We cannot avoid participation in these communities. Our primary responsibility as Homo sapiens and moral agents is to take responsibility for ourselves. The environmental crisis is a result of collective and personal failure in responsibility. Ecological consciousness is sometimes contrasted with lack of ecological consciousness, that is, behavior and thought which ignores ecological realities and has no sense of participating the larger context of place. The ultimate aim of the environmental movement, say many, is to develop ecological consciousness so that our social and cultural life manifest ecosophy , that is, ecological harmony and wisdom.
Ecological consciousness can take many forms, just as there are many forms of ecosophy.
Ecosophy literally means the wisdom of the household place. It implies the wisdom to dwell harmoniously and nondestructively in a place. It involves being receptive and responsive to the needs of a place and the wisdom that Nature has enfolded into that place with its many beings, communities, and organizations. Ecosophy can deepen throughout one's life, and throughout a culture's life. The term was coined by Arne Naess to refer to ultimate philosophies based on ecocentric values.