Deep ecology, in practice, means giving everything thing in nature value beyond its mere utility to humans,. Deep ecologists focus on ecosystems for reasons beyond ethnocentrism, rather, they focus on the value of nature for its own value. In theory, they believe in asking deeper questions than what can an animal/plant/ecosystem/environment do for me. That is where there name comes from, asking deep questions.
'Into the Wild' showcased an individuals approach to deep ecology. Christopher McCandless, or Alexander Supertramp (as he calls himself in the movie) quits a potential life of relative ease and begins tramping across the country. His experiences tramping, and the people he met were all in preparation for his great Alaskan Adventure. After gaining what he felt like was enough experience, Alex dropped everything again and left for Alaska. He spent about 100 days in the Alaskan wilderness, eventually dying there as a result of eating a poisonous plant by accident. Alex was a true deep ecologist. He shot a moose, and was not quick enough in the processing of the meat and lost the entire kill to flies and maggots. This devastated Alex, because he felt that he killed a massive animal for his own personal need. Personally, I think that failing to properly use his kill made Alex feel like he didn't belong in the ecosystem he was in. I feel this because the filmmakers showed a pack of wolves doing what Alex could not, eating the wolf. I think that the realization that Alex did not belong actually reinforced his sense of deep ecology, learning the valuable lesson that there are things that are more important than humans.
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