Grade 11

Unit 1:Foundations of environmental

systems and societies
Lesson 1: Environmental value systems
• Environmental value systems
 Learning Intentions
Knowledge and Understanding
• At the end of this topic you should be able to:
• define an Environmental Value System and
describe the differences between the Ecocentric,
Technocentric and Anthropocentric EVSs.
• explain how a particular EVS might approach an
environmental issue
• discuss the intrinsic value of the environment and
how different EVSs feel about this
•
 The Big Questions ?
• D. How does your personal value system
compare with the others you have
encountered in the context of issues raised in
this topic?
 The Environment
• What is it ?
 Environmental Systems ?
• What is a system ?
• Provide examples
 A society
• A society is an arbitrary group of individuals
who share some common characteristics, such
as geographical location, cultural background,
historical timeframe, religious perspective,
value system and so on.
 Values ?
• Values can be seen as the beliefs of a person
or social group in which they have an
emotional investment.
Our values are derived from a multitude of factors
Such as
• Social Status
• Economic Status
• Education
• Religion
• Peers
• Family
– Task: Describe how any of the above may have
influenced your personal values
 what is meant by an environmental
value system?
Read Page 22 of the ESS guide(see files) and
provide a definition of EVS
 Environmental Values as a system
• Input – education, cultural dogma, religious
doctrines, media
• Transfers and Transformations – Processing of
information, thinking, discussion, instinctive
reflex reactions
• Outputs – decisions, perspectives, courses of
action
 Inputs
Everything around us affects our opinions, the decisions
we make and how we live our lives.
 Processes
• Accepting or rejecting ideas
• Cost benefit analysis
• Emotion
• Evaluation
• Listening/assimilating knowledge
• Thinking
 outputs
• Actions
• Answers
• Choices
• Decisions
• Perspectives
• Viewpoints
 As a system ?
• An EVS might be considered as a system in the
sense that it may be influenced by education,
experience, culture and media (inputs), and
involves a set of interrelated premises, values
and arguments that can generate consistent
decisions and evaluations (outputs).
 Your environmental value system
• is more than just your opinion on a particular
issue, it is a more general overall viewpoint
based upon underlying principles and beliefs
that you may not even express, but which help
you decide your viewpoint on any one issue.

• will be influenced by our cultural, religious,

 Theory of Knowledge
• To what extent should we trust indigenous
knowledge to give us reliable facts? 
• Reflect and share your thoughts
A spectrum of EVSs,
The EVS spectrum
`
 EVS
Ecocentrism Deep Ecologists

Soft Ecologists
Anthropocentrism

Environmental Managers
Technocentrism
 A spectrum of EVSs,
• There is a spectrum of EVSs, from ecocentric
through anthropocentric to technocentric
value systems.
Table 2. The main EVS approaches. (Source: Kognity ESS)
Table 2. The main EVS approaches.
Ecocentrism Deep ecologist
​Nature-centered holistic view in which environmental, Ecocentric
social and spiritual aspects are integrated. They propose Nature has intrinsic values in and of itself.
self-reliance, self-restraint and minimal disturbance of the No development.
natural processes to achieve sustainability for the whole Self-reliance soft ecologists
earth. Mainly ecocentric but with some anthropocentric elements.
Small scale development Community identity that keeps
Anthropocentrism development in check.
People-centered approach in which people manage their Environmental managers
environment and themselves with the help of independent Mainly anthropocentric but with
regulatory authorities. Population control and resource some technocentric elements.
management are given equal importance. Natural resources and human population need to be
managed.
Technocentrism
​Technology will keep pace with and provide solutions to all
Cornucopians
problems. The emphasis is on the use of scientific analysis
​We can carry on with development because technology will
and prediction in order to understand and control natural
solve any problems that arise.
processes. Science will find alternative resources and the
market economy can continue unheeded.
 Environmental Philosophies
• Ecocentrism – Nature
Centered
– Holistic and sustainable
worldview, minimum
disturbance of nature
– 1. Deep Ecologists
• Natural laws dictate human
morality
• Nature is needed for
humanity and has rights
– 2. Self-Reliance soft
ecologists
 An Ecocentric viewpoint
• An ecocentric viewpoint integrates social,
spiritual and environmental dimensions into a
holistic ideal. It puts ecology and nature as
central to humanity and emphasizes a less
materialistic approach to life with greater self-
sufficiency of societies.
• An ecocentric viewpoint prioritizes biorights,
emphasizes the importance of education and
• In an ecocentric society humans are part of nature
rather than in control of it and they form a global
citizenship in which there is sustainability for the
whole earth. 
• They work with the natural environment in order
to solve problems before they get out of control,
and everyone has the capacity and opportunity to
participate in decision making for the good of the
• “We abuse land because we regard it as a
commodity belonging to us.  When we see
land as a community to which we belong, we
may begin to use it with love and respect.”
Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac
• "A thing is right when it tends to preserve the
integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic
community. It is wrong when it tends
otherwise."
• - Aldo Leopold (American author, scientist,
conservationist, and environmentalist.) 
• “Humankind has not woven the web of life. 
We are but one thread within it.  Whatever we
do to the web, we do to ourselves.  All things
are bound together.  All things connect.”
– Chief Seattle, 1855
Environmental Philosophies
• Anthropocentrism-
People Centered
– Humans are responsible
for sustainable global
systems through control of
population and resource
use
– 1. Environmental
Managers
•
 Anthropocentric
• An anthropocentric viewpoint argues that
humans must sustainably manage the global
system.
• This might be through the use of taxes,
environmental regulation and legislation.
• Debate would be encouraged to reach a
consensual, pragmatic approach to solving
• “God blessed them and said to them: Be
fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and
subdue it and have dominion over the fish of
the sea and over the birds of the heavens and
over every living thing that moves on the
earth”. Gen 1:28
 Environmental Philosophies
• Technocentrism – Technology Centered
– Technology can keep pace and provide solutions
to environmental issues.
– 1. Cornucopian
• Man can always find a way out of any difficulties
 A Technocentric viewpoint
• A technocentric viewpoint argues that technological
developments can provide solutions to environmental
problems.
• This is a consequence of a largely optimistic view of
the role humans can play in improving the lot of
humanity.
• Scientific research is encouraged in order to form
policies and to understand how systems can be
controlled, manipulated or changed to solve resource
depletion.
• Using relevant examples and evidence explain
how historical influences have shaped the
development of the modern environmental
movement
 EVS Influence decisions
• For each of the problems below decide if we
should solve each problem using the provided
worldview.
– Technocentric: Should we use windmills to produce
more energy?
– Anthropocentric: Should GMO’s be used to grow
more food?
– Ecocentric: Should we create more national parks to
save species and maintain biodiversity on the