A review by mars2k
There is No Point of No Return by Arne Næss

reflective slow-paced

2.0

Vague ramblings. Relies on jargon without actually having much to say. Has the air of being written by a student grasping at straws because the assignment is due and he hasn’t done the reading. But he’s a pretentious student who thinks he’s not like other ecologists because he’s read Spinoza.

I had heard of deep ecology and was curious to find out more about it. It seems to revolve around a sort of spiritual belief that all life has inherent value; this forms the basis for the standpoint that nature should not be preserved (solely) for human benefit and that humans should only destroy/exploit nature when necessary (ie: to satisfy needs, not wants). There’s also a worrying point about the supposed need to drastically reduce the human population. I am not reassured by claims that it would be a gradual process brought about by “mild but tenacious political and economic measures.” This seems more misanthropic than nonanthropocentric, and dangerously appealing to those interested in implementing genocidal and eugenicist projects. I don’t know at this point whether population reduction is something common (or even foundational) to deep ecology or if it’s just Næss’s own position.

It took me five days to read this 100 page book and it was a slog from start to finish. I feel like I didn’t gain much from it.