Jeff wrote:
> Ah... maybe ethics is the missing component. Ethics are easy to ignore.
> 1. All life is valuable.
> 2. People care within limits of cycles
> 3. Recognition of resource limits
> 4. Give away our surplus
> 5. Aesthetics from our designs
As I remember the major Pc ethics are:
Care of the Earth.
Care of others.
Return surplus.
These ethics were included in the two Pc courses I took (and in the intro
courses I've seen), but the discussion of them was less than one hour out
of over 100 hours. They are not always included in definitions of Pc in
brochures for courses. They seem to be taken for granted, but the lack of
attention to them often means that they are not followed.
I agree with Jeff. They are easy to forget, and most people do not change
ethics easily. There also seem to be some underlying ethical assumptions
in Pc that might conflict with the stated ethics, making them even easier
to forget. The stated three ethics do not seem to place much emphasis on
human, or personal, comfort, convenience and profit. Yet, isn't the whole
idea of Pc to create a beneficial human environment by the manipulation of
other species and things? Doesn't this at least hint at the assumed ethic
that humans have a right to use others as they see fit, and therefore need
the reminder to care for the earth and others? Or even that humans will
naturally pillage Nature for personal benefit, and such an ethic is
necessary? Doesn't all the talk about chinampas, swales, straw bales,
chicken tractors, wildlife corridors and woodlots get us thinking more
about how to manipulate Nature than how to appreciate it, more about what
we can get out of Nature than how we can be a part of it?
A lot of Deep Ecology literature shows how current human society sees
Nature as a resource. Pc seems to use this point of view, too. It is
concerned with long term human survival, not living as a part of Nature or
sustainability per se. When you feel as connected to the land and the
creatures as you do to your family and friends, won't you care for them and
be generous with your surplus. Without this feeling of connection, will
you really do these things consistently? Rather than using verbally stated
ethics in hopes of taming the 'natural gluttony of humans', wouldn't it be
better to work more on deeply grounding people in these new ethics? Or
maybe we just need some Pc ethics police : )
Eric:
