What is... Ecopsychology and Deep Ecology?

Ecopsychology

explores ways of healing the alienation of humans from nature, to build a sane and sustainable society. Ecopsychologists understand that although the human psyche is shaped by the modern social world, humans originally evolved in the wider natural world. Our understanding of mental health must include our relationship to other species and to the ecosystems that sustain life, because we are dependent on healthy nature physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

Deep Ecology

Our interdependence with all life of Earth has profound implications for our attitudes and actions. To clarify these implications, and free us from behaviors based on outmoded notions of our separateness from nature, deep ecology arose, both as a philosophy and a movement. The term was coined in the 1970’s by Norwegian philosopher Arne Naess, a mountain climber and scholar of Gandhi.