HOLISTIC ETHICS AND GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL CRISES

Abstract

The global environmental crisis is fundamentally an ethical problem. It reflects also a crisis in human value system. In the contemporary global situation there are preferential value systems which people of various cultures and ethnic affiliations committed to ancient religious belief systems and practices stick to maintain. The latter component is generally called the religious ethos, although it is very much an integral part of an ethnic cultural milieu. Their religious belief systems also have to be seriously taken into account when we discuss finding ways and means to solve some of the human-made environmental crises on a global magnitude. The ethics of modem materialism seems to be a “worship of human pride.” Contemporary human communities world over value their own respective gains and take a certain degree of pride and glory of their own technological advancement even on their respective national banners and brand names. In this materialistic perspective of global achievements by certain world powers other things and humans are of value only in as much as they can be somehow used for achieving the targets of such global goal settings. Due to this overemphasis of reaching the competitive global marketing targets we need to acknowledge that our vicious materialistic interests of our ruthless advancement in productivity of industrial goods, we are making the Earth, our homeland and ourselves very sickly and neurotic. We need a new ethics that changes our role from being the controller and manipulator of the world to be its friend, servant and partner. In short, we need broaden our ethical vision and norms of application to solve the present day environmental crises from the confines of family and tribe to include nation, race and, finally, humankind. This is what is implied in applying holistic ethics and its integrative norms which take into account the specific religious ethos of various peoples and communities which constitute the so-called “Global Village” where everybody should know and respect each other’s ancestral belief systems, values and cultural identity traits which each community honours as its own great heritage. Can we solve our contemporary environmental problems following a set of universally acceptable holistic norms of ethical behaviour? This is the central question here under discussion to which I would like to contribute from my ecological awareness, reflections, and experience gained from my action programs.