MAN AND NATURE: ESTABLISHING AN ALTERNATIVE ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS TO CONFRONT POLLUTION

Abstract

Reforming the relationship between man and nature has become a fundamental issue that must be addressed and resolved today. The increasing degradation of the ecosystems upon which human life depends and the intensification of the environmental crisis have made it clear that economic and legal measures alone are no longer sufficient to resolve the problem of environmental pollution or to address ecological imbalances. We must also draw upon the human being's inexhaustible internal moral resources. Only by adopting an appropriate stance toward nature and establishing a new ethical relationship between humanity and the natural world, one in which we spontaneously love and respect nature, can we hope to solve the problems of environmental pollution and ecological disruption. Guided by this love and respect, we may indeed succeed in confronting the ecological challenges of our time.