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What can I hope for (from politics)? 1101 1. (the restoration of the relationship of man and nature!) The greens are occasionally asked what they prioritise: the interests of nature or man. The answer is awaited with suspicion. If they side with nature, they hate man and are traitors against humanism. If they recognise the priority of human interests, then they have said nothing new. In reality the question itself is meaningless. Even at the level of everyday conversation, ecology means the search for harmony between the two inseparable interests — or, one could say, man’s two kinds of interests. The naturecentred approach of ecological politics originates from the recognition that in our age the survival of every good thing has come under threat from our ever more determined and inventive destruction of the natural requirements of an existence worthy of man. The unavoidable starting point and distinctive characteristic of the ecological movements is the defence of the unity, integrity and beauty of living systems, as Aldo Leopold put it, because their destruction is today the greatest threat humanity faces. Everything else is connected to this in one way or another: our increasing vulnerability to technological systems, the spread of violence, the unrestrained poverty on the one side and the unprecedented concentration of wealth and power on the other. ‘The coexistence of civilisation and nature, like every coexistence, is an endless succession of conflicts, in which any solution can only be temporary and a good solution can only be based on the mutual consideration of interests and sharing. Such compromises are contained by — various formulas of sustainability to ensure the gentle use of natural resources and sinks in knowledge of their finiteness and to prohibit their use beyond the limit of their capacity to renew; — the measures, quotas, international treaties (regarding e.g., greenhouse gases, plastics and so-called plant protection products), handling specifications (e.g., for radioactive waste, sewage, etc.) and recycling procedures limiting or prohibiting emissions that harm the environment; — (overdue) measures to protect living beings from disturbance, which give a chance of survival to the remnant of life on Earth, which has suffered irreparable damage regarding the number and genetic diversity of species and individuals; — the application of the precautionary principle to the intervention into natural systems as a general rule, in the knowledge that the complexity of these systems prevents us from knowing all the consequences of our actions, thus requiring us to proceed with the greatest caution.
