ABSTRACT
The impact of the Romantic Movement on changing constructions of the beauty of landscapes has left a legacy of desire to experience nature in environments that are unspoilt and promise wilderness experiences. The scientific enquiry of nature has made us aware of a range of environmental problems including climate change, loss of biodiversity and pollution, causing a questioning of our responsibilities to nature, perhaps not least because we increasingly realise it is in our own best interests to have a healthy and flourishing environment. Instrumental in the creation of nature as a source of authenticity and corrective to the social conventions of eighteenth-century Europe that he believed corrupted people's natural goodness was the Swiss philosopher, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who lived most of his life in France. Shallow ecology is based upon an anthropocentric view of nature, meaning that nature is viewed as being separate from humans and its value rests purely in terms of use for meeting our needs and desires.
