is environmentalism a selfish behavior?

Well, I think this is an important question, and one most people don't consider when they think of environmentalism. Because.. what I see is whenever somebody talks about going green or protecting the environment.. people always chime in "humans are selfish, and they will do what's in their best interest, and don't care how it effects the environment." But, that can't be true.. because if man is truely selfish and only interested in his own best interest.. then that means he would care about his environment and be concerned with it's stability. Other wise.. he can't be selfish because he has no interest or investment into his living habitate.. that would mean.. man is simply careless and without ultimate interest of self preservation at all. Outside of immediate gratification.

Definitely not - it means respecting and caring the world.

The reason I support protecting the enviroment is because I don't want the mistakes of a greedy corporation to destroy our living enviroment.

It's short-sightedness vs. seeing the big picture. Destroying the environment provides monetary benefits to a certain group of people right now. Whereas alternative energies like solar and wind are sustainable and much more viable in the long term, they cost a lot of money to set up so the people that already have significant investment in fossil fuels don't feel like building an entirely new infastructure that they probably won't live to see the benefits of, that's why it's selfish. It's selfish because we think in the short term with little regard for the next generations.

There is also an argument made that technology can mitigate any damage we do to the environment, which simply isn't true. People benefit from ruinging the environment and then they say, "we can fix it, we can fix it," and when they finally realize thy can't fix it they make up some excuse to justify it, selfish.

Environmentalism is big picture. Whether and individual benefits from environmentalism or not is really contingent on that individual's outlook. Environmentalism does help the global society for now and years to come, but there are some individuals who benefit more in the short term from destroying the environment. So taking the word selfish meaning concerned with individual good, no, environmentalism is not selfish. It may be in our best interests, but it's not selfish.

But, that can't be true.. because if man is truely selfish and only interested in his own best interest.. then that means he would care about his environment and be concerned with it's stability. EMOEVOLUTION

Depends entirely upon why they are environmentalist...

I think most enviromentalists feel it's in the best interest of everyone to do a better job of preserving the world.lloveLamp

Often they do huge mistakes. We can think about the "ecological fuel" which comes from the corn... from a side we have spared six mouths at the world, but from the other side we killed million people! this particular fuel is the main reason for the cost increase of the corn which could be used to feed poor people.

[QUOTE="lloveLamp"]I think most enviromentalists feel it's in the best interest of everyone to do a better job of preserving the world.diegosened

I would say it is selfless not selfish. I'm no enviornmentalist but I do what I can for the enviornment.

[QUOTE="lloveLamp"]I think most enviromentalists feel it's in the best interest of everyone to do a better job of preserving the world.diegosened

Often they do huge mistakes. We can think about the "ecological fuel" which comes from the corn... from a side we have spared six mouths at the world, but from the other side we killed million people! this particular fuel is the main reason for the cost increase of the corn which could be used to feed poor people.

I can't believe this was actually a topic. Environmentalism selfish? No. Selfishness is looking out for ones own well being. Humans are not in danger as of this moment. At least humans where the person reading this is from. Do you have people dying left and right because they don't have enough food to eat? Or children beign dragged away by coyotes often because they are hungry? Chances are you do not. You are living in an upscale part of the world where these thinsg don't happen as regular as they do elsewhere. Humans are not going todie out due to global warming. If it gets warmenough sure there will be a far greater number of heat strokes.A recent news article just came out recently concerning how,if it is too hot for too long a period of time in a humid environment, the body will not be able to handle it.

http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20100507/warming-temps-100509/20100509?hub=BritishColumbiaHome

Do you think these people are selfish? Do you think people in first world countries who are outspoken against the use of fossil fuels because it will have a large impact on poorer nations and strike them the hardest are selfish?

I would say it is selfless not selfish. I'm no enviornmentalist but I do what I can for the enviornment.

Dawq902

Nothing you can do can "help" the environment. "Saving the planet" is a meaningless expression. Extinction of ANY species is neither inherently better or worse than the continued existence of that species.

Environmentalism only makes sense as a selfish act designed to help benefit humans.

when people truly believe in environtmentalism, it wont be selfish

but right now its a trend, a fad...people generally do it to gain something or because theyre pressured into it.

Environmentalism only makes sense as a selfish act designed to help benefit humans.MrGeezer

As always it depends on the motivation. Beyond that, "selfish" as a term itself can be applied in ways that could easily be considered both good and bad.

[QUOTE="MrGeezer"]Environmentalism only makes sense as a selfish act designed to help benefit humans.markop2003

Exactly. Deliberately minimizing changes to the environment hurts some species just as much as it helps others. To take a stance either way is to make a value judgement equivalent to "this should be, but that should not be". And at that point, it doesn't even make sense to say that you're doing it to "help the earth."

It could definitely lead to selfish behavior. After all, if "everybody owns the environment" it provides no incentive to let nature replenish itself, since anything that is unused would just be taken by someone else.

I love nature as much as anybody, and private property rights are the only way to truly protect it.

No, environmentalism isn't selfish. I think TC is missing a major point of what makes something selfish: environmentalists are protecting the world at large, for everyone. To call someone selfish would be that they're doing something for themselves without the greater interest of the whole; the planet benefits every person and everything, and is therefore not selfish.jalexbrown

That's the thing though...evironmentalism does not help the planet.

When environmentalists refer to the "destruction of the planet", they are almost without exception talking about nothing more than "environmental change". And environmental change has always been morally neutral. Neither good, nor bad. It just is what is. The ONLY sensible reason to intervene in the course of how environments change is how it affects us. That's it. As in, we'd have a problem wiping out wolves or bears, because they play an important role as top predators (and they are so cute :) ), but you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who'd be opposed to some cheap and environmentally sound drug that would completely wipe out the guinea worm. When bees and mosquitoes start disappearing, you need to freak out because those animals are EXTREMELY important. But on the other hand, I think that humanity can do without the giant pandas.

Depends. Someone who's in the movement for selfish interests such as making money off of wind farms or other natural power sources is being selfish. Someone who's in it for purely protecting the environment, without any monetary or physical benefit at all is only being somewhat selfish. Technically they (and the rest of us) will benefit in the end as well, just to a lesser extent.

Acting on humanity's best interest is inherently selfish if you look at it that way since you are a part of it, so I guess it all comes down to how you view the concept of selfishness.

Of course it's selfish. One group is trying to impose their view on others and have been caught in lie after lie. Environmentalism is big business. Certain corporations stand to make huge proffits off environmental laws.psychobrew

That's actually not true. First of all, if you're referring to climategate, it's not substantial proof of a global conspiracy, it's a small group of scientists who omitted information that might conflict with their studies, MIGHT. It in no way comes close to debunking the solid, scientific reasearch that is out there. Second, there's not that much money to be made, not in the short term. Alternative energies are more efficient, but they require an enourmously high initial cost. Nuclear technology was supposed to have almost completely replaced coal by now, but it hasn't in large part because intallation and maintenance of nuclear plants is so high. It is cheaper for investors in these industries to stick with fossil fuels because the infastructure is already built. Alternative energy may be more efficient and generate better profits, but it won't be more profitable for a long time due to the costs of installation. In the short term anti-environmentalism is FAR more profitable.

when people truly believe in environtmentalism, it wont be selfish

but right now its a trend, a fad...people generally do it to gain something or because theyre pressured into it.

mrbojangles25

Most people won't change their habits based on altruism alone. People are lazy, ill-informed, and generally apatheticwhen it comes to most issues. For the time it would take for the billions of people who contribute to environmental problems to educate themselves and start to take action it would probably already be too late. Natural ecosystems are disappearing at an alarming rate, global warming is getting worse and some speculate may already be approaching irreversable, environmental disasters like what happened in Pensecola continue to worsen the situation, and a good many couldn't care less about it, meanwhile big business spends millions of dollars through lobbying and marketing to ensure that they can continue to do what they do. Frankly, I don't care why people get into environmentalism, as long as they do. If they are pressured into it or if they can gain something from it, fine, most people don't do anything for reasons other than those anyways.

Far from selfish, more people should take pride, and take care of the world they live in.

Well besides that going green is one the most profit boasting things a company can do right now, which suggest that it may be just another way to make money, ultimately every environmentalist is concerned with their preservation or something they admire's preservation, which can be interpreted as selfish, even it is easily justified

If someone does it for other people or forces other people to do it, it is selfless. If a person "goes green" because they will benefit themselves by going green then they are selfish, but that isn't a bad thing. If the environment gets bad enough, the selfishness that people have is going to have them do certain things to improve their own property and environment. It all has to do with what people value. If people don't value the environment and throw trash and gas in the rivers, then they are acting in their own self interest because they believe that the benefits of throwing that trash and gas in the river will out-way the negatives to them, the problem is that this could also be a selfless act because they may in fact be hurting the life of another person who may fish on that river for food. S Selflessness isn't just giving, it also means taking what you have not earned and in this case the person who throws the gas and trash in the water is taking the fish and clean water away from someone, although, unless that river was on fishers property, then he didn't own the river or the fish and never actually had anything taken away from him.

So, being an environmentalist can be a selfish behavior if you do it for purely selfish reasons without giving or taking from other people. But it can also be a selfless behavior for those who make laws and impose fines and fees on polluters. It all has to do with the individual.

[QUOTE="lloveLamp"]I think most enviromentalists feel it's in the best interest of everyone to do a better job of preserving the world.diegosened

Often they do huge mistakes. We can think about the "ecological fuel" which comes from the corn... from a side we have spared six mouths at the world, but from the other side we killed million people! this particular fuel is the main reason for the cost increase of the corn which could be used to feed poor people.

Not really..caring about the environment is far from selfish.... recycling alone makes a huge difference. weezyfb

Recycling is a lie. It's been proven that some councils just dump them in the landfill to save money

Selfish in what sense? Environmentalism offers very little immediate benefit compared to its alternative, therefore it is not "selfish" as we often think of it (attempting to direct as much benefit to oneself without regard for other entities). However, environmentalism is ultimately pro-human - environmental change at our current trends will make our species suffer horrendously in a matter of centuries or even decades.

Well, I think this is an important question, and one most people don't consider when they think of environmentalism. Because.. what I see is whenever somebody talks about going green or protecting the environment.. people always chime in "humans are selfish, and they will do what's in their best interest, and don't care how it effects the environment." But, that can't be true.. because if man is truely selfish and only interested in his own best interest.. then that means he would care about his environment and be concerned with it's stability. Other wise.. he can't be selfish because he has no interest or investment into his living habitate.. that would mean.. man is simply careless and without ultimate interest of self preservation at all. Outside of immediate gratification.

EMOEVOLUTION

Yep. Pretty much instant gratification and #$!@ the future.

If I ever have the money I'm going to make my house 100% renewable energy compliant. Solar panels, wind turbines, and geothermal. Can you imagine a tax rebate from your state giving you money for having an efficient house and not paying a dime for utilities ever?

Ahh fantasy...