found in the emission of vehicles,
industrial by-products, aerosols and refrigerants mostly used in our households. HCFCs and
VOCs stay in the atmosphere for a longer period of time and have a very high warming effect.
Because of their severe warming effect, HCFCs and VOCs cause damage to the ozone layer (US-
EPA, 2017).

Another serious environmental problem that continues to haunt as today is Waste Pollution.
Waste pollution is common in urban and densely populated areas. These wastes are usually in
solid form which cause land, air and water pollutions if not properly disposed. Some experts
agree that the increase in quantity of solid waste is due to overpopulation, lack of education on
waste management and technological advancement. Because of this, mismanagement of waste or
improper waste disposal causes hazards to human and non-human health as well as in our
environment. In fact, most of the epidemic outbreaks such as dengue, malaria, diarrhea and other
airborne diseases in our society are mainly caused by waste pollution.

Another unnoticed environmental problem we have today are the Acidification and Increase in
Sea/Ocean Temperature. The rapid increase in sea level and ocean temperature are attributed to
climate change and global warming because of the melting of sea-ice and land-based glaciers.
Also, the acidification of sea waters, according to experts on marine ecosystem, was credited to
excessive amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) component in the ocean (Greenpeace Report, 2013).
Carbon dioxide is produced by human, animals and the burning of fossil fuels. The increase in
the acidity of our sea waters and higher sea levels poses a danger to the livelihood and lives of
the large number of people living in the coastal areas. This is because those who are living in the
coastal areas will be vulnerable to storm surge and tsunami. Moreover, the acidification of our
waters resulted in the depletion of marine resources and destruction of marine ecosystem.

Lastly, it is worthwhile to consider here the problem of Overpopulation. We can say that most
of the environmental risks mentioned above have both direct and indirect connection to
overpopulation. As of today, there are around 7 billion people living on the planet, and experts
said that these numbers will balloon to between 8 and 11 billion by 2050 and up to 15 billion by
2100 (“Causes of Human Overpopulation”, 2013). The explosion in global population is partly
caused by early marriages, lack of knowledge in birth control and family planning methods, and
social pressures. Obviously, the problem of overpopulation may give way to the rise of other
environment problems, such as pollution, depletion of natural resources, shortages of clean
water, fuel and food.

The above discussion proved that environmental problems pose a serious threat in our day to day
lives. As we can see, these environmental risks have caused respiratory illnesses, cancer,
congenital abnormalities and other deadly diseases to both adults and children globally.
Moreover, these environmental problems have resulted in the extinction of land and marine
resources. They also poisoned our food and water supplies, as well as caused erosions and
flashfloods, loss of billions of properties, and deaths of thousands to millions of people all over
the world. In particular, the Philippines, which is considered as a developing country, has
experienced the ill effects of these environmental problems. Since the 1990s, we have
encountered damaging catastrophes that left thousands of families homeless. These
environmental problems have also damaged billions of properties, destroyed infrastructure,
agricultural and livelihood facilities, and killed thousands of Filipino people.

Despite all these horrible experiences, many Filipinos are still unaware of their responsibilities to
their environment and, thus, continue to practice the habit of throwing garbage elsewhere,
burning plastic materials, smoke belching and what-nots. Now, given all of these, how do we
meaningfully relate to our environment then? In the succeeding section, I will discuss some
philosophical thoughts that will help provide a deeper understanding of our relationship to the
environment.

Philosophical Approaches to Ecology

 Before I proceed to the different philosophical approaches to ecology, let me qualify the use of
ecology in this section. Here, I have adopted the meaning of the word “ecology”, which was
coined by Ernst Haeckel. According to Haeckel (1866), ecology refers to the scientific analysis
of the interaction between animals, plants and their inorganic environment. Put simply, ecology
deals with the balance of nature. Since nature includes human persons, ecology also
encompasses the study of the human person’s role in her environment. Thus, I find ecology as
the most appropriate term to use here rather than environment. Further, among the ecological
theories, I will only discuss deep ecology, social ecology and transpersonal ecology because I am
convinced that these ecological theories can help us easily understand our relationship to their
environment. Let me now briefly discuss these three important ecological theories.

Let me start with deep ecology. Deep ecology was coined by Arne Naess and his colleagues
Sigmund Kvaloy and Nils Faarlund in 1973. According to Naess (1973), deep ecology affirms
the principle that all things in the world have their intrinsic value. This means that no matter how
small or big the things that surround us, they possess some kind of intrinsic value which is
important in creating balance in nature. For this reason, Naess proposed that each one of us
should recognize the value of all the things that surround us so that we are able to live in
harmony with our environment.

Moreover, Naess’s deep ecology strongly rejects the anthropocentric view, which subscribes to
the idea that humans are the most important species on the planet and, thus, they have superiority
over nature. Hence, for the adherents of deep ecology, humans need to see the environment and
all living things not as means for survival, but as “partners” or co-equals in the preservation life.
For the deep ecologists, this is how humans ought to show their respect and love for the
environment.

The deep ecologists therefore urge humans to develop themselves into “ecological selves”.
According to Bill Devall (1988), a deep ecologist himself, an ecological self is one that is
mature, sensitive and caring towards the environment. However, Devall (1988) noted that we
cannot attain an ecological self if we see ourselves as detached from our environment. Thus, for
Devall (1988), it is only when we realized that we are deeply dependent on the environment and
nature that we are able to appreciate the value of all living things that surround us.

Indeed, as we can see in the above discussion, deep ecology provides us with the idea that our
environment is an integral part to our existence. It is an undeniable fact that we are too much
dependent on our natural resources for our daily subsistence. This simply means that if our
natural resources are exhausted, human life might also perish. Thus, the deep ecologists suggest
that each of us should develop an ecological self.

Another philosophical approach to the study of the environment is social ecology. Social ecology
as a theory was developed by Murray Bookchin, who is an American anarchist and
environmentalist. According to Bookchin (1982), social ecology provides an analysis of the
patterns and forms of interrelationships between the human person and her environment. For
Devall and Sessions (2002), Bookchin’s model of social ecology stems from the organismic
tradition of Western philosophy that started with Heraclitus and then developed into the
evolutionary dialectic of Aristotle and Hegel, and the social critical approaches of the Frankfurt
School. According to Steven Best (1998), social ecology is considered as the most powerful and
comprehensive environmental philosophy ever developed since it offers a powerful alternative to
liberalism, Marxism, postmodern and ecological theories like ecofeminism and deep ecology.
Best (1998) argues that Bookchin’s theory of social ecology seeks to unify the study of natural
and social worlds. Indeed, it is a theory that views human beings, society and the natural worlds
as complimentary partners of evolution.

According to Bookchin, as cited in Best (1998, p. 334-353), social ecology claims that all
environmental problems that we are experiencing at present are social problems which are rooted
in the disharmony of relationship between human beings and nature, where human beings have
controlled nature for their own personal interests. For Bookchin, these pressing environmental
crises are brought about by irrational, anti-ecological, and profit-driven capitalist society (Best,
1998, p. 337). Following Bookchin, Best argues further that the problems on global warming,
climate change, depletion of natural resources, among others, emerge because of human beings’
long history of dominating each other and colonizing the social and natural worlds for power and
profit (Best, 1998, p. 336).

Since these environmental problems have social causes, the task of social ecology, therefore, is
to provide a clear picture of the interplay or interrelationship between humans and their
environment, through a careful analysis of the social and natural relationships. Bookchin believes
that humans should live in harmony with their environment because the latter is essential in order
for the former to survive. As we can see, plants, animals, soil, trees and other living and non-
living things in our surroundings provide us with our basic needs, such as food, shelter and
clothing. Thus, for Bookchin, all abuses that we inflict on, for example, plants, animals, marine
resources and soil, will ultimately return to us or even creates more danger in our lives. For
instance, any serious disorders in the land or in plants and animals eventually produce illness in
the human body (Bookchin, 1982). Thus, Bookchin (1982) offers a philosophical alternative that
serves as a normative guide to address these ecological issues. Bookchin (1982) calls this as the
“ethics of complementarity”, which suggests the notion of mutual dependence and cooperation
between humans and the environment, and the important idea that human beings and other social
institutions must be respectful and responsible towards the environment. According to Bookchin,
the realization of this ideal necessarily results in the emergence of an ecological society—a
model of social organization characterized by interdependence and cooperation between and
among members of the society.

As we can see in the above discussion, social ecology taught us that environmental problems are
primarily caused by human negligence. Furthermore, the social ecologists believe that our
actions towards the environment have a direct impact on our lives. In this context, we can say
that the different deadly catastrophes that we have recently experienced were products of our
irrational decisions and irresponsible actions towards our environment. Thus, social ecology
suggests that we have to be mindful of our actions toward the environment and actively take part
in preserving and protecting our natural resource. In this way, we can say that we are in perfect
harmony with our environment.

Lastly, let me briefly discuss transpersonal ecology as another important philosophical approach
to the study of the environment. This ecological theory was developed by Warwick Fox in 1990.
Here, Fox attempted to develop further the concept of deep ecology. In doing so, Fox borrows
the main concept of deep ecology that humans and the environment are partners or co-equals in
the preservation of life. But unlike Naess’s model of deep ecology, which uses axiological or
value theory, Fox’s transpersonal ecology employs psychological approaches in analyzing the
relationship between humans and the environment.
Transpersonal ecology explains the tripartite aspects of human self which gives us the theoretical
basis of our attitude towards our environment. As suggested by the transpersonal ecologists, we
have to understand not just the importance of the environment to us, but our role in the life’s
cycle. In that way, we are able to anchor our decisions and actions in accordance to moral norms
and to natural laws.

Fox (1990) introduced the idea that the human self can be categorized into three, namely, a
desiring-impulsive self, normative-judgmental self, and a rationalizing-deciding self. According
to Fox (1990), the desiring-impulsive self wants, and always desires, to acquire things in a short
period of time without considering the needs of others. On the other hand, the normative-
judgmental self behaves in accordance to social norms and social expectations. Lastly, the
rationalizing-deciding self always makes decisions and actions based on reasons (Fox, 1995).
Fox argues that with these three categories, the self is able to do the following. First, the
desiring-impulsive self enables us to desire for maximum exploitation of the natural resources.
This explains why some of us are more concerned with gaining more profit out of the natural
resources without considering the interest of other people. Second, the normative-judgmental self
enables us to recognize the existence of reality-imposed constraints and obey certain moral
demands of the society. Contrary to the desiring-impulsive self, the normative-judgment self
exhibits our characteristic of being frugal in using our natural resources. And third, the
rationalizing-deciding self enables us to rationalize our actions toward the environment. This
aspect of the self allows us to consider the pros and cons of our actions (Fox, 1995).

Fox and other transpersonal ecologists also believed that our decisions and actions are very
important in our relationship to the environment. In most cases, when we make decisions, we are
just thinking of something that will benefit us or those things that will help make our lives better.
Because of this, we tend to disobey social norms and disrespect the interests of other people and
our environment. As a result, our actions cause disharmony in our community and to
environment. For this reason, transpersonal ecologists suggest that we have to uphold a
transpersonal self, that is a self that overcomes the desiring-impulsive or selfish character and
turns itself into an ethical and rational self. This is a type of self that is conscious of its
responsibility in protecting and preserving her environment (Stavely & McNamara, 1992).

Now, these three philosophical approaches to ecology allow us to have a closer look at the
interrelatedness of the human person and her environment. These approaches indeed have
pointed out the importance of harmony between the human person and the environment. In order
to maintain this harmony, the human person has to treat the environment as a partner in the
preservation of life, that is to say, the human person has to appreciate the value of all things in
her surrounding, rather than just treat them as means for her to survive. Lastly, the three
philosophical approaches to ecology have shown to us the relevance of our actions and decisions
to our environment. They have affirmed that whatever actions we do to our environment, either
good or bad, have corresponding consequences. In fact, the environmental crises that we are
experiencing at present are somewhat the products of our own wrongdoings. Thus, it is important
that we observe prudence in appropriating our limited resources and that we have to protect and
preserve our environment for the betterment of humans and society.

Conclusion

As we can see, the different environmental problems that we are facing today have something to
do with our irresponsible actions towards the environment. For instance, as presented above, the
deadly catastrophes that we have experienced lately in our country, like the strong storms, soil
erosions and flashfloods, have somehow resulted from our act of abusing and exploiting our
environment. For this reason, the deep ecologists urged us to develop an ecological self, which
allows us to treat our environment as a partner in the preservation of life. It is also for this same
reason that the adherents of social ecology call us to protect and preserve our environment.
Lastly, the adherents of transpersonal ecology responded to the said problem by urging human
persons to consider the common good when appropriating our natural resources. Truly, this is
how we show care for the environment and at the same time contribute to health, well-being and
sustainable development. If we do this, then we can say that we also have organized things in the
environment in an aesthetic way.