Environmental Worldviews

Why are they still teaching this dated philosophy of lies and confusion?

Should Environmental Worldviews still be part of the Master of Public Health teaching paradigm?

         According to our text there are three categories of environmental worldview, the human-centered environmental worldview speaks to our natural world as a support system for human life primarily. The life centered worldview believe species are participating members of the biosphere, and that we have an ethical responsibility to avoid hastening the extinction of species through our activities. The earth environmental worldview holds ethical responsibility to the preservation our earth’s biodiversity. Focus is on ecosystem services now and in the future. The other worldview variations of planetary and stewardship worldview view our world as a separatism charge of nature that they can manage, degrade, deplete, and repair via technological ingenuity. Environmental problems persist as people’s views differ regarding the world’s environmental problems. Differing environmental worldviews prevent agreements and plans towards possible solutions. Differing assumptions and values arise concerning how our natural world works and the interactions between it and the environment. Worldviews influence interaction between the environment and how we tend to respond to the world’s environmental problems. Different environmental worldviews can result in the same data with logical constituency arriving at extremely different responses to questions due to different morals, assumptions, and ethical beliefs. If we are to be good stewards of the world we must act with care, responsibility, and with the comprehension that future generations will need to utilize it.

I attempted to reason through these worldview variables, and they all appear to be under and over developed. The life-centered environmental worldview value fulfilling ecological roles and do not care what the potential use is to society and consider that all species will eventually become extinct. The life-centered worldview attempts to avoid hastening the extinction of life forces via human activities. They believe species to be unique and play a part in the biosphere sustaining all life. According to the earth-centered environmental worldview, we are part of and live within nature, as the title of our textbook Living in the Environment indicates. This view also holds that we are dependent on nature, and that the earth’s natural capital exists for all species, not just for humans. When we harm the earth’s life support system, we harm ourselves because everything in nature is connected. According to this worldview, our economic success and the long-term survival of our cultures, our species, and many other species depend on learning how life on the earth has sustained itself for billions of years and integrating such lessons from nature into the ways we think and act (E Textbook: Living in the environment, 2022, p. 1.3g).

My environmental worldview would have a balanced unique perspective. I would not attempt to think as others as it becomes ingenuine to package together random thoughts or views of others. The focus would be only on my views and not an attempt to consolidate another man’s worldview interpretation. There are variables for each free approach and the systems cannot be set in stone as there are and will be many variables.  Preventing natural capital degradation and depletion would be a key focus for me. I would focus on both short-term and long-term benefits of the impacts of our complex and changing planet. Our earth spaceship could never be recreated and must be handled with simplified gloves. When we utilize science that is misleading to attempt to manage a God creation it will respond and there will be environmental, health, and social consequences that can disturb the nations infrastructures. Do Worldviews answer questions, give big pictures, or answer key questions regarding life? Definitely not, while the concept of worldview originated in Germany and was conceptualized by Kant (1724–1804) they are dated, uncommon, and politically strategic thoughts of one and two philosophers. Throughout history, political lobbyists paid politician to lie, mislead, distort, and otherwise deceive what was deemed advantageous or necessary. Were philosophers any different, or were they overtly aware of environmental biases regarding worldview and utilized paradigms to influence their actions? These three worldviews are collections of attitudes about the world around us, however they do not inform every thought and action. Nor does it express religion, ethics, philosophy, and scientific beliefs. Albeit worldview is shaped by beliefs to form fundamental mind organization, part of the worldview’s listed are filtered out as these worldviews do not display culture, artistry, or otherwise.

My beliefs have been modified to discern each authors intent with each text within this course. I ask myself many questions, one being is this written to cultivate my thoughts or an attempt to package other individuals’ beliefs into my own. My perceptions have evolved and learning tools such as worldviews are wrong as each person looks at our world differently and does not need a guide to steer his thoughts, but rather the truth. Multiple worldviews appear to be contradictory views that were derived from the worldviews of others. A worldview cannot be put into a box as it applies to wide ranges and topics. We can’t notate how people act and think day to day regarding our environment. Nor can we determine a person's scientific, ethic, and religion biases because of one’s moment to moment movements our earth ship.

Your environmental worldview is determined partly by your environmental ethics —what you believe about what is right and what is wrong in your behavior toward the environment (E Textbook: Living in the environment, 2022, p. 17). If while driving I throw a piece of paper out of my car perhaps I don’t care about our earth ship or maybe it has touched something that could harm the contents of my car. Am I now a litterer and should I be fined or taxed? Worldviews come across as sloppy thinking to me and all these flaws cumulatively conspire to create an atmosphere that is hardly apt for the cultivation of intellectual virtues. Worldview warriors are liable to be more interested in having answers than asking questions, in dismissing an opponent rather than engaging him, and in teaching rather than learning. Worldviews, as often practiced, is not an approach that entertains patience, humility, or persuasion. Indeed, since any passion must be nourished through struggle, and worldviews can seem to promise a cheap shortcut to knowledge, it does not often create students fired with a love for truth (Jacqueline. ,2018). Our views on the state of the world are decades behind. We need an update and an infusion of data-rich realism (Jim Clemmer's leader letter newsletter., 2022).

References

Book | @JoakimBook, J., & Joakim Book is a freelance writer. (2020, September 15). Worldviews are pessimistic because they are outdated. HumanProgress. Retrieved December 16, 2022, from https://www.humanprogress.org/a-much-needed-update-to-our-outdated-worldviews/ 

Dreher, R. (2019, November 13). The problem with 'worldview' education. The American Conservative. Retrieved December 16, 2022, from https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-problem-with-worldview-education/ 

Jacqueline. (2018, March 16). What's so bad about "worldview"? The Davenant Institute. Retrieved December 16, 2022, from https://davenantinstitute.org/whats-bad-worldview/ 

Jim Clemmer's leader letter newsletter. (n.d.). Retrieved December 16, 2022, from https://www.clemmergroup.com/newsl/february2020.html