Putting the Threads Together

Abstract

The early contributions of environmental ethics lay in focusing attention on the thesis that ethical values play an important role in environmental issues, and on the need for mending the broken circle of economics, ecology, culture and ethics. In effecting a major shift in the human perception of the environment through environmental education, environmental ethics has to be integrated into environmental education. The dangers of “framework” thinking have to be recognised and a more holistic and ecofriendly curriculum has to be developed which would also recognise the role of ethics in environmentalism. In addition to the development of a collection of rules and codes, Hargrove’s insight (from chess) with regard to how we “perceive the environment”, is an important conceptual point that needs to be emphasised. A balanced curriculum with a holistic orientation is one way of ensuring the correct perception of the environment and saving both the fragmented earth and our fragmented lives. The chapter on Buddhist environmental philosophy which precedes the chapter on ethics is expected to help the reader to get a feel for the Buddhist understanding of the environmental crisis, as well as doctrinal resources of Buddhism which could support the sustainability ethic.