The Philosophy of the Environment

Environmentalism is a philosophy which is based on the concept of conserving the natural environment through addressing issues the concern various human activities. Most of the activities which are addressed by environmentalism involve the pollution of the environment through industrial activities. This philosophy works towards the establishment of means through which these issues concerning the conservation of the environment are discussed and viable solutions for the environmental problems caused by human activity can be found. It can further be said that this philosophy deals with the preservation, the development, and the return of the natural environment to the state in which it was previously.

It has been found that while many environmentalist groups profess to fight for the conservation of the environment, many of them tend to defeat their own purpose for doing so. This is due to the fact that they often oppose those projects whose final goal is to ensure that the environment is conserved. An example of this is an experiment that was to be conducted off the islands of Hawaii sponsored by various gas companies and governments. This venture was to establish the rate of carbon monoxide dissolution in water so that steps could be taken to reduce such rates. However, certain environmentalist groups were opposed to this move stating that there was a possibility that the initiative was going to not only change the quality of the seawater, but it would also damage the marine life of the area. It can be seen that while some environmentalist groups claim to fight for the conservation of the natural environment, when initiatives are made to study how the environment can be conserved, it is these very same groups which come to oppose them.

A further example can be provided, this time in Pennsylvania where there was an initiative to construct wind turbines which would not only be able to provide a cheap source of energy, but this form of energy would be clean, ensuring that there was little damage to the environment. Local environmentalist groups again rose in opposition to the idea, citing that the turbines were going to destroy the immaculate forests of the area and endanger the birdlife. It can therefore be said that while many environmentalist groups fight for the conservation of the environment, they have to adapt to the initiatives which are aimed at achieving the same purpose, otherwise, their objectives are likely to be defeated.