The Human Truth Foundation

Green Values

https://www.humantruth.info/green_values.html

By Vexen Crabtree 2025

#anti-capitalism #biodiversity #deforestation #demographics #education #environmentalism #fertility #germany #green_values #human_rights #life #population

Green movements have grown since the 1960s1, driven by concerns for protecting biodiversity and forests, reducing pollution and human degradation of the natural world, convincing people to live sustainably, combat climate change and look after all things living.2,3,4. The Green movement inherited some of the ethos of early protest movements and so oppose ills such as racism and intolerance, but also, it contains some radicals who oppose all military spending and a small number of eco-anarchists. Most of these concerns put the green movement in opposition to growth-driven purely capitalist ideologies, meaning, that they are opposed by the richest and most powerful segments of the world. Outside of purely environmental concerns, greens support liberal democracy3,5 and human rights.


1. Green Values

#anti-capitalism #deforestation #environmentalism #green_values #human_rights #overpopulation

  1. Human Rights Can't Be Guaranteed Without Addressing Climate Change

    2,3. Green movements, like liberals and centrists, comprehensively support human rights in theory and in practice.

  2. Take Anthropogenic Climate Change Seriously

    2,4. The evidence is overwhelming that human activity is causing climate change. The Green Party of Canada has an excellent line in their constitution on the complex cause and effects of climate change, stating "where knowledge is limited, that we take the path of caution"3. When we take this seriously - such as the international effort that saw the cessation of use of ozone-depleting gases in products - we can fix what we've done. We need to act, individually and collectively, to curb the practices that make climate change worse.

  3. Climate Justice

    2,3,4. The effects of climate change disproportionately effect poor countries and disadvantaged people, who can't afford to take measures against climate change. This problem has been generated almost completely by rich developed industrial countries, who now have a moral obligation to rectify the situation, pay to remediate the damage they've caused, and directly fund sustainable practices.

  4. Sustainability is More Important Than Growth (the Earth has limited resources)

    2,4. We must "learn to live within the ecological and resource limits of the planet"3 without "the dogma of economic growth at any cost"4 which is creating widespread human suffering. In 1972, the Limits to Growth report was the first international proclamation that human activity will become unsustainable6. Pollutive industrialisation is especially to blame1. Until the current emergency is properly addressed, the very concept of 'growth' needs to be treated with suspicion. Growth without sustainability is self-harm, those creating profits whilst contributing to climate change are villains, and, the main culprits are corporate and economic bodies that pursue growth and profit despite the environmental cost. We need to spend a generation putting all profits into funding sustainability.

  5. Individual Choices to Reduce Our Carbon Footprints

    2. We need to make personal changes in order to reduce our own carbon footprints. This includes avoiding flying, avoiding products that aren't produced sustainably, eating less meat, not covering gardens with concrete, keeping vegetation and wildlife alive on our own grounds, avoiding waste, avoiding fast-fashion, using sensible transport choices such as public transport and cycling wherever possible, and using energy responsibly and cautiously.

  6. Consumer Activism to Encourage Corporate Compliance

    2. Money-making outfits are mostly not inclined to curb profits for the purpose of public good. Green communities must constantly monitor corporate behaviour for unsustainable practices, greenwashing (pretending to be green without making meaningful change) and backpeddling on green commitments. We must exert pressure, demand change, demonstrate and loudly bring attention to poor practices. If such voices are loud enough to impact on sales and profits, the corporations will change. If enough rallies successfully influence enough people, then, some industries will change voluntarily in order to avoid green wrath. This does not yet happen.

  7. Political Action (Environmentalism or Ecologism)

    2. The first titled Green political party was Die Grünen in Germany1 in the 1970s, but, because green parties and movements have not had much influence but the issues are important, there is a higher proportion of individuals and small activist groups engaged in energetic political action. There are two different instincts towards what to do to get humanity appropriately organized to combat climate change:

    • Environmentalism (sustainability through reform)1,2: Many greens believe that with better regulation and controls, and perhaps an international carbon-trading or climate-impact recompensation scheme, capitalism can be made to work for the environment. Corporate and consumer behaviour can be changed to both create sustainable ways of living.7,8

    • Ecologism (radical replacement of current national and international structures)1,9: Current systems, especially capitalism, have proven unable to adapt to the challenge of climate change. Few can question Stern (2007), who calls this the world's greatest market failure. The urgency is so great that there's no more time for reform: the only way forward is comprehensive replacement of current national and international structures.

  8. Protecting Biodiversity and Animal Welfare

    2. The loss of biodiversity (largely due to habitat destruction and pollution by humans) is doing irreversible damage to large swathes of the natural world. Greens demand that biomes must be protected, and practices that harm them must be stopped1,10. As part of a general feeling of responsibility towards the living world, there is also a strong personal propensity towards avoiding harm to animals within human-controlled areas.

  9. Overpopulation is a Serious Issue

    3. Since 1930 the world's population has risen from 2 billion, and in 2023 surpassed 8 billion. There are many people alive today who have seen our numbers triple in their lifetime, and a growing number of people who have seen it quadruple. Population growth does not mesh well with countries' attempts to curb climate change11. Food production and infrastructure is not keeping up in a sustainable manner, and we are damaging the Earth, and as a result we are harming future generations. Population directly contradicts regions' attempts to curb climate change11. Almost all progress in energy efficiency, waste avoidance and pollution reduction go towards servicing our ever-increasing numbers rather than improving our situation. We are not going to be saved by luck or by miracle - "demographic changes are much more certain than many other long-term predictions" writes one sociologist12 - we need to put effort into stabilizing population growth. The United Nations reports that, in particular, improved education (especially women's) brings down uncontrolled growth13. Wherever possible, we need to keep spreading the message about maintaining sensible birth rates, and countries with lower rates need to accept migration from elsewhere, in order to smoothen out the demographics crises. For more, see "The Population of the Earth" by Vexen Crabtree (2019).

  10. Social Justice, Fairness, Togetherness

    1,2,3,4. Greens strongly oppose the domination of the world by the rich and powerful and oppose the mistreatment of minorities by majorities.

  11. Providing Good Living Conditions for Future Generations

    2,3,4. We have a responsibility to provide a healthy, clean and habitable environment for future generations. Activists such as Greta Thunberg speak frequently on this matter, as a method of trying to get those alive today with wealth and power to accept responsibility for behaving in a more responsible way.14

2. Climate Change and Global Warming is Human-Caused and Requires Countering

#climate_change #the_environment

Climate change, caused by human activity, has been affecting us for several decades. The two worst things we do are the production of greenhouse gases, and habitat destruction - in particular, deforestation. The most famous and consistent effect is global warming15. We are causing changes to the oceans, to biodiversity, and to the landscape, and together they are impacting negatively human quality of life. Some effects will last for centuries, others for many thousands of years16.17

For more, see:

3. Other Topics are Debatable

Most topics are up for debate. Some greens want a large state that can manage industry, public transport and resources better. Some want a small state, in order to reduce layers of bureaucracy and waste, allowing people to live more natural lives, closer to nature.1

Greens in Canada and Africa highlight the rights of indigenous peoples3,4.

Some want to maintain the international order which is the only way of maintaining international environmental accords; others want to abolish the international order because it's proven too slow to adapt. But replace it with what, without causing more harm than good? There are as many answers as there are activists.1

Some want to abolish military expenditure18, whilst others know that the unfortunate affairs of humanity mean that if the good reduce military strength, then the bad will rule the world (and won't care about sustainability).

4. Religion, the Environment and Climate Change

#buddhism #climate_change #environmentalism #neo-paganism #new_age #new_religious_movements #paganism #religion #religion_and_environment

Religion is a contributing factor in the social response to climate change19 and the contribution of religious organisations and leaders has a potential to be helpful, but historically has also been problematic20. Over the last century the secular world has realized that our behaviour so far has been far too destructive, selfish and irresponsible, and has been engaged in an attempt to educate and encourage religious leaders to teach not necessarily the science, but, the need for us to be responsible towards the Earth, even if it's not strictly part of some major religions' doctrines. Conservative Christianity has, in particular, been particularly damaging towards our long-term future on this planet. Ronald Reagan's Secretary of the Interior declared confidently that "we don't have to protect the environment, the Second Coming is at hand"21 and in 2010 the Republican politician John Shimkus argued that we can't be in danger from sea levels rising because God said in Genesis 9:11 that It wouldn't flood the Earth again (also see ). Mary Evelyn Tucker, one of the most respected authors in the studies of religious responses to the environment, writes that religious world views need to be "re-balanced" to help bring Human-earth relations into a more sensible state22. Although religions like Buddhism are strongly environmentalist in nature, there is still a lot of work to be done to bring religious worldviews on the environment into a place where they are helping, and not hindering, our balancing act with nature.

For more, see:

Environmentalism is commonly proclaimed by all kinds of pagan1, Celt, pseudo-Native and New-Agers, and attracts many people on the basis of their concerns and passions for the world that we live in. A "desperate" reaction to the sad loss of the countryside and rapid urbanisation from 1890 onwards made people turn towards paganism23,24 as a theoretical solution - and soon enough, neo-pagan religions arose to take on the challenge. Predictably, such people are nature-deprived city folk "as is usually true of those who love nature (the farmers are too busy fighting it)"25. Many alternative spiritualities now sell themselves as representing "green religion"26. Conservationism, environmentalism and sustainability are ubiquitous and this is the case both amongst the emoting of individuals and the doctrine and stance of organised groups.27

Pagans are especially into environmentalism, preservation, sustainability and other 'green' endeavours. Prudence Jones writes that "by experience we know that we can be transported into rapture by the beauty of Nature. [...] For Pagans the divine, transcendent powers seem to be present within Nature itself, and by deliberate ritual and contemplation the devout Pagan can make contact with these"(1995)28. A study published in 1986 brokedown the reasons that American Pagans gave for becoming involved, and the positive and green stance on environmentalism was amongst the top 6 most commonly given motivations29. Researchers William Bloom and M. York state that this has also been a strong trend within the New Age; according to York a New Ager "through interdependence and interpenetration, accepts responsibility for the planetary state"30,31. Author Kenneth Rees imagines that we might expect to find that one hundred percent of all Pagans are environmentally-conscious and "professing a green spirituality"32.

For more, see:

5. Example Green Party Values

5.1. African Green Charter of the African Greens Movement

From the African Greens Movement4:

5.2. Canada's Green Party (2024)

The Constitution of the Green Party of Canada lists 'Values'3. Here they are, with a few extracts taken from each corresponding chapter of the constitution:

5.1.1 Ecological Wisdom.
  • "We acknowledge the wisdom of the indigenous peoples of the world".
  • We "must ensure the integrity of ecosystems and preserve biodiversity".
  • We must "learn to live within the ecological and resource limits of the planet".
  • We must "protect animal and plant life".
  • "Where knowledge is limited, that we take the path of caution, in order to secure the continued abundance of the resources of the planet for present and future generations".

5.1.2 Social Justice
  • "The equitable distribution of social and natural resources".
  • "There is no social justice without environmental justice, and no environmental justice without social justice".
  • "Close the widening gap between rich and poor"
  • "The eradication of poverty".
  • "The elimination of illiteracy".
  • "Equal rights for all individuals regardless of gender, race, age, religion, class, ethnic or national origin, sexual orientation, disability, wealth or health".

5.1.3 Participatory Democracy. To support individual empowerment through well-informed political involvement and voting, in a multi-party democratic system with fair elections, with decision-making pushed as close to local level as possible.

5.1.4 Non-Violence:
  • "Strive for a culture of peace and cooperation between states, inside societies and between individuals".
  • Security based on "sound economic and social development, environmental safety, and respect for human rights" rather than mainly on military strength.
  • Remove and ban all kinds of weapons that are nuclear, biological, chemical, mines or radioactive.
  • "Strengthening the United Nations (UN)".
  • Restricting arms exports to countries with poor human rights.

5.1.5 Sustainability
  • "We recognise the limited scope for the material expansion of human society within the biosphere, and the need to maintain biodiversity through sustainable use of renewable resources and responsible use of non-renewable resources".
  • "To achieve sustainability [and] to provide for the needs of present and future generations within the finite resources of the earth, continuing growth in global consumption, population and material inequity must be halted and reversed".
  • The rich must limit their consumption.
  • Quality of life is more important than wealth.
  • Create "a world economy which aims to satisfy the needs of all, not the greed of a few".
  • We should eliminate "the causes of population growth by ensuring economic security, and providing access to basic education and health, for all; giving both men and women greater control over their fertility".
  • Goods and services must fully incorporate environmental costs into their prices.

5.1.6 Respect for Diversity
  • "We honour cultural, linguistic, ethnic, sexual, religious and spiritual diversity".
  • We defend the rights of all persons, without discrimination.

5.3. UK Green Party Core Values (2022)

These are key values from the 10 bullet points of the UK Green Party's Core Values (2022), separated out into individual statements and abbreviated2:

  1. "Social and environmental justice [...] for the benefit of all, and for the planet as a whole".
  2. Economic, social and environmental threats are intrinsically linked.
  3. "Human influence has already caused rapid climate change and significantly damaged biodiversity and ecosystem health".
  4. "Our actions should take account of the well-being of other nations, other species, and future generations. We should not pursue our well-being to the detriment of theirs".
  5. We must live sustainably, given the Earth's finite resources.
  6. Quality of life is more important than 'narrow economic indicators'. More important are "personal freedom, social equity, health, happiness, human fulfilment along with biodiversity and ecosystem health and stability".
  7. "Every person, in this and future generations, is entitled to basic material security".
  8. Reject inequality, discrimination and prejudice.
  9. "We emphasise democratic participation and accountability by ensuring that decisions are taken at the closest practical level to those affected by them".
  10. "We look for non-violent solutions to conflict situations".
  11. "Take into account the interests of minorities and future generations".
  12. "Electoral politics is not the only way to achieve change in society, and we will use a variety of methods, including lifestyle changes, and non-violent direct action, to help effect progress".