WW -0 Toward An Ecological Psychology William Keepin Wlliltra Keepin is an environ' nent and energy consultant ^siding in New Mexico. His research focuses on the psychosocial roots of the environmental crisis and on strategie» for abating environmental oroblems, with a particular focus on global warming. Dr Keepin is an executive editor of ReVlshn. /have been working as an environmental scientist for ten years. Given my formal training in physics and mathematics, í fell naturally Into the field of energy policy: analyzing prospects for a sustainable energy future based on the efficient use of clean renewable energy sources. Over the past decade, I have come to recognize that quite beyond the material dimensions of the environmental crisis, there is a whole realm of non-material aspects to this dilemma that receives little mainstream attention. These non-material factors, which operate at the level of human consciousness, are intertwined with the physical f actors, giving rise to a complex relational interdependence of physical end psycho-social causes that together create what we call the "environmental" crisis. To achieve realistic, lasting solutions to the ecological dilemma, we must confront not only its physical aspects, but also these non-physical dimensions. This article Is a plea for environmental science to take up this task. There Is one important caveat: What follows below is an initial exploration. My purpose here is to be provocative rather than definitive, and the ideas and arguments given below are preliminary. Moreover, no one aspect is treated In depth. *C Like nuclear war, the global environmental crisis threatens the whole of humanity and countless other species as well. Also like nuclear war, this latest threat to our existence is of human creation. In fact, every major threat to life on Earth—from nuclear annihilation to the destruction of genetic diversity to catastrophic ecological collapse—is of human origin. Thus it is clear that if we wish to understand these crises and eventually uproot them, Äejnusxln^u^ What is it about human beings in Western culture that permits us to pursue activities that threaten our very survival? What is it that is so important to us that we are apparently willing to destroy the planet—and ultimately ourselves—to get it? Why do we persist in these practices even after we realize their self-defeating futility? What does this tell us about our society and our own nature? What is our true "»ture? What matters most deeply to us? Is our society in I accord with our trueliaulřéand deěpěšTvalues? I Such questions have a crucial bearing on the major problems that we face today, yet they are rarely-asked. As ecological degradation grows to staggering proportions that threaten the extinction of innumerable species including our own, we respond with a wide range of efforts aimed primarily at reducing the manifest symptoms, while assuming or hoping that our major cultural values and institutions will somehow weather the storm and escape unscathed. Our principal epistemological framework for ecologicaJ„d|agnosis and remedy is Western science; for better or worse, we look to environmental science tô~šayejňľTodaý's"environmental research and activism focus altnbst exclusively on the material and technological, aspects of the ecological crisis. Their major emphasis is on the physical symptoms: acidity of lakes, stratospheric ozone depletion, toxicity of drinking water, smog, widespread damage to forests, etcetera. Environmental science aims to relieve these symptoms by such measures as reducing dependence on fossil fuels, cutting toxic emissions, developing alternative technologies, and implementing environmental legislation. While this work is vital, and indeed should be expanded greatly, it neverlhelessjeayes ajyhole spectrum of underlyjngJSOCJaJLand cultuxal driving forces unexamined and relativelyjntact. If we are to achieve lasting, genuine solutions to the ecological crisis, we must treat not only the physical and technological symptoms, bxjlsojlie underlying causes of environmental destruction. Hence, we must explore in earnest beyond" technicaCeconomic'," anc} legislative fixes—important as they arc—and look into the hiimaiL&ndJatefilpotsjof environmental destruction. TW* ttplOToÜon lead us into a vasCrealm of/u^7?"^u^ * ft- « ^&£m* «i* »e-tween humanity andIjthei naturaljworld. In this paper, the term ecopsychology should be understood to include all of these meanings. Whatever name might ultimately stick, the purpose of this new field would be to focus on the nojj;physica|J!imeasions„,plJLrje_ecp-l^fcSIfirisis: jhose_factprs that function, at trip I«»»' rtf_mind or consciousness—be they psy„chojMÍcaJi_£hj^^ cultural. The following example may illustrate the importance of such factors. Onty a few years ago, nuclear war loomed as the major threat to modern civilization. Today, the major threat appears to be environmental degradation. This raises the question: Are there common roots to these dilemmas/ Might they both rejujQbrjL-a_jnoje~fundamental sys-temii^£robl,ejn? ConsiderThě parallels. Both nuclear war and ecological destruction threaten all human beings on Earth, plus many other life forms. Both threats are created by our modern technological society in the name of improving it to make us safer, richer, whatever. Yet in the case of nuclear arms, the more weapons that we acquire in the attempt to achieve security, the less_se-.CurjjKeJeeL In the case of environmental destruction, the more material affluence that we produce, the more degraded our natural environment becomes. In both cases, the/ means to achieve a valued social goal actual-/ ly undermines that goal and ultimately^ threatens the very existence of our civiliza- / tion. In the social psychology of both nuclear weapons and material consumption, a similar pathological dynamic seems to be at work: in each case, the more we have, the more we feel wejteejL Yet the more we acquire, the more threatened we becorn&_as-a result. If we don't somehow stop this cycle, we may destroy ourselves altogether. This pattern is reminiscent of the psycho- ^ lo^caLpjrooMS^fjaddicdon. Are we addicted * to^úrweapoňTänd riches? Some observers, such as Morris Berman think so: Addiction, in one form or another, charac-. terizes every aspect of industrial society, down to the lives of Individual members. Dependence on alcohol (food, drugs, tobacco . . .) is not formally different from dependence on prestige, career achievement, world influence, wealth, the need to build more ingenious bombs, or the need to exercise conscious control over everything. Any system that maximizes certain variables, violating the natural steady-state conditions that would optimize these variables, is by definition in runaway, and ultimately, it has no more chance of survival than an alcoholic or a steam engine without a governor. Unless such as system abandons its tepistemology, it will hit bottom or burn out—a realization that is now dawning on many Individuals in Western society. There is no escaping self-corrective feedback, even If it takes the form of (he total disintegration of the entire culture.' Even the editor of Science magazine recently described the nation's dependence on fall 91 91 was a central driving force in the rise of industrial culture as we know it today. Otto Rank has suggested that Darwin's theory of natural selection and survival-of-the-fittest was just the bourgeois Englishman looking into the mirror of nature and seeing r his own behavior reflected there.' Might this same statement also be made about much of modem psychology? For example, the subject/object distinction appears to have been adopted uncritically by psychology, and this distinction certainly supported the social and philosophical trends of the time when it was adopted. Similarly, many Western personality theories posit that human beings are by nature self-interested and competitive, a view that had been assumed earlier in Darwin's theory of natural selection and even earlier in Adam Smith's economic theory (in fact, it is no accident that Darwin was quite heavily influenced by Smith's work). Psychology at its worst takes up fashionable social or cultural norms, organizes them into a "theory" for which there are inevitably / plenty of supporting "data" all around, and -"-^e- presents this as indubitable scientific fact ■ about human nature. Rather than developing its own comprehensive understanding of the human psyche from scratch, Western psychology seems to have adopted the psychological assumptions implicit in Darwin, Smith, Descartes, Locke, and others—more or less intact, and without critical review. A rationalist, individualist psychology arose, one that served to cement Smith and Darwin I in place as the mainstays of the Western bio-■ economic psyche. Thus in Western psychology, human beings are often regarded as fundamentally self-interested and competitive, and the Earth is seen as fundamentally alien. From this perspective, the quest for autonomous human existence—divorced from the natural world—appears to be an innate drive in human nature. Yet from cross-cultural psychology and anthropology, we are now learning that other human cultures are ^trjjic^ur^d^on_yjerxdif-ferent premises. Some human societies live in harmony with the Earth and with other life forms, and they regard the human being as an integral part of the natural world. At the risk of over-quoting, here is a beautiful passage expressing this idea, attributed to Chief St»«Hif» In w*a and man—all belong to the same family.... We know that the white man does not understand our ways. One portion of land is the same to him as the next, for he is a stranger who comes in the night and takes from the land whatever he needs. The earth iE not his brother, but his enemy, and when he has conquered it, he moves on.... His appetite will devour the earth and leave behind only a desert.... "The air is precious to the red man, for all things share the same breath—the beast, the tree, the man, they all share the same breath. The white man does not seem to notice the air he breathes. Like a man dying for many days, he is numb to the stench.... What is man without the beasts? If ail the beasts were gone, men would die from loneliness of spirit. For whatever happens to the beasts, soon happens to man. ... If men spit upon the ground, they spit upon themselves. This we know. The earth does not belong to man; man belongs to the earth.... Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it.10 These words strike a deep chord of truth, and they implore us to reexamine our relationship to the earth and the presumed superiority of our paradigms. In particular, the philosophical foundations of psychology (and Western science generally) need serious examination. From its inception, modem psychology .was shaped by^ipunding assumptions and epistemojopcal methodLPjejeribed by the philosophy of science. Thus, the discipline of psychology was effectively told whai to believe and how to proceed; it was bqrr with an inappropriate p^resuppositiorj^that pTiysicsJs. sovereign. It therefore did not treat its own subject matter, on its own terms. Since that time, the quantum/relativStic revolution in physics, and the crucial philosophical contributions of Kuhn, Popper, Feyera-bend, Keller, and others have eroded the "orthodox" scientific tenets of materialism, reductionist», rationalism, objectivism, positivism, and determinism. Notwithstanding the promising developments in humanistic and especially transpersonal psychology, the fact remains that much of today's main-stream jPiycJhjg^l^X,was..feuilt uppnjiaradjgms "l£iIihWifisjDuammed-4^ have n.aw„beerilMgsly^S£redited in thejleld^ of physicjjtseíf, yet _thc ďěřlwj^j>sychp-.. Togl^jtb^x^^ ""This is not to deny the many important advances that have been made in mainstream psychology. But today's urgent cultural crisis—as evidenced by the environmental and nuclear threats in particular—provides powerful impetus for a comprehensive review of \ / A 1/ creasing scrutiny and attack. As pollution maintain their current level of material con-reaches alarming levels, governments com- sumption in the future. This is particularly plain that environmental protection will true in the United States, which accounts for stunt economic growth, and corporations in- only five percent of the global population yet sist that they cannot turn a profit if they are consumes more than one-quarter of the required to adopt sound environmental prac- world's resources. What are the implications tices. A new field called ecological econom- of this? Oscar Wilde has said that there are ics promotes "steady-state economics," two great misfortunes in life: not getting which challenges the prevailing assumption what you want, and getting it. This points to that perpetual economic growth is possible the fact that profligate consumption of ma-or even desirable." A vital aspect of this terial resources does not bring peace or hap-work that has received little attention is sat.^ plness. Countless observers and studies have jMoinatlojLiif the assumptions about human noted that people in many developing coun-^ngturcthat underlie ecqnjamjcjjigory. What tries seem happier and more content with model of human psyjii^ogyľS9ľgonscious- their lives than those living in richer coun-"néislsJmpMtjn neoclaMJca^ewnjomiwTTl tries, despite the large discrepancies in mate-the competitive race for acquisition ořmate- rial standard of living. How can a shift in rial wealth the most fundamental driving personal and cultural values be accom-force of human beings, as orthodox econom- pushed in our industrialized society? What ic theory seems to presume? What alterna- (might those new values be? Can material five psychological perspectives would be riches be supplanted with some form of "ex-consistent with ecological economics or a periential" riches that do not severely tax the steady-state economic theory? . Earth's natural resources? This last question What is our psychological relationship to seems especially important, as it points to technology? Modern technologies are sup- the notion that the deepest fulfillment of hu-posed to make our lives more livable and man beings comes from realms far beyond "convenient," yet case after case of ordi- the material dimensions of existence. In nary citizens injured by ostensibly innocuous deed, there is much evidence to support this technologies has been poignantly document- y notion, and ajnajor task for ecopsycholo^ ed by ChelHs Olendinning." How is it that i^mghtjttjojmahj^^ technological means sometimes become ends human needs, aspirations, and fulfill in themselves, even when they are shown to ment—-showing that a relatively minor por be detrimental to society as a whole? For ex- Hon of these has to do with material afflu ample, in the face of overwhelming evidence ence. Some promising initial contribution; that continued fossil fuel combustion imper- along these lines are discussed in the nc.v ils the entire planet, fossil fuel vendors con- section, tinue to lobby governments heavily, while suppressing developments in clean renewable PROMISING DIRECTIONS energy alternatives—as if fossil fuels and FOR ECOPSYCHOIXÍGY related profits were more valuable than our own children. This is but one example of a It seems inevitable that continued devaste more general pattern, whereby otherwise tion will force Western society either to de sane people become fanatically committed to stroy itself or mature beyond its current pre a particular means to an end, even when that occupation with material consumption an; means begins to threaten the end. What is technological gadgetry. Assuming that th the psychology behind this triumph of means latter scenario of cultural maturation take over ends? What is the psycho^ojgicaljorigin. place, an important question arises: Whf X nature^-and structure of human ideologies new social practices and cultural values wi M _3läJ3eiieX^yjiems2 What is the psychology develop to replace those that arc currentl, of cathexis to technological implements? harmful to the Earth? There are innumers How is it that people become so jdjentifjed_^ble approaches to this question; a few ar< with a particular technology that criticisms considered below that may be relevant t< olthj^tc^hjiojtogy^are perceivedjis personal ecopsychology. Transpersonal psychology i threats?" ~ """ ~~" examined briefly in the next section as i •"•*""*" possible means for displacing the pursuit o Transformation of Values material wealth and awakening ecologi« It is becoming increasingly clear that in- consciousness. This is followed by a brie .-■•trisi;-,»^ «ncieiies will not be able to mention of possible contributions to ecopty düstrialized societies will not be able to chology from anthropology, feminism, and philosophy. ---------- —,-,.„, Transpěrsonal Psychology and Transpersonal Ecology Insights from transpersonal psychology, experiential psychotherapy, transpersonal ecology, shamanism, and various spiritual disciplines suggest that there are treasures available to anyone at the level of consciousness that are of greater value than any material possession could be. These treasures emerge naturally in an authentic process of inner inquiry or self-discovery, which can be facilitated by a variety of psychospiritual practices. As a person develops inwardly, there is a natural tendency for her or his sense of self to extend outward to include other people, other life forms, and inanimate objects—communing with ever broader and deeper levels of existence. Thus a key question in ecopsychology is the issue of the boundary between self and non-self. Numer-ous spiritual philosophers, transpersonal psychologists, and deep ecologists emphasize the importance of a broadened sense of identification that occurs naturally in deep introspection. In this process, one's sense of being expands to include more and more of one's "environment," be it people, animals, plants, the Earth, or even the entire cosmos. Although this seems nonsensical in a literal sense, from an experiential point of view it is a very real phenomenon, and it has practical consequences. For example, as one grows into I identification with the natural environment, I instinctive motivations arise to nourish and f protect the Earth, not unlike the normal pro-1 tective instincts that one has toward one's 1 own family members. Hence, assaults on the environment are experienced as assaults on oneself, even if one's physical body is not directly injured thereby. In this way, the "ecological self" is awakened, and it often brings a sense of outrage at the ravages of the earth and a heart-felt commitment to help stop these ravages. In his excellent review of deep ecology, Warwick Fox emphasizes the importance of this process of identification. Carried far enough, certain transpersonal j4 forms of identification may be experienced, I,, which Fox labels ontological and cosmologi-■& cal identification." These forms of identification may entail experiences of unity with all of humanity, all life, or even all creation, wherein the verv fact of existence itself be-cotr^^n^mmki&^mÉÍSÚJSXiÚ\ (e.g., as Wittgenstein put it, "It is npthawjLhjngs_are_ in the world that is mystical. but-th&Utefc. True identification is an experience of self, not a philosophical concept or an intellectual fancy. Given the vita! importance of this process of widening identification, how can it be fostered in practice? Transpersonal psychology has made some crucial advances in this domain. Powerful experiential methods of introspection, psychotherapy, and meditation have been found to activate a wide range of identification experiences and also to impart a sense of compassion and associated personal responsibility. In meditative sessions and certain forms of experiential psychotherapy, subjects have reported identification with animals, plants, other humans (including all of humanity), and oneness with all life. These profound experiences often include a compelling awakening of ecological sensibility and commitment. The following example is an account by a woman who experienced herself as the entire Earth in a session of "holotropic breathwork," an experiential modality developed by Stanislav and Christina Orof that utilizes vigorous breathing. The experience ... then changed into actually becoming the planet Earth. There was no question that 1—the Earth—was a living organism, an intelligent being trying to understand myself, struggling to evolve to a higher level of awareness, and attempting to communicate with other cosmic beings. The metals and minerals constituting the planet were my bones, my skeleton. The biosphere—the plant life, animals, and humans—were my flesh. I experienced within myself the circulation of water from the oceans to the clouds and from there into little creeks and large rivers and back into the sea. The water system was my blood and the meteorological changes—the evaporation, air currents, the rainfall, and the snow—insured its circulation, transport of nourishment, and cleansing. The communication between plants, animals, and humans, including modern technology—the press, telephone, radio, television, and the computer network—was my nervous system, my brain. ! felt in my body the injury of the industrial Insults of strip mining, urbanization, toxic and radioactive waste, and pollution of air and water. The strangest part of «he session was that I was aware of rituals among various aboriginal peoples and experienced them as very healing and absolutely vital for myself. It seems somewhat weird and bizarre to mc now, when I have returned to _ my everyday rational thinking, but during r < t i O» ■ r>-i terizes the planetary ecological crisis and the Western mind's psychospirkual crisis as reflecting a profound archetypal process In which the Western self has attempted to free itself from—and gain control over—the matrix out of which it has emerged, lite evolution of the Western mind has been founded on "repression of the feminine ... of the soul of the world, of the community of being, of the ail-pervading, of mystery and ambiguity, of imagination, emotion, instinct, body, nature, woman."27 Yet Tarnas does not dismiss the Western project as an imperialist chauvinist plot but rather views it as a necessary part of a grand dialectic, which is now culminating in its greatest challenge yet: reunion with the feminine. Tantas suggests toe possibility that it]he West's restless Inner development and incessantly innovative masculine ordering of reality has been gradually leacSag, In an immensely long dialectical movement, toward a reconciliation with the lost feminine unity, toward a profound and maay-ieveted marriage of the masculine and feminine, a triumphant and healing reunion.* CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS Some preliminary condusiom seem to emerge from this initial exploration. Human consciousness is intimately invoked in creat-feg and sustaining the esvironineatal crisis. ©ar psychological and spiritual relationship to the environment—both natural and human —h a fundamental yet Invisible driving force ceafifttiting to this crisis. The external crisis m the physical environment reflects a parallel internal crisis m human consciousness: a ease of mistaken identity. Merely eSminating ^c sources and symptoms of physical point» Kfcaa «SI not be sufficient to adsleve a last-iss, healthy, sustainable society. We need to the hidden psycl&slogfesl, cultural, ümenstons of toe ecological ai of which are fatertwiaei with the lems that it set out to solve. If it is to fulfill Its mission, environmental science will ultimately requfee a much broader, balanced definition of "science"—one that admits a wide range of worldviews, is cognizant of Its own philosophical foundations and limited applicability, embodies key insights from feminist perspectives, recognizes its inevitable subjectivism, includes psychology, sociology, philosophy, and cultural anthropology as Integral components, and ultimately affords equal epistemological legitimacy to empiricism and phenomenology. Practitioners of this science will ideally embody not only empirical and analytical knowledge but also considerable psychological and spiritual self-awareness, coupled with the skill of compassionate scrutiny that can be appBed both inwardly and outwardly. Such persons could draw on intellectual and introspective faculties, integrating insights from brainstorming and "heartstorming" modalities to penetrate beyond surface appearances and tap the dynamic roots of the ecological crisis. A key component of this broader mission for environmental science is a serious inquiry into the human rootsof ecological destruc-tiojkJ'his calls for a new branch of environmental science that might be called "ecopsychoiogy." Although ecopsychoiogy would naturally draw upon psychology, today's mainstream psychology embodies the very epistemologiet and ontologies that have helped to bring about the ecological crisis in the first place. Only a significantly advanced psychology can make a genuine contribution to environmental science. In preparing itself for the task, the first step for ecopsychoiogy might be to declare independence—once and for aO—from "physics envy," and develop its own metfe«$s^d~dasa as guided by the nature of the human psyche. Tne next step would be to acknowledge and integrate the crucial Initial contributions from those schools of psychotogy—humanistic, feminist» «rchetypti, transpmonal—that have PALL 91 99 NOTES 1. Ralph Metmer, "Psychologizing Deep Ecology: A Review Essay," Revision 13(Winter 1991): 147. 2. Warwick Fox, Toward a Transpersonal Ecology (Boston: Shambhala, 1990). 3. Morris Berman, The Reenchantment of the World (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1981), 242-43. 4. Donald E. Koshland, "War and Science," Science 251 (February 1991), 497. 5. Oregory Bateton, "The Cybernetics of 'SelP: A Theory of Alcoholism," In Steps to an Ecology of Mind (London: Jason Aronson Inc., 1972). 6. Jerry Mander, In the Absence of the Sacred (San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1991), 79. 7. Roger Walsh, Slaying Alive: The Psychology of Human Survival (Boston, Shambhala, 1985), 1. 8. Richard Tarnas, "The Transfiguration of the Western Mind," Revision (Winter, 1990): 3-17. A far more comprehensive treatment is provided in Richard Tarnas, The Passion of the Western Mind (New York: Harmony Books, 1991). 9. Otto Rank, Beyond Psychology (New York: Dover, 1941), 32-33. 10. Chief Seattle (Henry Smith, trans.), quoted in John Seed, Joanna Macy, Pat Fleming, and Arne Naess, Thinking Like a Mountain (Santa Crus, Calif.: New Society, 1988), 67-73. 11. James Hillman, Re-Vlsioning Psychology (New York: Harper and Row, 1975), xxl, 67-68. 12. K. Schneider, "Thousands Exposed to Radiation in 1940s," San Francisco Chrnicle, 13 July 1990. 13. William Stevens, "At Meeting, U.S. is Alone on Global Warming," New York Times, 10 September 1991, BS. 14. Daniel Ooleman, Vital Lies, Simple Truths (Ne York: Simon & Schuster, 198S). 15. Joanna Macy, Despair and Empowerment In ih Nuclear Age (Philadelphia: New Society, 1983). 16. John Seed, Joanna Macy, Pat Fleming, and Am Naess. Thinking Like a Mountain (Santa Cruz, Calif. New Society, 1988). 17. Herman Daly and John Cobb, For the Comma Good (Boston: Beacon Press, 1989). See also the News letter of the International Society for Ecological Eco nomlci, P. O. Box 1589, Solomons, Md. 2068B. 18. Chellls Olendlnning, When Technology Wound (New York: WUliam Morrow, 1990). 19. Fox, op cit. See also Warwick Fox, "Self am World: A Transpersonal, Ecological Approach," ReVi slon (Winter 1991): 116-121. 20. Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractus Logko-Phihsoph kus, trans. D. F. Pears and B. F. McOulness (London Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1961), Proposition 6.44, a quoted In Fox, 1990, op. dt.: 251. 21. Quoted in Stanislav Orof, TTie Adventure of Sei' Discovery (Albany, New York: Slate University of Nev York Press, 1988), 66-7, 22. Fox, op. dt., especially chapter 7 and appendix B 23. Alan R. Drengson, "Transpersonal Extension o Identification: Its Pathologies and Relation to Bcoso phy." ReVlshn (Winter, 1991):129-34. 24. Stanislav Orof, Beyond the Brain (Albany, Nev York: State University of New York Press, 1985). 25. See, for example, Helena Norberg-Hodge, An cient Futures: Learning from Ladakh (San Francisco Sierra Club Books, 1991). ..... 26. Evelyn Fox Keller, "A World of Difference" u Reflections on Gender and Science (New Haven: Ya! University Press, 1985). 175. 27. Richard Tarnas, 77* Passion of the Westerr Mind (New York: Harmony Books, 1991), 442. 28. Tarnas, op. cit.:444. H0WMUM(0Ntf*4*>. . Copyright © The Buffalo News^