Roger Scruton, a conservative philosopher, has written a book about being green. It’s called Green Philosophy, and is available across the pond right now and it will be released this summer in the United States under the title How to Think Seriously About the Planet: The Case for Environmental Conservatism.  Does it sound like an oxymoron?  Mr. Scruton, in a way, wants us to focus on the present by bringing environmentalism back home. Since none of us have a crystal ball that can tell us what the future holds all we can can control is the present in order to create a better future.

In an interview with New Scientist Mr. Scruton says, “ We're used to the accusation that conservatism is about business and markets, and unfortunately it often looks like that. But people vote conservative because they want to conserve their values, their home, their family. There's a hidden motive I call oikophilia, Greek for love of home. We know oikos through the words ‘economy’ and ‘ecology’; a conservative emphasis on economics makes more sense if we put oikos back into oikonomia. I see the environmental problem arising when people cease to see their surroundings as a home.”

The idea makes a lot of sense: if you value and love something, you will fight to protect and conserve it.  This isn’t just about your physical house; we need to see the Earth and the outside as our home also. A basic approach to environmentalism would immediately help the community. In theory, on the economic side, a return to simplicity and a form of interdependence would ease the government’s job. 

Mr. Scruton also said, “Edmund Burke, 18th-century philosopher and founder of modern conservatism, recognised society is not a contract among the living but a trusteeship that binds the living to the unborn and the dead. This has huge ramifications for environmentalism.”  That school of thought is certainly in line with a key component of conservation: the stewardship of Earth in order to preserve it for future generations.

It will be interesting to see how the book is widely received in the US. It’s already been reviewed in the Guardian and New Statesmen. The reviews do point out a few ideas that may make the simplistic approach just that -a little too simple and not effective. From the Guardian’s review it seems Mr. Scruton would like to do away with policies that interfere -but not all of the policies all of the time. The New Statesmen called it a “spoiled book.”  However, trying to understand and find a way toward a solution is  preferable to doing nothing.