For decades, a review of environmental education initiatives in and beyond schools indicates that many of them were implemented from an anthropocentric perspective. The rationale behind them is often that we must not destroy the environment because doing so is harmful for ourselves, human beings. One striking feature of the various forms of environmental education is the use of fear as a motivator, as people are warned about the frightening consequences of environmental destruction on their life. While this type of (...) fear-based environmental education may be effective to some extent, intimidation cannot be a fundamental solution to environmental issues. We need to form a loving relationship with nature, through love-based environmental education. From intimidation to love, love-based environmental education focuses on enhancing public environmental awareness through inculcating love, respect, and gratitude toward nature, thereby helping to solve present and future environmental problems and construct an eco-friendly world.Love-based environmental education is richly embedded in Eastern philosophies such as Taoism and contemporary Western eco-ethics. In this article, we synthesize the tenets of love-based environmental education mainly through the lens of Taoist philosophy, discuss implementation approaches, and explore contemplative methods to cultivate connection with nature. Finally, we point out fear-based and love-based environmental education are not mutually exclusive. We need a combination of, or a diversity of approaches to ensure that we effectively change attitudes and behaviors of people. (shrink)

Climate change is the first anthropogenic alteration of a global Earth system. It is globally catastrophic in terms of food production, sea level rise, fresh water availability, temperature elevation, ocean acidification, species disturbance and destruction to name just a few crisis concerns. In addition, while those changes are occurring now, they are amplifying over decadal periods and will last for centuries and possibly millennia. While there are a number of pollutants involved, carbon dioxide which results from the combustion of any (...) fossil fuel is the primary pollutant. It has not been considered a pollutant until recently because of its natural dissociation into oxygen and carbon compounds like wood. However, because of its molecular durability and ability to acidify water, it has become the primary pollutant as a result of the exponential increase in fossil fuel use for the production of energy by Earth’s population that has doubled over the last six decades. That increase has exceeded Earth’s ability to handle humanity’s waste CO2. Obviously, the involved changes detrimentally affect all life on Earth. Because of the evolving nature of the changes, climate change is presently denied primarily in the United States because of the costs of eliminating our carbon addiction. Because no similar global natural or anthropogenic situation has previously occurred during the lifetime of Homo sapiens, our extant ethical theories are incapable of confronting the crisis. Consequently, new ethical paradigms are necessary. This dissertation attempts to provide thoughts about the use of Aristotelian ethical theory, the aidōs feeling, Aquinian psychology and a possible new virtue of proper primility in an effort to further nurture the growth of the new climate change ethics. (shrink)

اخلاق حرمت حیات – پروردۀ آلبرت شوایستر – حامی صورت‌های مختلف حیات اعم از بشری و غیربشری است و بر حفظ و حرمت به حیات تاکید دارد. از سوی دیگر آرتور شوپنهاور معتقد به انکار حیات و کناره‌گیری از آن است. این مقاله به ربط و نسبت بین اخلاق حرمت حیات و اندیشه‌های شوپنهاور می-پردازد. از سویی حرمت حیات مبتنی بر ارادۀ معطوف به حیات و تاکید بر تجربه‌های انضمامی و جزیی است که نشان از مشابهت با و تاثیرپذیری از (...) مبانی متافیزیکی و روشی شوپنهاور دارد. اما از سوی دیگر آلبرت شوایتسر، مبدع اخلاق حرمت حیات، با تفسیری پویا از مفاهیم شوپنهاوریِ «ارادۀ معطوف به حیات» و «کنارگیری»، و تاکید بر «ارادۀ معطوف به محبت»، برخلاف شوپنهاور راه به تایید حیات و تاکید بر حفظ و حرمت حیات می‌برد. انگیزه‌های خاص الهیاتی او در این میان قابل مشاهده‌اند. بنابراین این دو اندیشمند در مبادی اخلاقی و اخلاق هنجاری و نیز در ابتنای زندگی و عمل خود بر نظریه‌های‌شان کاملا متفاوتند. از سویی تاثیر مبادی مسیحی شوایتسر بر اخلاق حرمت حیات و از سوی دیگر تاثیر پیشینۀ روانی شوپنهاور بر بدبینی او به جهان و در نتیجه انکارش در باب حیات مشهود است. (shrink)