REVOLUTIONARY biocentrism & ECOLOGY deep ecology by JUDI BARI REVOLUTIONARY ECOLOGY biocentrism & deep ecology by JUDI BARI social and biological issues, class strug- was a social justice gle, and a recognition of the role of activist for many years global corporate capitalism in the before I ever heard of oppression of peoples and the destruc- tion of nature. IEarth First! So it came as a surprise to me, when I joined Earth First! in the I believe we already have such a theory. 1980s, to find that the radical move- It is called deep ecology, and it is the ment paid little attention to the social core belief of the radical environmental causes of ecological destruction. Simi- movement. The problem is that, in the larly, the urban-based social justice early stages of this debate, deep ecolo- movement seems to have a hard time gy was falsely associated with such admitting the importance of biological right-wing notions as sealing the bor- issues, often dismissing all but “envi- ders, applauding AIDS as a population ronmental racism” as trivial. Yet in control mechanism, and encouraging Ethiopians to starve. This sent the order to effectively respond to the cri- social ecologists justifiably scurrying to ses of today, I believe we must merge dissociate. And I believe it has muddied these two issues. the waters of our movement’s attempt to define itself and unite behind a com- Starting from the very reasonable but mon philosophy. unfortunately revolutionary concept that social practices which threaten the So in this article, I will try to explain, continuation of life on Earth must be from my perspective as an unabashed changed, we need a theory of revolu- leftist, why I think deep ecology is a tionary ecology that will encompass revolutionary world view. I am not Naess. It is ancient native wisdom, expressed in such sayings as “The Earth does not belong to us. We belong to the Earth.” But in the context of today’s industrial society, biocentrism is pro- foundly revolutionary, challenging the system to its core. Biocentrism Contradicts Capitalism Marbled Murrelet, an endangered redwood species The capitalist system is in direct conflict trying to proclaim that my ideas are the with the natural laws of biocentrism. Absolute Truth, or even that they repre- Capitalism, first of all, is based on the sent a finished thought process in my principle of private property – of cer- own mind. These are just some ideas I tain humans “owning” the Earth for the have on the subject, and I hope that by purpose of exploiting it for profit. At an airing them, it will spark more debate earlier stage, capitalists even believed and advance the discussion. they could own other humans. But just as slavery has been discredited in the Biocentrism mores of today’s dominant world view, so do the principles of biocentrism dis- Deep Ecology, or biocentrism, is the credit the concept that humans can belief that nature does not exist to serve own the Earth. humans. Rather, humans are a part of nature, one species among many. All How can corporate raider Charles Hur- species have a right to exist for their witz claim to “own” the 2000-year-old own sake, regardless of their usefulness redwoods of Headwaters Forest, just to humans. And biodiversity is a value because he signed a few papers to trade in itself, essential for the flourishing of them for a junk bond debt? This con- both human and non-human life. cept is absurd. Hurwitz is a mere blip in the lives of these ancient trees. These principles, I believe, are not just Although he may have the power to another political theory. Biocentrism is destroy them, he does not have the a law of nature that exists independent- right. ly of whether humans recognize it or not. It doesn’t matter whether we view One of the best weapons of US envi- the world in a human-centered way. ronmentalists in our battle to save plac- Nature still operates in a biocentric way. es like Headwaters Forest is the (now And the failure of modern society to itself endangered) Endangered Species acknowledge this – as we attempt to Act. This law, and other laws that rec- subordinate all of nature to human use – ognize public trust values such as clean has led us to the brink of collapse of the air, clean water, and protection of Earth’s life support systems. Biocentrism threatened species, are essentially is not a new theory, and it wasn’t admissions that the laws of private invented by Dave Foreman or Arne property do not correspond to the laws of nature. You cannot do whatever you labor put into it, but also from the natu- want on your own property without ral resources used to make the product. affecting surrounding areas, because And I believe that surplus value (i.e., the Earth is interconnected, and nature profit) is not just stolen from the work- does not recognize human boundaries. ers, but also from the Earth itself. A clearcut is a perfect example of a part of Even beyond private property, though, the Earth from which surplus value has capitalism conflicts with biocentrism been extracted. If human production around the very concept of profit. Profit and consumption are done within the consists of taking out more than you natural limits of the Earth’s fertility put in. This is certainly contradictory to cycles, then the supply is indeed end- the fertility cycles of nature, which less. But this cannot happen under depend on a balance of give and take. capitalism, because the capitalist class But more important is the question of exists by extracting profit not only from where this profit is actually taken from. the workers, but also the Earth. According to Marxist theory, profit is Modern-day corporations are the very stolen from the workers when the capi- worst manifestation of this sickness. A talists pay them less than the value of small business may survive on profits, what they produce. The portion of the but at least its basic purpose is to pro- value of the product that the capitalist vide sustenance for the owners, who are keeps, rather than human beings with a pays to the workers, is sense of place in their called surplus value. communities. But a The amount of surplus corporation has no value that the capital- purpose for its exis- ist can keep varies tence, no moral guide with the organization to its behavior, other of the workers, and than to make profits. with their level of And today’s global privilege within the corporations are world labor pool. But beyond the control the working class can of any nation or gov- never be paid the full ernment. In fact, the value of their labor government is in the under capitalism, service of the corpo- because the capitalist rations, its armies class exists by extract- poised to defend ing surplus value from Floating logs at a mill their profits around the products of their labor. the world, and its secret police ready to infiltrate and disrupt any serious resis- Although I basically agree with this tance at home. analysis, I think there is one big thing missing. I believe that part of the value In other words, this system cannot be of a product comes not just from the reformed. It is based on the destruction A clearcut in the Headwaters Forest of the Earth and the exploitation of the meager environmental safeguards. This people. There is no such thing as “green has resulted in noted disasters such as capitalism,” and marketing cutesie rain- the meltdown of the Chernobyl nuclear forest products will not bring back the power plant, the oil spill in the Arctic ecosystem that capitalism must destroy Ocean, and the on-going liquidation of to make its profits. This is why I believe the fragile forest of Siberia. It has left that serious ecologists must be revolu- parts of Russia and eastern Europe with tionaries. such a toxic legacy that even the rate of human fertility has slowed. Marx stated Biocentrism Contradicts Communism that the primary contradiction in indus- trial society is the contradiction between As you can probably tell, my back- capital and labor. I believe these disas- ground in revolutionary theory comes ters show that the primary contradiction from Marxism, which I consider to be a is between industrial society and the brilliant critique of capitalism. But as to Earth. what should be implemented in capital- ism’s place, I don’t think that Marxism But even though socialism has so far has shown us the answer. One of the failed to take ecology into account, I do reasons for this, I believe, is that com- not think that it is beyond reform, as is munism, socialism, and all of the other capitalism. One of the principles of leftist ideologies that I know of, speak socialism is “production for use, not for only about redistributing the spoils of profit.” Therefore the imbalance is not raping the Earth more evenly among built in under socialism as it is under classes of humans. They do not address capitalism, and I could envision a form the relationship of the society to the of socialism that would not destroy the Earth. Or rather, they assume that it Earth. But it would be unlike Marx’s will stay the same as it is under capital- industrial model. ism – that of a gluttonous consumer. And that the purpose of the revolution Ecological socialism, among other is to find a more efficient and egalitarian things, would have to deal with the way to produce and distribute consum- issue of centralism.