Philosophy
Green liberalism values the Earth very highly, and this philosophy highly values the planet being passed down to the next generation unharmed. Green liberalism accepts that the natural world is a system in a state of flux, and does not seek to conserve the natural world as it is. However, it does seek to minimize the damage done by the human species on the natural world, and to aid the regeneration of damaged areas.
In economic issues, green liberals take a position somewhere between classical liberalism and social liberalism: they may favor slightly less government involvement than do social liberals, but far more than do classical liberals. Some within the circle of green liberals practice free-market environmentalism and thus, sharing similarity with classical liberalism or libertarianism. This is one of a few reasons why a blue-green alliance is possible in politics.
The historian Conrad Russell, a British Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords, dedicated a chapter of his book The Intelligent Person's Guide to Liberalism to the subject of green liberalism. The term "green liberalism" was coined, however, by political philosopher Marcel Wissenburg in - among others - his 1998 book Green Liberalism: The free and the green society.
The Liberal Party of Canada under Stéphane Dion placed the environment at the front of its political agenda, proposing an ecotax and tax shift it called the Green Shift. Similarly, the Liberal Democrats (UK) have proposed a "Green Tax Switch" based around the same ideas.
Read more about this topic: Green Liberalism
Famous quotes containing the word philosophy:
“The Emmet’s Inch and Eagle’s Mile
Make Lame Philosophy to smile.”
—William Blake (1757–1827)
“Nature in darkness groans
And men are bound to sullen contemplation in the night:
Restless they turn on beds of sorrow; in their inmost brain
Feeling the crushing wheels, they rise, they write the bitter words
Of stern philosophy & knead the bread of knowledge with tears & groans.”
—William Blake (1757–1827)
“Philosophy can be compared to some powders that are so corrosive that, after they have eaten away the infected flesh of a wound, they then devour the living flesh, rot the bones, and penetrate to the very marrow. Philosophy at first refutes errors. But if it is not stopped at this point, it goes on to attack truths. And when it is left on its own, it goes so far that it no longer knows where it is and can find no stopping place.”
—Pierre Bayle (1647–1706)