Environmental ethics is part of environmental philosophy that looks at the expansion of the traditional boundaries of ethics from a purely human to a non-human world.

In environmental ethics, the main principle of humanism is the rejection of violence against nature and man, the recognition of the value of all living things and the rejection of coercion as a way to solve problems.

Basic Principles

1. Rejection of aggressive anthropocentrism.

The new worldview is called biocentrism, or ecocentrism. "Human needs should be satisfied only insofar as they do not affect the interests of the diversity of life on Earth as a whole." Biocentrism recognizes the value and uniqueness of any form of life and extends the principle of non-violence to it. Nature has its own intrinsic value, man is the same part of nature as any other living creature, he is not the owner and should not disturb the ecological balance.

2. Environmental imperative.

We will have to accept responsibility, knowing that oceans and forests, and all living things are connected to the quality of our lives. We have to grow up. This transition to 'adulthood' is supported by modern science, which has come to the idea of a holistic and interconnected world. In order for the world to change, it is necessary for the people themselves to change.

3. Using modern ideas and traditional values.

The revival of nature, according to the principle of universal interconnection, is possible only together with the revival of individual morality and the actualization of moral needs (the need for meaning, love, overcoming loneliness, a sense of connection with the world and space, environmental needs, the need for identity, the need for cooperation and social partnership, in creative self-realization and socially useful activities).

4. Change of material needs to spiritual needs.

Modern scientific thinking coincides with the highest world wisdom based on ancient teachings. This world wisdom teaches that a person has a choice of how to control his mind and himself.

5. The need to change the whole picture of the world.

An important element of the new picture of the world is the principle of universal interconnection and integrity of the world (holism). To overcome the current situation in the field of ecology, it is necessary to realize the existing connection between the external world (nature) and the inner world of man.

6. Integrity principle

Our planet is one living and pulsating being, and the human race is a large family. To protect the planet's ecology, it is necessary to develop a more moderate way of consumption, based on restrictions.

Egocentric consciousness and the destructive emotions it generates - hatred, envy, fanaticism, fundamentalism, greed - must be overcome. Global consciousness is based on cooperation, compassion, trust and love. It depends on us whether a new world will be created. Each of us can play a decisive role.

Choosing ourselves, we choose not only humanity but also the surrounding nature, as well as the fate of future generations. According to synergetics, the opinion that the world in which we live does not depend on our ideas about it is wrong: the world is not only "in us", but "is dependent on us". We are constantly creating it in the process of constructing ourselves.