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CO N T EM P O RA RY P H I LO S O P H Y The Human Person and the Environment

This essay is important for the students to understand the dynamic
interplay between the human person and the 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.

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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.

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Philosophy of the Human Person

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 (in relation to the concept
“the human person and the environment) 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.

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Philosophical Approaches to Ecology: The Human Person and the

Environment
 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 (in

relation to the concept “the human person and 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: The Human Person and the Environment

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.

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For a discussion on the meaning of philosophy in relation to the

concept “the human person and the environment”, see
https://philonotes.com/index.php/2017/12/16/what-is-philosophy/. See
also https://philosophy.fsu.edu/undergraduate-study/why-
philosophy/What-is-Philosophy for the concept “the human person and
the environment”.

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