The modern French philosopher, Corine Pelluchon, in her book: Les Lumières à l ´  âge du vivant, (2021) emphatically acknowledges: A new Enlightenment without awareness about ecology is not possible – an Ecological Enlightenment is critical. A sustainable life in the 21st century depends on the health of our environment. And yet in the process of ‘developing’ the world, we have been poisoning animals with chemicals, destroying their habitats, disorienting them with our industrial noises, polluting their rivers and lakes and oceans, and cutting down trees, causing forced migration and starvation. The reason we do this is simply economics and profit. The reports are beyond alarming. If we have lost 70% of the living species in the last fifty years as reported by Nature World News (October 13, 2022), it is a clear indication of the mistaken, even criminal, policies behind what is called progress: building roads and houses and factories, conducting mining, shipping, flying – the hallmarks of human civilization. We are relentlessly causing pollution without borders.

Therefore, as Pelluchon reminds us, the new Enlightenment must be grounded in the protection of animals, plants, and bodies of water. The value of every life is embedded in the Second Enlightenment; it is an expression of being dedicated to the survival of all species, not only humans.

It takes a frightening level of ignorance or denial to not realize that the survival of other species is the key to our own survival. Our survival is tied up in the survival of other species, and always has been. This is the key tenet of interdependence. Recognizing this and committing ourselves to a global ecological revival, to protect all species such as the bees that pollinate our food, the trees and seaweed that offer oxygen to the atmosphere, and the vultures that help complete the cycle of life is the only mature solution, even if politics and profiteering capitalism selfishly act against it.

Ecological Enlightenment: Humans, Animals, Trees, and Rivers Have Equal Rights

Laws are needed to stop humans assaulting nature and its animals, not necessarily laws to manipulate nature in order to regenerate itself. To manipulate nature is naïve – the ever-regenerating nature needs just to be left alone and unmanipulated. The practice of rewilding in Europe and other protected national parks have brought back and increased the wild animals to nature. Nature can take care of itself as it did for millions of years in the pre-human era. The time ahead of us will have to be an era of redeeming our past errors, an era of peace-making with animals and nature. The good news is that nature can revive if we leave it alone and move out of the way. It is capable of rewilding, bringing wildlife back and putting ecological systems back into balance, with human support and commitment. The Rewilding Movement is a campaign which began in 2011 in Europe and is demonstrating the remarkable resilience of nature. This resilience and the rewilding capacity of nature has also come to light after nuclear incidents whether in Japan WWII, Fukushima or in Chernobyl. Environments like these that were believed to be irretrievably destroyed have shown near-miraculous levels of recovery.

Climate change is, needless to say, enormously important, but even these days, it is sometimes only casually or controversially talked about. But in fact, we are committing the biggest crime in our history as Homo sapiens. This crime is being committed not just against animals and natural habitats; humans are also the victims of the climate change. It is a human-on-human crime. Poorer communities and countries have borne the brunt of the environmental damage without being a party to the cause itself. To cope with the situation is to speak of social justice both for humans and animals as victims.

The first Enlightenment which shaped the modern world was human-based, not oriented toward nature. (read more: Holes in Democracy & Neglecting Animal Rights). I think this is an important point to bear in mind that the first Enlightenment was not really very aware of nature – the general paradigm was about the Christian view of ‘dominion over the world.’ But now we know better in the new era of our life on this fragile earth.

In the new phase of our civilization, regulations will have to be the first step to save the planet and keep animals and plants safe from the harm of irresponsible industrial action. Compassionately coexisting with and conferring equal rights upon other living beings would be an indication of our growing maturity and the quality of our own mental health, promoting a re-balanced relationship with all things on earth and our own existence. The responsibility to allow animals to live in peace behooves each one of us to consider animal rights and animal welfare as we would ourselves or other people. The solution lies not simply in becoming a lukewarm vegetarian or turning off the lights at home. The real issue in the Second Enlightenment lies in the new attitude toward ecology, toward all living creatures, deeming their security as valuable as our own, whether it is an ant or an elephant. As Sa‘di, the Persian poet reminded us 750 years ago: “Do not harm the hard-working ant, whose life is as sweet and enjoyable as your own life.”

The Second Enlightenment will have to accelerate the debate, taking it beyond the level of intellectual jargon and the ordinariness of cosmetic changes. Brave and visionary groups like the Rewilding Movement have started campaigns and innovative new programs to curb the damage and introduced new legislation. Some countries like Ecuador and Bolivia have even pioneered giving legal rights to animals as well as to trees and rivers, (The Guardian October 10, 2022), setting a fantastic example of drawing upon the wisdom of indigenous traditions which typically have much more wholistic and healthy relationships with the natural world. This exemplifies the Second Enlightenment principle of tapping into global wisdom, not just European-North American thought. This is to say, looking to indigenous philosophies of life as a way to recalibrate our relationship with nature is a wisdom which can be included in the constitutions of each country as members of this planet. This initiates a sounder relationship of humans with animals, plants, rivers, oceans, air.

At each phase of our social evolution, we give birth to a new consciousness. Just fifty years ago when the world was enjoying the economic and technological development, we were asleep about how our environment was being polluted and animals were being decimated. That prosperity came at such a cost. We are at the stage of giving birth to a fresher consciousness in which we know deeply that without nature, our economic and technological development is just a deception. We could say, ‘We didn’t know,’ but we can’t say that anymore.