ABSTRACT
This chapter examines whether the present dangerous trends dedicated to the consumption and appropriation of nature, including the use of the natural environment as a waste sink, be thrown aside like "a light cloak" or have they become "an iron cage". By placing human interventions in nature within the bounds of adapting to nature and by recognizing human embeddedness in nature, humans can become nature's friend rather than either its master or its slave. Luke criticizes deep ecology in this way for lacking a "theory of transition", but his critique applies to all theories of a new relationship between social action and the processes of nature. Four main theories of transition from the present parasitic relationship between the social and the natural to a more symbiotic relationship have been proposed: theories based on force, practical reason, ecological ethics, and ecological consciousness. A fifth, based on ecological experience and ecological knowledge, is more complete and more convincing than the others.
