Lakhasly

new ideas, discovers new evidence and has new experiences. The summary of an ecosophy is therefore necessarily partial and incomplete, but this section gives at least an indication of the framework used. The summary follows Naess (1995) in starting with one word that sums up the ecosophy and then adding explanatory detail as concisely as possible.
Ecosophy in one word: Living!
Explanation
Valuing living: The exclamation mark in Living! is normative, indicating
‘to be valued/celebrated/respected/affirmed’, and it applies to all species that are living. This is a value announcement but is based on the observation that beings value their lives and do whatever they can to continue living. The ‘valuing’ takes place in different ways: consciously, instinctively and almost (but not quite) mechanically, from a pedestrian watching carefully for cars, to a sparrow taking flight at the sound of a fox, or a snow buttercup following the arc of the sun to soak up life giving rays.
Wellbeing: Living! is not the same as ‘being alive’ since there are conditions which reduce the ability to value living, such as extreme exploitation, enclosure in factory farms or illness due to chemical contamination. The goal is not just living in the sense of survival but living well, with high wellbeing. Although wellbeing applies to all species, high wellbeing for humans is a sine qua non, since no measure to address ecological issues that harms human interests is likely to be adopted.
Now and the future: The temporal scope of Living! is not limited to the present, so includes the ability to live with high wellbeing in the present, in the future, and the ability of future generations to live and live well.
Care: While respect for the lives of all species is central, continued ‘living’ inevitably involves an exchange of life. There will therefore be those who we stop from living, and those whose lives we damage in order to continue our own lives and wellbeing. The ethical aspect of the ecosophy deals with this through empathy, regret and gratitude (i.e. care), rather than an attempt to preserve moral consistency by considering those we harm as inferior, worthless or just resources. Empathy implies awareness of impacts on others, regret implies minimising harm, and gratitude implies a duty to ‘give back’ something to the systems that support us.
Environmental limits: If human consumption exceeds the ability of natural resources to replenish themselves then this damages the ability of ecological systems to support life (and living) into the future. Equally, if consumption leads to more waste than can be absorbed by ecosystems, the excess waste will prevent beings from living or living with high wellbeing. To keep within environmental limits an immediate and large-scale reduction of total global consumption is necessary.
Social justice: Currently, large numbers of people do not have the resources to live, or to live with high wellbeing. As global consumption levels drop