THEORY
Both doctrines reject liberal individualism, believing that individuals flour-
ish best when embedded within strong, supportive communities. Overall,
Gray ( 1993 )observes that ‘Concern for the integrity of the common environ-
ment, human as well as ecological, is most in harmony with the outlook of
traditional conservatism’ (p. 124).
Despite these affinities between conservatism and ecologism, the attempt
by Gray ( 1993 )toappropriateenvironmentalism for conservatism represents
arare exercise in linking the two doctrines.^10 This omission reflects a fun-
damental difference between the two traditions that Gray, in his attempt
to ‘rescue’ environmentalism from its radicalism, rather misrepresents. Put
simply, conservatism tends to see human nature as fixed and immutable
whilst ecologism, as the discussion above showed, believes it is both possi-
ble and desirable to transform people. More broadly, whereas conservatism
seeks to protect the status quo, ecologism seeks the radical transformation
of the economic, political and social system. Core green principles, such as
participatory democracy, egalitarianism and non-violence, contrast sharply
with the conservative preference for authority, hierarchy and (where nec-
essary) coercion. Conservatism has little to say about limits to growth and
dismisses any attempt to extend value beyond humans. Not surprisingly,
despite certain common ideas, ecologism and conservatism have drawn few
explicit lessons from each other.◗ Classical liberalism
The discussion of environmental ethics in theprevious chaptershowed how
many green theorists have employed a liberal rights discourse or, following
Bentham, mobilised utilitarian ideas to justify extending obligations to non-
humans. It was John Stuart Mill, in hisPrinciples of Political Economy, who first
developed the idea of the steady-state economy, whilst several key liberal
ideas such as toleration, deliberation and the civic society have informed
ecologism.
Yetthere is much in liberalism that seems incompatible with ecologism.
Like conservatism, liberalism is ‘incurablyanthropocentric: unable to appreci-
ate nature as anything but resources’ (Wissenburg 2006 : 23). The centrality
of the individual in liberal thought contrasts sharply with holistic argu-
ments about interdependence. Whereas ecologism implies state intervention
in pursuit of the common good, the liberal state is neutral, favouring no
specific theory of the good and making no judgements about the ethical
worthofdifferent lifestyles (de-Shalit 2000 : 92; Wissenburg 2006 ). Liberal-
ism insists on the importance of individual property rights, with the impli-
cation that people should be allowed to pursue materialistic lifestyles and
be free to use property as they choose. Liberal ideas such as representative
government, market freedom and the pursuit of individual private gain sit
uneasily alongside the green acceptance of collective solutions to environ-
mental problems, intervention and the need for constraints on individual
lifestyles (Martell 1994 :141).