But, under the US flag, the United States has intervened militarily, economically and culturally all over the world. One must therefore at least question interventions by American environmentalists in the countries of the Two-Thirds World, or the former Soviet Union and Eastern European countries. This alternative philosophy expresses a new relationship to nature, which is biocentric or ecocentric, not human-centered. Putting the Earth first means ecosystem rights before human rights. From such a perspective, I cannot support the pulpwood logging of La Verendrye Park in Quebec, or similar situations, even if endorsed by some native people.
Social justice is only possible in a context of ecological justice.
The social component of the alternative philosophy must advocate building a movement against industrialism, and advocating a no- growth economy. We need to raise the banner of living more simply and reduce population. The federal government's Green Plan, which has a major influence on environmental activity in Canada, is permeated by the language of sustainable development. Solutions to environmental problems are to be addressed through market forces and through existing social structures. Lobbying elected politicians, as we are continually exhorted to at this conference, in the process legitimates the government-sanctioned system of industrial expansion and corporate order.