Gandhi and deep ecology : experiencing the nonhuman environment

Power, SA

Abstract

The present study concentrates on the experience of
nature in the life of Mohandas K. Gandhi. This detailed
environmental biography of Gandhi follows him from the
early years in India, through his years in England as a
young man and on to South Africa where his beliefs about
humanity's proper relationship with the nonhuman world were
shaped. There is also a detailed examination of his
dietary and nature-cure experiments which date from his
years in England, 1888 - 1891, with a discussion of the
original works that he cites in his own writings. Diet
involves a most intimate relationship with the nonhuman
environment. Gandhi sought a diet which involved the least
unavoidable violence and which the poor could afford.
Health for Gandhi was a state of total well-being - social,
physical and spiritual.
Gandhi established communities of workers dedicated to
service, first in South Africa at Phoenix Settlement and
Tolstoy Farm, and then in India at Sabarmati Ashram and
Sevagram. Here his respect for the integrity of other
living beings was tested by experience. Rabid dogs, the
threat of venomous snakes to both livestock and humans, and
the nuisance of monkeys pilfering from the ashram's fruit
trees and vegetables were situations that had to be
resolved.
Since its inception in 1972 the Deep Ecology movement
has been linked with the name of the Norwegian
ecophilosopher Arne Naess, who has also devoted many years
to an analysis of Gandhi's philosophy. The experience of
nature and reflection on humanity's right relationship with
the nonhuman environment is brought up to the present-day
via a consideration of some of the individuals and
indigenous people that deep ecology acknowledges as part of
its background, such as Henry Thoreau, John Muir, Mary
Austin, Aldo Leopold and Richard St. Barbe Baker.

Citation

Power, S. Gandhi and deep ecology : experiencing the nonhuman environment. (Thesis). University of Salford

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Sep 19, 2011
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 19, 2011
• Award Date: Jan 1, 1990