Austyn Harrington- chapter 2 summery

Humans due to socialization created environmental ideologies that represent the range of human relationships with and beliefs about the natural world on a spectrum that all humans can somehow relate to. Two main ideologies construct humans view of the natural world for the most part. These are the Anthropocentric view on one end of the spectrum and the Ecocentric view on the other end of the spectrum.
Anthropocentric ideology is the belief that humans are superior to and should dominate the rest of creation, because human is the most important. This view is human-centered. Some believe this view came to be from Christian theology that “man was created in God’s image” and that earth was made for man’s doing.
Ecocentric ideology on the other end of the spectrum believes that no species including human rule over the other. This belief concludes that humans are an interdependent, integral part of the biological world, but are no more or less important that other portions of nature. Ecocentric ideology today, is hard to maintain because of the social ideology that resides in Anthropocentric ideals.
The Unrestrained Instrumentalist believes that resources exist entirely for human’s unlimited use and that the resources are all “instruments” whose essential purpose is to serve human ends. The negative attributes with such a view is that humans are loosening environmental restraints to the point that humans are the root cause for the destruction of earth.
Conservationism believes humans’ should use natural resources “wisely” to ensure future generations have the means to maintain a valuable life. Nature is to serve humans, therefore humans’ must protect it.
According to Preservationism, nature has a “sacred and holy” attribution to it, yet it’s value is still determined my either a subjective human experience or because of an alleged “objective deity that is manifested in nature”. Humans experience is what defines nature as “holy”.
Ethics and Values- Driven Ideologies believe that value goes beyond utilitarian worth, and that regardless of its benefits to humans, all living entities hold a place in the biotic community that justifies its value. This ideology is driven by the belief that humans have duties to nonhuman natural ideologies.
These ideologies mainly come from the anthropocentric side of the spectrum regarding the relationship between nature and human life. Due to socialization the embedded message is stored inside humans providing justification for human misuse and manipulation of the planet. However, without these ideologies, human life would not be idolized as it is today, and the walls between nature and human life would be unseen. Due to social structure and the construction of socialization, these environmental ideologies are one of the major factors which shape our minds and conceptual understandings of our lives as well as our lives in relation to the outdoors.