In the last chapter we saw how the perception of human dominance over nature developed in Western thought, the Enlightenment changing worldviews in a way that many perceive to be the root of the modern day environmental issues.

There is, perhaps, now a need to critique our anthropocentric worldviews and consider instead the validity of more ecocentric ideologies, to try and work within Nature, rather than to try and dominate it.

We finished the last chapter with Jeff Titon’s statement that the answers to sustainability are ‘in the past, and over there’.

This is a good starting place to begin this chapter, which will look  at the four elements (fire, air, water and earth) which not only represent the worlds most fundamental natural resources but also represent an ancient philosophy of how humans should exist within their environment.