The political theory of radical ecology

Radical ecology maintains that the ecological crisis we now face visibly stems from the ruthless exploitation and pollution of the planet. Murray Bookchin has noted that the social sources of this crisis can be attributed to a competitive marketplace spirit that reduces the entire world of life, including humanity, to merchandisable objects, to mere commodities with price tags that are to be sold for profit and economic expansion. This ideology seems to be best expressed by the marketplace maxim: "Grow or die!"--a slogan that identifies limitless growth with "progress" and the "mastery of nature" with "civilization."It is my intention to explore the emphasis that radical ecology and communitarian theory place on the concept of community. This will involve a concentration upon the aspects of communitarian theory which seem to intersect with the concept of community as it is embedded in radical ecology. One example is the communitarian contention that it is the politics of the common good (in contrast to liberal theory focus on the politics of rights), and the radical ecology emphasis on this concept in the ethical ideal of an eco-community (in contrast to the concept found in capitalism of nature as a "resource"). Further, both communitarian theory and radical ecology strongly oppose what they consider to be the anti-community implications of "rugged individualism."The primary contention of this dissertation will be that the central problems raised by the environmental crises are political in character. The thrusts of both communitarian theory and radical ecology do not significantly diverge, and they are both adamant in the contention that it is necessary to return to the ideal of political community. It is important to note that communitarian theorists are not engaged in an intellectual dialogue with radical ecology theorists--in fact, they do not seem to be talking to one another at all. On the surface they seem to be worlds apart ideologically radical ecology and communitarian theory are not historically or existentially connected. Radical ecology does not seem to have an identifiable political theory if there is a political theory, I believe that the most likely candidate is communitarianism.