ABSTRACT
There is no doubt that the pollution and destruction of the natural environment is one of the key sociopolitical problems of an increasingly industrialized world. Despite numerous attempts to reduce the threats of ecological damages, most of the global ecological problems and their long-term effects are not yet under control (for example, global warming, deforestation, extinction of species, destruction of the ozone layer, exhaustion and pollution of natural resources; e.g., McKenzie-Mohr, 2002). For a long period of time, these problems have been considered primarily as technological challenges that can be managed by new, more energy-efficient technologies. However, to a large extent, ecological problems are due to maladapted human behavior. This is particularly evident with regard to the continuous growth of the human population on earth. Consequently, within social sciences, the ecological crisis has been called a “crisis of maladapted behavior” (Maloney & Ward, 1973) or a “crisis of culture” (Devall, 1982). As social scientists, we need to study the complexities of these maladapted behavior patterns and their moral implications not only in terms of the costs to human health and welfare, but also of the ethical aspects of our relationship as humans to the general welfare of the planet (see Kahn, 1999).
