The Dying Planet Index: Life, Death and Man's Domination of Nature

This issue of Environmental Values brings together some of the key problems in environmental values for the twenty-first century. What is the relationship between humans and Nature, is this changing and if so how; can the potential for domination and exploitation of others be counter-balanced and combated; what should be the role of humans in construction and manipulation of the world around them; does ecological restoration have a credible role; how can the values of male authoritarianism and cold blooded violence to others be countered; why is the evidence of on-going destruction and human-Nature conflict so easily brushed aside; what is the future of conservation and the environmental movement? Dressing the problems up as something they are not has become a strategic marketing exercise for ENGOs, undertaken to avoid scarring those living comfortable material lifestyles who have been numbed into a conformist existence of denial in which their donations buy penitence. As time runs out for more species and habitat and more greenhouse gases accumulate in the upper atmosphere, the main political agenda remains dominated by economic growth and advancing technology. Something substantive is now necessary to break this mould.