ABSTRACT
The ecological self is the part of human beings that identifies their self as literally part of nature. In an effort to apply the ecological self to sustainability leadership, the author focus his attention on the deep ecologists, eco-psychologists and integral ecologists that have written about the ecological self explicitly from a developmental perspective. Norwegian philosopher Arne Naess made the first reference to the ecological self in 1972 as part of the philosophy of deep ecology. Eco-psychologist Laura Sewall puts forth the idea that the ecological self matures through the recovery and development of human sensory systems, which she calls exquisitely evolved channels for translating the "in here" and the "out there". Australian environmental psychologist Elizabeth Bragg has explored the concept of the ecological self through the lens of developmental psychology. She surmises that an expanded self-concept through the ecological self can affect the functioning of an individual in the environment and explores how self-constructs can be changed.
