Roger Scruton: Green philosophy begins at home
Roger Scruton believes that an environmentalism founded on love of home would return to us the original meaning of economy (Image: Robert Judges/Rex Features)
The conservative philosopher believes that an environmentalism founded on love of home would return to us the original meaning of economy
We don't usually link conservatism with environmentalism. Should we?
In my book Green Philosophy, I aim to re-situate the environmental agenda where it belongs - in the European conservative tradition. Edmund Burke, 18th-century philosopher and founder of modern conservatism, recognised society is not a contract among the living but a trusteeship that binds the living to the unborn and the dead. This has huge ramifications for environmentalism.
In my book Green Philosophy, I aim to re-situate the environmental agenda where it belongs - in the European conservative tradition. Edmund Burke, 18th-century philosopher and founder of modern conservatism, recognised society is not a contract among the living but a trusteeship that binds the living to the unborn and the dead. This has huge ramifications for environmentalism.
What's different about your approach?
We're used to the accusation that conservatism is about business and markets, and unfortunately it often looks like that. But people vote conservative because they want to conserve their values, their home, their family. There's a hidden motive I call oikophilia, Greek for love of home. We know oikos through the words "economy" and "ecology"; a conservative emphasis on economics makes more sense if we put oikos back into oikonomia. I see the environmental problem arising when people cease to see their surroundings as a home.
We're used to the accusation that conservatism is about business and markets, and unfortunately it often looks like that. But people vote conservative because they want to conserve their values, their home, their family. There's a hidden motive I call oikophilia, Greek for love of home. We know oikos through the words "economy" and "ecology"; a conservative emphasis on economics makes more sense if we put oikos back into oikonomia. I see the environmental problem arising when people cease to see their surroundings as a home.
Is that because many people lead mobile lives?
They are part of the environmental problem: the unsettling of humanity is more destructive even than big business. The counterforce, the settling down, the looking after, is an anti-entropic human tendency. It has often looked like conservatism is a fight against the second law of thermodynamics. I see it as an attempt to take that law seriously, and export entropy from the things we love.
They are part of the environmental problem: the unsettling of humanity is more destructive even than big business. The counterforce, the settling down, the looking after, is an anti-entropic human tendency. It has often looked like conservatism is a fight against the second law of thermodynamics. I see it as an attempt to take that law seriously, and export entropy from the things we love.
Governments don't see things that way.
We have seen the emergence of a political class which is unsettled, individualistic and locked into big business and interest groups. But human life is about settling down, not about getting and spending. There was a time politicians knew this.
We have seen the emergence of a political class which is unsettled, individualistic and locked into big business and interest groups. But human life is about settling down, not about getting and spending. There was a time politicians knew this.
So how do we lessen our impact on the planet?
One basic thing is to teach children to absorb the costs of what they do and not pass them on. Environmental problems arise largely because people externalise costs. Take supermarkets, which externalise the costs of food distribution by wrapping everything in plastic, and by being sited out of town. Allow goods to be sold unwrapped and ensure out-of-town sites obey the same planning rules as central ones, and one source of environmental destruction would be contained. It's the same with transport, where the energy costs don't fall on consumers. We must return the costs to them through mileage or carbon taxes.
One basic thing is to teach children to absorb the costs of what they do and not pass them on. Environmental problems arise largely because people externalise costs. Take supermarkets, which externalise the costs of food distribution by wrapping everything in plastic, and by being sited out of town. Allow goods to be sold unwrapped and ensure out-of-town sites obey the same planning rules as central ones, and one source of environmental destruction would be contained. It's the same with transport, where the energy costs don't fall on consumers. We must return the costs to them through mileage or carbon taxes.
What role should the state play in this?
This is one issue we all worry about, regardless of ideology. Wisely, the American founding fathers held that state powers should be conferred and limited by the people: that is what the Constitution was for. However, even in the US, we now see the state stealing future assets to finance current profligacy. All democracies tend to steal from the unborn since they can't vote. But families and small associations can look to the past and future - and the unborn have a voice. The state should return power to small groups so problems land in the lap of those with a motive to solve them.
This is one issue we all worry about, regardless of ideology. Wisely, the American founding fathers held that state powers should be conferred and limited by the people: that is what the Constitution was for. However, even in the US, we now see the state stealing future assets to finance current profligacy. All democracies tend to steal from the unborn since they can't vote. But families and small associations can look to the past and future - and the unborn have a voice. The state should return power to small groups so problems land in the lap of those with a motive to solve them.
Profile
Roger Scruton is a philosopher and writer, and a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington DC. Green Philosophy is published by Atlantic Bookshttp://www.newscientist.com/
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