Ecosophy on deep ecology

Profile: Alan Drengson

Thu, 09 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Alan Drengson (1934-2022) was a Canadian philosopher and educator who served as close collaborator with Arne Naess and founding editor of The Trumpeter journal, becoming a key voice in articulating and spreading deep ecology philosophy in North America.

As Professor of Philosophy at the University of Victoria, Drengson founded The Trumpeter: Journal of Ecosophy in 1983, providing the first academic journal dedicated to deep ecology and ecophilosophy. Through decades of editorial work, he created space for diverse voices exploring relationships between philosophy, ecology, and spiritual practice.

quote-deep-ecology-asks-for-a-radical-arne-naess

Thu, 25 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

“Deep ecology asks for a radical rethinking of values, not only technology.” – Arne Naess

Source: Ecology, Community and Lifestyle

quote-identification-not-moralizing-often-leads-to-arne-naess

Thu, 25 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

“Identification, not moralizing, often leads to beautiful actions.” – Arne Naess

Source: Ecology, Community and Lifestyle

quote-selfrealization-means-widening-the-self-identification-arne-naess

Thu, 25 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

“Self-realization means widening the self: identification with a larger Self.” – Arne Naess

Source: Ecology, Community and Lifestyle

quote-the-ultimate-aims-of-deep-ecology-arne-naess

Thu, 25 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

“The ultimate aims of deep ecology can be summarized in a simple imperative: maximize self-realization! In other words, maximize our potential as living beings. We need beings to awaken.” – Arne Naess

Source: Ecology, Community and Lifestyle

Quote: John Seed; "Deep ecology looks at the spiritual disease..."

Wed, 24 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

“Deep ecology looks at the spiritual disease that underlies the environmental crisis: the illusion of separation between humans and the rest of the natural world… In order to nourish our ecological identity, Naess called for the development of community therapies “which heal our relations with the widest community, that of all living beings.” — John Seed

Trumpeter: Journal of Ecosophy

Sun, 03 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

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An excellent resource for free, open access scholarly articles, letters and poems in the domain of Ecosophy: https://trumpeter.athabascau.ca/index.php/trumpet/index

“Founded in 1983 by Alan Drengson of the University of Victoria, The Trumpeter is one of the oldest environmental philosophy journals in the world, and Canada’s oldest environmental humanities journal. It carries forth a proud tradition of critically exploring and analysing environmental concerns. Its contributors have included such luminaries as Wes Jackson, Wendell Berry, Warwick Fox, Tom Birch, Gary Snyder, Bill Devall, Dave Foreman, Holmes Rolston, III, Michael Zimmerman, Arne Naess, George Sessions, Dolores LaChapelle, Monika Langer, David Abram, Mary Midgley, Valerius Geist, Neil Evernden, Robyn Eckersley, Freya Matthews, Tom Regan, David Suzuki, Michael Soulé, Jim Cheney, Marti Kheel, Catriona Sandilands, Anthony Weston, and Vandana Shiva.”

Profile: Arne Naess

Thu, 29 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Arne Naess was a Norwegian philosopher who coined the term “deep ecology” in 1973, fundamentally reshaping environmental thought and activism. Born in Oslo in 1912, he became Norway’s youngest professor at age 27 and would spend seven decades developing a philosophy that challenged humanity’s relationship with the natural world.

In 1937, Naess built a small mountain hut called Tvergastein at 1,500 meters above sea level in the mountains of central Norway. This austere retreat became the birthplace of his most influential ideas. There, surrounded by stone and sky, he developed what he called “Ecosophy T” - a personal ecological philosophy that integrated insights from Spinoza, Gandhi, and Buddhist thought with his direct experience of nature’s grandeur.

Quote: Arne Naess; ““The smaller one comes to feel…”

Thu, 29 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

“The smaller one comes to feel compared to the mountain, the nearer one comes to sharing in its greatness. I don’t know why this is so.” - Arne Naess

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quote: Arne Naess; “Care flows naturally if the self is widened…”

Thu, 29 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

“Care flows naturally if the self is widened and deepened so that protection of free nature is felt and conceived of as protection of our very selves.” - Arne Naess

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Quote: Joanna Macy; "All life is interdependent; we cannot survive without the web of relationships that sustain us."

Thu, 29 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

“All life is interdependent; we cannot survive without the web of relationships that sustain us.”

– Joanna Macy

Source: Coming Back to Life, 1998

Article: “What is Deep Ecology Philosophy” at Treehugger.com

Sun, 01 May 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Back in 2021, this helpful article about deep ecology was published on treehugger.com. It in includes an overview of the history of the movement, as well as a concise summary of criticisms that Deep Ecology has attracted over the years.

Deep ecology, a movement initiated by Norwegian philosopher Arne Næss in 1972, posits two main ideas. The first is that there must be a shift away from human-centered anthropocentrism to ecocentrism in which every living thing is seen as having inherent value regardless of its utility. Second, that humans are part of nature rather than superior and apart from it, and therefore must protect all life on Earth as they would protect their family or self.

Article: Self-Realization Beyond the Human: Arne Næss and Norwegian Deep Ecology

Fri, 22 Apr 2022 00:00:00 +0000

“As if this simplicity and inaccessibility were not enough, Næss built, with his own hands, a three-by-three-meter refuge some 200 meters higher up on the crags of the Hallingskarvet massif, which he dubbed “Skarveredet” (roughly meaning “a nest” in a mountain “notch”). By his own admission, this bivouac-like sanctuary gave him “‘the feelings of being on the very brink of the abyss’ and ‘of a raven perched on the cliff for long periods’”

The Deep Ecology Platform

Fri, 22 Apr 2022 00:00:00 +0000

In April 1984, during the advent of Spring and John Muir’s birthday, George Sessions and Arne Næss summarized fifteen years of thinking on the principles of deep ecology while camping in Death Valley, California. They articulated these principles in a literal, somewhat neutral way, hoping that they would be understood and accepted by persons coming from different philosophical and religious positions.

Readers are encouraged to elaborate their own versions of deep ecology, clarify key concepts and think through the consequences of acting from these principles.

Documentary: The Call of the Mountain ~ Arne Naess and the Deep Ecology Movement (full version)

Wed, 16 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0000

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wf3cXTAqS2M

For a full transcript of the Interview with Arne Naess in this documentary visit: http://www.naturearteducation.org/R/Interviews/Naess1.htm