Scholars

Subjects

E-Books

Towards the Construction of a Contemporary Islamic Educational Theory 
Fathi Malkawi     
  
Islamization of Knowledge: Conceptual Background, Vision and Tasks       
Salisu Shehu

Economic Guidelines in the Qur'an  
S.M. Hasanuz Zaman    

Contribution of Islamic Thought to Modern Economics  
Misbah Oreibi    

An Introduction to Islamic Economics       
Muhammad Akram Khan

Islamic Thought and Culture       
Isma'il R. al Faruqi

Islamization of Knowledge: Background, Models and the Way Forward
Malam Sa'idu Sulaiman

More books... 

Towards an Ecological Consciousness PDF Print E-mail

A. R. Agwan

E. F. Schumacher, the author of Small Is Beautiful said, "We are at war with Nature and if by chance we win the war, we shall be the loser." This paradox of modern humanity is not universally accepted. However, there is hardly any visible sign of a deceleration in humanity's unilateral war against the environment. Consequently, humanity is drawing closer and nearer to an imminent debacle.

Although "the voices of peace" for solving the crisis could be heard as early as the late 194Os, their mediation has come to be regarded as valuable only recently. As a result, the global environmental movement has started shaping the course of developmental strategies. But, unfortunately, the growing concern over environmental devastation is still superficial and not viewed holistically. The ongoing concerns are limited to the extent of the exploitation of natural resources and the sustainability of the developmental processes. However, a few voices that consider the predicament from a holistic viewpoint and in a perspective of "deep ecology" are certainly audible in the global debate. The proponents of the holistic approach feel that humanity's present awareness of the environmental crisis is not sufficient. What is needed, according to them, is a dispassionate ecological consciousness emanating from the synthesis of the complete experience of humanity since the dawn of civilization and also taking into consideration all facets of the ultimate reality.

The New Ecological Realism

For quite some time, a relational perspective has been stressed in discussions about understanding and solving the ecological crisis. According to this viewpoint, "nature is a web of relations" and therefore "denial of relationality is denial of being" (Skolimowski 1991). Furthermore, it expands the frontiers of the relationality of the human community to the greater relationality of all biotic and abiotic members of the biosphere and beyond. A concept of "the cosmic family" has been envisaged by advocates of this vision, and humanity is expected to mold its behavior patterns so that human beings can fulfill their obligations towards the vast family and honor all relations while deriving benefits from the resource pool of their cultural and physical environments.

In its wake, a movement for deep ecology has been proposed. The term "deep ecology" signifies the encouragement of a more profound understanding of the ecological balance (Fernandes 1991). Indeed, deep ecology goes beyond the scientific framework and its technological means and ways to an intuitive awareness of the oneness of all life and the interdependence of its multiple manifestations. This also denotes what is called "an authentic human ecology" (John Paul I1 1990).

The emerging perspective highlights the integrity of creation and the solidarity of "cosmic citizens" while at the same time espousing the need for discovering the intrinsic value of creation. Anthropocentrism has no place in this framework, and humanity emerges as an integral part of the whole. This view also urges human beings to accept the complementarity of humanity's role in the biosphere and to appreciate the intricate balance of natural phenomena that sustain its life on this planet.

This new ecological realism has its roots in the vast store of human experience down the ages and can be elaborated more lucidly in the religious worldview. Therefore, a multireligious understanding of the environmental crisis, in the context of human development, is relevant for a better illustration of the relational perspective of the human environment.