Deep ecology

Deep ecology is an environmental philosophy that promotes the inherent worth of all living beings regardless of their instrumental utility to human needs, and argues that modern human societies should be restructured in accordance with such ideas. Deep ecologists argue that the natural world is a complex of relationships in which the existence of organisms is dependent on the existence of others within ecosystems. They argue that non-vital human interference with or destruction of the natural world poses a threat not only to humans, but to all organisms that make up the natural order. Deep ecology's core principle is the belief that the living environment as a whole should be respected and regarded as having certain basic moral and legal rights to live and flourish, independent of its instrumental benefits for human use.