Eco-Culture

A sound ecosystem is essential for a prosperous civilization. A poor ecosystem may lead to its decline.

An eco-culture promotes harmonious coexistence of humanity with nature, and coordinates the development of both. It embraces classical ideas from Chinese philosophy such as "unity of nature and man," "observance of the laws of nature," "have ample virtue and carry all things, so that they can multiply ceaselessly," "love of everything and coexistence of all in harmony," "heaven and earth coexist with me; all things and I are one," and "balance and harmony, tolerance for coexistence, equality and interdependence for sustainable development." These are all about the relationship between humanity and nature, and provide a code of conduct and the core values of an eco-civilization. Building an eco-culture lays the foundations for building an eco-civilization.

From "centered on nature" to "centered on humanity," and moving on to the idea of harmonious coexistence of humanity with nature, this relationship has undergone profound changes. Building an eco-civilization and an eco-culture confirms human awareness of a historic transformation of the economic development model. This is a wise choice for China, and for the sustainable development of humanity as well.

In April 2015, the central authorities made a decision on promoting an eco-civilization. For the first time, they raised the ideas of fostering an eco-culture as an essential component of public cultural services, incorporating eco-civilization into the system of socialist core values, and strengthening public awareness of the importance of eco-civilization.

In April 2016, the State Forestry Administration published a program on the development of an eco-culture, setting forth an overall plan and key tasks for 2016-2020.

At the National Conference on Eco-environmental Protection in May 2018, Xi Jinping urged the country to foster a culture promoting eco-values, which he listed as one of the five component systems of an eco-civilization.

An eco-culture boosts the mainstream values of an eco-civilization, encourages diligence, frugality, and green, low-carbon and healthy ways of production, life and consumption, and calls for the public to be eco-conscious. It helps people handle their relationship with nature and address prominent problems in the eco-environment, and provides an internally sustainable force for economic and social transformation. Building an eco-culture is important in the current times, as it fits with the construction of an eco-civilization in the new era.

生態文化

生態興則文明興，生態衰則文明衰。生態文化以人與自然和諧共生、協同發展為主旨，以“天人合一，道法自然”的生態智慧，“厚德載物，生生不息”的道德意識，“仁愛萬物，協和萬邦”的道德情懷，“天地與我同一，萬物與我一體”的道德倫理，“平衡相安、包容共生，平等相宜、價值共享，相互依存、永續相生”的道德準則，揭示了人與自然關系的本質，樹立了人類的行為規范，奠定了生態文明主流價值觀的核心理念。生態文化是培植生態文明的根基。

追溯歷史，從“以自然為中心”到“以人類為中心”走向“人與自然和諧共生”，人類與自然的關系逐步發生著根本性的轉變。生態文明時代的開啟，生態文化的崛起，象征著人類生態文明意識的覺醒和經濟發展方式的歷史性轉型，是中國國情之必然，更是人類可持續發展的必由之路。

2015年4月，中共中央、國務院印發《關于加快推進生態文明建設的意見》，首次提出把培育生態文化作為重要支撐，將生態文明納入社會主義核心價值體系，將生態文化作為現代公共文化服務體系建設的重要內容，加強生態文化的宣傳教育，提高全民生態文明意識。2016年4月，國家林業局印發《中國生態文化發展綱要（2016—2020年）》，明確了“十三五”時期生態文化發展總體思路和重點任務。2018年5月，習近平在全國生態環境保護大會上提出加快建立健全以生態價值觀念為準則的生態文化體系，并將其納入生態文明建設“五個體系”。

生態文化傳遞了生態文明主流價值觀，倡導勤儉節約、綠色低碳、文明健康的生產生活方式和消費模式，喚起民眾向上向善的生態文化自信與自覺，為正確處理人與自然關系，解決生態環境領域突出問題，推進經濟社會轉型發展提供內生動力，契合走向新時代生態文明建設的前進方向，具有重要的時代價值。