Daniel Quinn, well-known in the worlds of deep ecology and anarcho-primitivism, is certainly controversial, given his views that “since population growth is a function of food supply, food aid to impoverished nations merely puts off and dramatically worsens a massive population-environment crisis.”
He also believes the world is in severe crisis and that we need a shift in attitude.
From an interview in Eco-Geek
EG: Since you stress mind-change so heavily as an element of future survival, can you point to a single change that seems to you key?
DQ: One idea that survived the middle ages, the Renaissance, and the Enlightenment to flourish into the present age is this: that humans belong to an order of being that is separate from (and higher than) the rest of the living community. This is, to my mind, the most dangerous idea extant today, and it’s literally going to kill us if we don’t get rid of it. Earthworms are more important to the life of this planet than humans are, and if earthworms disappear, we humans will follow very soon after. It’s vital that we get it into our heads that we are members of a community and dependent on that community the same way every other member is. We cannot exist apart from it. We don’t “own” that community. We aren’t custodians of it (it takes care of itself and did so successfully for billions of years before our appearance). We need it, absolutely and forever; it doesn’t need us. If there are still people here in 200 years, they will know this without the slightest doubt.
All true, but how do we get to the shift in attitude? Time is not on our side.