ABSTRACT
As midsize mammals dependent on the Earth's ecosystems for life, human beings face the most serious and complex set of ecological problems in their history. Driven by their ecologically unsustainable way of life and the dramatic increase in their global population, these problems include an increasingly less predictable climate and a wide range of interrelated social, environmental and economic problems. The eight disciplines, which the author characterize as ecological worldview traditions, include deep ecology, eco-psychology, environmental sociology, social psychology, ecological economics, indigenous studies, integral ecology and developmental psychology. Ecological worldviews can be thought of as the cognitive and perceptual capacity to see the world through the lens of ecology, which is essentially the relationship between species and their environments. The connection between human psychology and the health of the natural environment is a foundational assumption of the field of eco-psychology. In this way it offers great relevance for a deeper understanding of ecological sustainability.
