Vapautuksen ekologia : ympäristöeettisen maaseutupolitiikan peruslähtökohtia

In Environmentally ethical rural policy we have sought to find a solid ethical as well as aesthetic basis from ecological food production for securing the life and vitality of rural life in Finland. Liberation ecology combines the approach used by liberation theology with ecology. A decision made by an individual farmer could be the start of a new rural policy based on environmental ethics. At the same time, it could help people to free themselves from the "straightjacket" of the market economy through increased ecological awareness. The environmentally ethical viewpoint is always a human viewpoint. Although we can artificially isolate in our mind some absolute values in nature, this valuation is based on human values. Ethics and aesthetics go hand in hand. What we perceive as ethically acceptable, appears to us as beautiful. Word "rural" give us many possibilities to look at agricultural landscapes. What we see, we see through cultural frames, through our attitudes, morality and knowledge. Liberation ecology as a possible scenario for new rural policy Agricultural policy and rural policy are facing difficult decisions both in Finland and elsewhere in Europe. Agriculturers who have converted to ecological farming can point to a new optional direction. Knowledge and awareness of the ecological processes of nature may function as a liberating element in the search for a better future for the Finnish countryside. We call it liberation ecology, thus combining the latest ecological knowledge with the concepts of liberation theology employed in Latin America. On liberation theology In Latin America the liberation theology emerged with the mission to defend the weak, hungry and oppressed people against the dictatorships and the indifference of the Catholic church. The home of the liberation theology is in the local communities, interpreting the Bible in solving their everyday problems. What separates it from the official Catholic church is its attitude towards salvation, sin and it's concept of God. In the liberation ...