Some information on ECO

The Campaign for Political Ecology
About ECO

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What is ECO trying to do?
ECO's aim is to inject truly ecological thinking into political debate.
What is ECO's philosophy ?
ECO's philosophy is ecocentric - that is, based on the understanding that our survival and that of millions of other species depends on the health of the Earth's natural systems. Such an understanding, therefore, should be central to all political decision-making.
No British political party has an ecocentric philosophy, value system or political programme. Even the Green Party puts concerns about human social justice before concerns about ecosystems. Environmental pressure groups increasingly avoid proposing measures necessary to protect the natural world if these appear to infringe human 'rights'.

What - in a nutshell - is ECO's view ?
ECO believes that human activity is now impacting on the global environment to a disastrous extent. While the scale of human suffering, oppression, and injustice in many parts of the world is heart-breaking, political efforts centred solely on making life for human beings more secure, more comfortable and more successful, will ultimately fail, resulting in environmental melt-down and more human suffering.
Concerns purely for human-welfare must be transcended by a 'post-humanist' world view: allocation of resources in the fairest way within the constraints imposed on us by the Earth. That means looking critically at individual consumption of goods and services, and reforming the technologies used to provide them so that the environmental impact is reduced. It also means challenging the 'right' for humans to continue expanding their numbers. Otherwise all the improvements which technological reforms might achieve could be wiped out by the ever-increasing number of consumers.

What kind of future society does ECO wish for?
ECO's goal is a society in which the institutions and lifestyles do not degrade its citizens, nor deprive future generations of an environment that can sustain their lives, nor threaten the survival of other species with whom we share the Earth.
Surely "sustainable development " is taking us there?
ECO is deeply worried by the glib use of the term 'sustainability' without consideration of the underlying concept. Even where this is used to convey the aim of ecological sustainability, there is generally little appraisal to show that the project being proposed, when added to hundreds of similar projects, would in fact be sustainable. A great complacency has developed around the use of this term: tweak the technologies a bit, label them 'sustainable' and then everything is hunky-dory.
Is ECO a political party ?
No. We only seek to inform and influence.
What are ECO's main issues?
Our guiding concepts are limits, diversity and stability. The key issues are overpopulation, overconsumption and uncontrolled technology. They are based on the equation:
I = P x A x T

(where I is humanity's environmental impact, P is population/human numbers, A is affluence or resource consumption per capita, and T is the technology factor - higher if wasteful and polluting and lower if 'greener'.)

ECO's publications examine the ways in which all these factors could be reduced and consistently emphasise the importance of tackling all three. We acknowledge that worldwide inequality and injustice add immensely to the complexity of the problem.


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How ECO operates
A small voluntary team meets at intervals to discuss additions to the website and to pool ideas.

To contact us, please send an email to eco-cpe@bigfoot.com or write to ECO at 17 Fog Lane, Manchester, M20 6A, UK.


Advisors


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This page last updated: 30-June-2003