Perspectives: Holism and Nature's Interconnectedness

Holism is the best approach for ethical treatment of the environment. Holism considers human relationships with the environment in much the same way as nature is structured, interconnected with each part being dependant on all the other parts. Holism considers the health of the whole ecological community rather than its constituent parts. Holism is similar to the Gaia Hypothesis defined by James Lovelock. The Gaia hypothesis looks at Earth as one being and having the health of the whole dependent on the individual parts. Similarly, holism considers the interconnectedness of a whole and how different parts of a whole interact with and affect each other. While it may be very difficult to define what the whole is in many cases, considering the interconnected elements in an environment and how one action may affect other parts of the environment is extremely important to environmental health.  In addition, this ethical philosophy tends to support actions like hunting for their beneficial effects on the environment. Hunting helps to control animal populations so that the animals don’t harm other parts of their environment, die of disease or harm the ability of other animals to be successful. For example, each year in Minnesota, the Department of Natural Resources issues deer tags for a specific number of deer that can be taken in order to keep deer populations in check. In this way, the deer do not overgraze on tree saplings and kill all developing tree and do not outcompete themselves and other animals causing widespread death. This is an example of the benefits of holism; by considering how each part of the ecosystem interacts with other parts of the ecosystem, the best ethical action can be chosen by what decision will do little to no harm to other parts of the whole. In other traditions, like natural law, killing deer may be unacceptable because the deer are valued because they are fulfilling their natural function even though their actions may be harming other species of plants and animals. Holism, on the other hand, takes the rest of the environment into account in order to make the most ethical decisions regarding the environment and its constituent parts. Since ecosystems function as parts of a whole interacting and affecting one another, the best ethical approach to making environmental decisions thus must take into account this interconnected dimension of nature. 

a short biography of me!

My name is Drew Hatzenbihler. I was born on August 13th in Rochester MN in 1988. I have lived in Rochester my whole life. I am the son of Deb and Denny Hatzenbihler and have one sister Heather who graduated from St. Ben's in 2007. I attended St. Francis of Assisi school from kindergarten to 8th grade. I then moved to Lourdes High school for 9-12th grade. I am currently a senior at St. John's University. In May I will graduate with a major in Environmental Studies and a minor in Computer Science. From there I hope to pursue a career in outdoor education. I am particularly interested in creating nature-based, summer camps so that children can have outdoor experiences they may otherwise never have. My love of the outdoors developed as I was growing up. I spent summers on Grindstone Lake in Hayward Wisconsin. There, my family would spend weekends swimming, tubing and relaxing for the majority of the weekends available in the summer. I hope that someday, I can enable other children to have similar summer experiences as me. In particular, I hope to work with children with special needs so that they can have the same summer, outdoor experiences as other children their age and not be hindered by a disability. In my spare time, I enjoy outdoor activities such as fishing (both on water and ice), swimming, wakeboarding, hiking, snowshoeing, and sitting around campfires with friends and family. In addition, I spend my time relaxing, watching television, Playing board games, playing video games, spending time with friends, woodworking, listening to music, and napping. My favorite food is probably cheeseburgers (Even better if bacon is thrown in) followed closely by scalloped potatoes and ham (especially when the ham is leftover from holidays). I am addicted to Dr. Pepper but avoid coffee at all costs. Finally, my pet peeves include shower curtains that intrude on my shower space by blowing in an invisible breeze, hair on the soap, and hypocrites.