Philosophy

• There is an interplay between humans and our environment, where humans are influenced by their environment and in return, affect, either for better or worse, the environment.
• Ecology is the study of the balance of living things in nature.
• Ecology also deals with the destruction, disorder, and domination that human beings bring upon nature.
• Human beings divide everything into “persons” and “things”, with a tendency to view things in nature only in their usefulness to human beings.
• An animal is not a human person nor is it a thing, and should be treated with respect.
• We need a corresponding Declaration of Animal Rights and Declaration of Earth Rights.
• We need to extend our understanding of community of human beings to animals, plants, and nature.
• Being made in the “image of God” means to take care of nature.
• Rare ecosystem, and above all those with an abundance of species, is to be placed under absolute protection, wherein the living of species to extinction is forbidden.
• Organisms have a right to life fit for their species, including preservation within their appropriate ecosystem.
• The two-fold obligation and responsibilities for every nation include the rights of nature, which are to liberate, rather than destroy, the earth.
• We need to live simply so that other will simply live.
• To live an ecologically sensitive and responsible lifestyle means we must live a simple life.
• The simple lifestyle has moral, social, spiritual, and ecological implications.
• We are living in a consumer society where people are often defined by what we have or how much we consume and not by who we are or by our character or by how wise we are.
• Nature also has a right to the protection of its ecosystems, species, and population in their interconnectedness.
• The rights of nature include the right to existence, preservation, and development.
• Disturbance of nature require a justification and are only permissible.