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Volume 4, No. 4, Winter 1992 |
General Announcements
The Departments of Philosophy and Politics at the University of New England,
Armidale, Australia are organizing a conference on "Environmental Paradigms:
Attitudes to Nature," April 16-18, 1993.
The scope is wide-ranging, covering empirical research on environmental
paradigms through to more abstract, philosophical material, and will include
a number of disciplines in the humanities, social sciences, and ecological
sciences. Papers are invited. Contact Robert Elliot, Department of Philosophy,
University of New England, Armidale, NSW, 2351, Australia. Fax 61 67 733317.
Email relliot@metz.une.oz.au.
ISEE is sponsoring a session, "The Scientific Foundations of Environmental
Ethics," at the American Academy for the Advancement of Science Annual
Meeting, Boston, February 11-16. The session is organized by Kristin Shrader-Frechette
and includes Gregory Cooper (Philosophy, Duke University), "The Relevance
of Ecology for Environmental Ethics"; James J. Kay (Environment and
Resource Studies, University of Waterloo), and Eric Schneider, "Why
Thermodynamics Suggests that Ecological Integrity Is an Ethical Issue";
Henry A. Regier (Environmental Studies, University of Toronto), "Innovative
Science and Ecosystem Integrity" and Holmes Rolston (Philosophy, Colorado
State University), "Environmental Science and Environmental Ethics."
The Session is Monday, February 15 at 2.30 p.m.
There are numerous other sessions of interest at AAAS. An entire section
on "Causing and Coping with Environmental Change," includes sessions
on "The Economics of Biological Diversity," "Ecosystem Valuation:
Assigning Economic Values to Ecosystem Damage," "The Social Value
of Environmental Protection," "Human Dimensions of Environmental
Change: Central and Eastern Europe," "The Science, Law, and Policy
Conflicts over Wetland Protection, 1989-1993," "Human Dimensions
of Energy and the Environment," and "Critical Renewable Natural
Resources Issues for the Twenty-First Century." There are also sessions
on "Teaching Ethics in Science and Engineering," "The Objectivity
Crisis: Rethinking the Role of Science in Society," "Biological
Science in the Public Domain," and a section on "Science and Religion,"
including a session on "Scientific Resources for a Global Religious
Myth" (at which Tom Hayden speaks on "Religious Dimensions of
the Environmental Movement." Yet another section is "Environment
and Development After UNCED: The Road from Rio." The ISEE sessions
at the American Philosophical Association, Central Division, Chicago, April
22-23 are: Session I: "Environmental Justice," with papers by
James Sterba (Philosophy, University of Notre Dame), "Violence against
Nature"; Lisa Newton (Director, Program in Environmental Studies, Fairfield
University, Fairfield, CT), "The Day I Discovered I Had Cancer";
Donald VanDeVeer (Philosophy, North Carolina State University, "Designing
a Biodiverse Planet," and Shawn Brennan and Marcello Guarini (graduate
students at the University of Windsor), "Environmental Holism and Communities."
This session is 7.30-9.30 p.m. April 22.
Session II at the APA is: Panel Discussion: Cases in Environmental Ethics,
led by Lisa Newton, who has a book on case studies in environmental ethics
forthcoming. Panelists: Bryan G. Norton (Georgia Institute of Technology),
Karen Warren (Philosophy, Macalester College), Don Brown (Director, United
Nations Conference on Ethical Issues in Agenda 21, and Director, Hazardous
Sites Enforcement, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and Laura Westra (Philosophy,
University of Windsor). Participants are encouraged to bring cases for discussion,
preferably described in written form a half page or so in length. This session
is April 23, 7.00- 0.00. These sessions have been organized by Laura Westra.
A general session at Central APA is titled "Moral Pluralism and Environmental
Ethics," and features J. Baird Callicott (Philosophy, University of
Wisconsin, Stevens Point); Anthony Weston (Philosophy, SUNY, Stonybrook);
and Eugene Hargrove (Philosophy, University of North Texas). The chair and
organizer is Louis Pojman (Philosophy, University of Mississippi, Oxford).
The Annual Business Meeting of the International Society for Environmental
Ethics will be held at the Central Division, APA, immediately following
Session II. The meeting will be moderated by Laura Westra. Business includes
a financial report and the election of officers.
The present officers are:
President: Holmes Rolston, III,
term to expire end of academic year (June 1) 1994
Vice-President: Eric Katz, 1994
Secretary, Laura Westra, 1995
Treasurer, Peter Miller, 1993
The Nominations Committee nominates Ned Hettinger (Philosophy, College of
Charleston) as the nominee for treasurer to replace Peter Miller, whose
term expires.
Members of the nominating committee are: Jack Weir (Central Division), Chair,
Graduate House, 6500 S. Main Street, # 146, Houston, TX 77030. Phone 713/630-9333.
Suggestions are also invited for future nominations. Other members of the
nominating committee are: Kristin Shrader-Frechette (Eastern Division),
Department of Philosophy, University of South Florida, 4202 East Fowler
Ave, CPR 107, Tampa, FL 33620-5550. Phone: 813/974-2447 or 813/974-2454,
main philosophy office. George Sessions (Pacific Division), Department of
Humanities, Sierra College, Rocklin, CA 95667. Phone: 916/624-3333, Department
of Humanities, Extension 2264. Robin Attfield (International Member), Philosophy
Section, University of Wales, P. O. Box 94, Cardiff CF1 3XE, UNITED KINGDOM
Phone: (0222) 874025. Fax: (0222) 874242.
Pacific Division, American Philosophical Association, meets March 25-28
in San Francisco (Miyako Hotel and Inn). The ISEE session has the following
papers: "Douglas J. Buege (University of Minnesota), "A Defense
of Eco-Feminism," James D. Proctor (Geography, University of California
Santa Barbara), "The Owl, the Forest, and the Trees: Eco-Ideological
Conflict in the Pacific Northwest" (from a dissertation in geography
done there); Laura Westra (Philosophy, University of Windsor), "The
Goal of Environmental Integrity in International Agriculture." The
session will (probably) be on March 25, but double check. Ernest Partridge
has organized this session, P. O. Box 3278, Crestline, CA 92325. Phone/Fax
714/338-2387.
The Society for Conservation Biology, Annual Meeting, will be held at Arizona
State University, Tempe, June 9-14, 1993. Jack Weir asks for paper proposals
by March 1, and this is a first-class occasion to for philosophers (and
others) to interact with conservation biologists. There is a conference
registration fee of $ 90.00. Contact Jack Weir (on leave at Rice University),
Graduate House, 6500 S. Main Street, # 146, Houston, TX 77030. Phone 713/630-9333.
Willard Environmental Ethics Symposium, University of Nebraska, Omaha. The
Department of Philosophy and Religion is honoring the retirement of longtime
philosophy faculty member Duane Willard with a symposium, Thursday, April
15, 1993. The Rocky Mountain/Great Plains Regional American Academy of Religion/Society
of Biblical Literature Conference meets there April 17-18, Friday and Saturday.
Contact Richard A. Freund (Religion) or Andrew Newman (Philosophy), Department
of Philosophy and Religion, University of Nebraska at Omaha, 60th and Dodge
Streets, Omaha, NB 68182-0265. Phone 402/554-2628. Fax 402/554- 2949.
An international seminar, "Education for Environmental Competence,"
will be held in Singapore February 15-17. J. Baird Callicott will give an
address, "International Environmental Ethics," arguing that environmental
ethics underlie, complement, and supplement national and international law.
Environmental ethics is found implicit in many indigenous cultures and both
contemporary ecology and the new physics support an ecocentric environmental
ethic. Also international science may validate and corroborate traditional
environmental values. Padmasiri de Silva is director of the seminar, which
is part of a larger program on "Environment, Ethics, and Education.
Contact: Dr. Padmasiri de Silva, Information & Resource Centre, 6 Nassim
Road, Singapore 1025.
The 19th World Congress of Philosophy, meets in Moscow, August 22- 28, 1993.
ISEE has been invited to organize two sessions on environmental ethics,
one a roundtable discussion that can have no more than two persons from
the same nation. Anticipated participants in the two sessions: include Karen
Warren, James Sterba, Holmes Rolston, Laura Westra. Others interested (especially
those outside the U. S.) are asked to contact Laura Westra, address below.
For congress paper submissions, contact Congress Secretariat, Volkhonka
14, Moscow 119842. Fax (7095) 200-32-50. For congress information and registration
contact World Congress of Philosophy, EGA Studio, Viale Tiziano 19, Rome,
Italy. Fax (06) 32-22-006.
The Fifth World Wilderness Congress will be held in Tromso, Norway, September
24-October 1, 1993. The theme is wild nature and sustainable living in circumpolar
regions. David Rothenberg is organizing a session on philosophy and wilderness,
emphasizing criticism and clarification of what the "wild" means
in relation to conservation goals. The aim is analysis that will be useful
for conservation, as well as advancing philosophical inquiry and understanding
of nature. Papers should attempt to show why philosophy can illuminate our
understanding of whatever human place there should be in the purest parts
of nature. The papers may be published in the journal INQUIRY in Norway
and/or in book form in the United States. Contact, by March 1, 1993, David
Rothenberg, Department of Humanities, New Jersey Institute of Technology,
Newark, NJ 07102.
The ISEE sessions at the Washington American Philosophical
Association were:
Session I: Ethical Implications of the United Nations Environmental Summit.
Panelists: Holmes Rolston, Official Observer for ISEE at UNCED; Laura Westra,
speaker at the UNCED Preconference on the University and the Environmental
Crisis, Porto Alegre, Brazil; Don Brown, Director, United Nations Conference
on Ethical Issues in Agenda 21, January 1994, and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Representative at UNCED and also Director, Hazardous Sites Enforcement,
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; Donald B. Conroy, President, North American
Conference on Religion and Ecology, and Participant, UNCED and Global Forum;
Karen Warren, speaker at the Global Forum conference on Ecofeminism, sponsored
by the University of Rio de Janeiro. Moderator, Eric Katz, Professor of
Philosophy, New Jersey Institute of Technology.
Session II: Environmental Ethics and Deep Ecology. David Rothenberg (New
Jersey Institute of Technology), "Deep Ecology in History and History
in Deep Ecology"; Andrew McLaughlin (State University of New York/Lehman
College), "How to Understand Deep Ecology."
Other papers on environmental ethics: John Howie (Southern Illinois University,
Carbondale), "Personalism: Its Contributions and Limitations for Environmental
Ethics" (in the Personalist Discussion Group); Ecofeminism, with Victoria
Davion (University of Georgia), "How Feminist is Ecofeminism?";
Lori Gruen (University of Colorado, Boulder), "Towards an Ecofeminist
Moral Epistemology" and Karen Warren (Macalester College), "Taking
Empirical Data Seriously: An Ecofeminist Philosophical Perspective"
(in the Society for Philosophy and Public Affairs section); Global Environmental
Threats to Peace and Security in the New World Order, John Christman (Virginia
Polytechnic University and State University), "In Usufruct to the Living:
The Problem of Ownership in a Global Setting"; Rachel M. McCleary (United
States Institute of Peace), "Ecodevelopment in Amazonia: National Policies
and Citizen Participation"; and Gareth Porter (Environmental and Energy
Studies Institute), "The Imperative of North-South Development for
Sustainable Development" (in the joint session of the International
Philosophers for the Prevention of Nuclear Omnicide, Concerned Philosophers
for Peace, Gandhi-King Society session. In the Ethics and Animals sessions:
Robert P. Rosenfeld (University of Massachusetts, Boston), "Parsimony,
Evolution and Pain (the question of what explanations of animal pain are
the most parsimonious or simplest); Daniel A. Dombrowski (Seattle University),
"Heidegger's Anti-Anthropocentrism," with commentary by Michael
Zimmerman (Tulane University); Bruce V. Foltz (Eckerd College, Florida),
"Heidegger, Ethics and Animals," with commentary by Jean N. Kuebler
(Gettysburg College, Pennsylvania).
In general the annual deadlines for paper submissions for the three ISEE
sessions regularly held at the three divisional American Philosophical Association
meetings are:
Eastern Division, March 1
Central Division, January 1
Pacific Division, January 1
A number of papers in environmental philosophy were read at the Australian
Association of Philosophy Conference, Brisbane, July 1992:
--Karen Green (Monash), "Freud, Fallacies, and Ecofeminism"
--Alastair S. Gunn (Waikato), "Can Environmental Ethics Save the
World?"
--Robert E. Goodin (RSS, Australian National University), "The Ethics
of Selling Environmental Indulgences"
--Denise Russell (Sydney), "Environmental Philosophy: The Great Barrier
Reef as a Case Study"
--William Grey (New England), "Distant Concerns." Robert Elliot
anticipates organizing an ISEE session at this conference in 1993. Contact
him at Department of Philosophy, University of New England, Armidale, NSW,
2351, Australia. Telephone (087) 7333. Fax (067) 73 3122. E-mail: relliot@metz.une.oz.au
United Nations Conference on Ethical Issues in Agenda 21, January 1994.
The Conference will be held at the United Nations Building, United Nations
Plaza, New York, NY. Don Brown, Director, invites papers. Abstracts of 250
words should be sent by May 1 to Donald Brown, Ethics Research Group, 2915
Beverly Road, Camp Hill, PA 17011 (near Harrisburg). Fax 717/787-9379. Notice
of acceptance will be given by July 1, and final papers are due in December.
Brown, who is trained in philosophy and ethics, was Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Representative at UNCED and is Director, Hazardous Sites Enforcement, Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg.
Robin Attfield took part on November 9-10 in meetings in Helsinki, Finland
of the Environment Interdisciplinary Research Group of the University of
Tampere and of Tampere University of Technology, giving addresses on "The
Comprehensive Ecology Movement" and on "Preservation, Art, and
Natural Beauty." On November 11, he addressed the Research Seminar
of the University of Helsinki on "Can Unnatural Kinds Be Harmed?"
His visit was supported by the British Council and the Academy of Finland.
BUSINESS STRATEGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT is a new journal, sponsored by the
Leicester Business School, Leicester, UK. Paper submissions are invited.
Address inquiries to the Managing Editor, European Research Press, Ltd.,
Tyson House, 34-38 Chapel Street, Little Germany, Bradford, West Yorkshire
BD1 5DN, UK. Phone 0274 729315 within the UK. Outside UK: Phone 44 (country
code) 274 (city code) 729315.
The Four Corners School of Outdoor Education offers several dozen field
trips that can carry academic credit though Prescott College, Prescott,
Arizona. Some samples: "Teaching Environmental Ethics," focusing
on land use in Southeast Utah, June 19-26, 1993; "Ecology of a Desert
River," the San Juan through the Navajo Reservation, May 8-15; "Winter
Wildlife and Geology of Yellowstone National Park," several February
dates. Contact: Four Corners School of Outdoor Education, HC63 Box 78, East
Route, Monticello, UT 84535.
At the annual meeting of the Society for Christian Ethics, Savannah, Georgia,
January 8-10, there were several papers and discussions relevant to environmental
ethics: William C. French (Loyola University Chicago), "Power Discourse
and Ecological Concern: God and Biosphere as Superpowers"; a symposium
on "Environmental Ethics and Theology," featuring reviews and
discussion of James Nash's LOVING NATURE: ECOLOGICAL INTEGRITY AND CHRISTIAN
RESPONSIBILITY; a breakfast interview with Nash; a Nash paper, "Human
Ecological Responsibilities and the Rights of Nature: A Case for Biotic
Rights"; Moni McIntyre (Duquesne University), "Charting our Relationship
with the Planet: UNCED 1992 and the Voice of Women"; and a closing
plenary address, "Duties to the Natural World: Some Challenges for
Christian Ethics."
The Harvard Divinity School Seminar on Environmental Values serves as a
forum for the exploration of human values in relation to the environmental
concerns confronting the world. The seminar meets once a month during the
academic year and will publish a newsletter ECOLOGIC, and a periodically
updated BIBLIOGRAPHY OF ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS. Contact Timothy C. Weiskel,
Director, Harvard Seminar on Environmental Values, 56 Francis Avenue, Cambridge,
MA 02138. Fax: 617/495-9489.
"Ecology, Ethics and the Human Condition," a spring forum at Ohio
State University, runs Thursday evenings, January, February, and March.
Speakers include Albert Gore, Vice-President of the United States; T. N.
Khoshoo, former Secretary of Environment, India; William J. Madia, Senior
Vice-president Battelle Memorial Institute; M. G. K. Menon, President, International
Council of Scientific Unions; Bryan G. Norton, Professor of Public Policy,
Georgia Institute of Technology; David Orr, Professor of Environmental Studies,
Oberlin College; William K. Reilly, former Administrator, U. S. Environmental
Protection Agency; and Holmes Rolston, Professor of Philosophy, Colorado
State University. The series is funded by the Battelle Endowment for Technology
and Human Affairs and organized by the Ohio State University School of Natural
Resources, Mohan K. Walli, Director.
The Land Institute (Friends of the Lane), Salina, KS, welcomes members.
Membership dues and other donations will be matched by a challenge grant
from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation to support a new "Sunshine
Farm project," a research farm project that is to use entirely renewable
energies and products. The farm will grow wheat, oats, pasture, and use
both draft horses and tractors fueled with oils produced on the farm. Electricity
will be produced by photovoltaic panels and wind turbines. Memberships are
from $ 15. The Land Institute, 2440 E. Water Well Road, Salina, KS 67401.
Phone 913/823-5376.
Eric Katz will give an address, "Ethics, Earth, and Technology: Nature
as a Moral Category," April 10, 1993, in the series BOSTON COLLOQUIUM
FOR THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE. The address is at 8.00 p.m. at the Boston
University School of Theology, Room 525. There will be commentary by Peter
Buck, Harvard University. Katz is at the New Jersey Institute of Technology.
New Jersey Institute of Technology announces Graduate Environmental Policies
Studies, leading to a M.S. degree. The program is interdisciplinary in the
fields of economics, politics, history, geography, anthropology, ethics,
and philosophy. There are fourteen faculty members. The degree requires
30 credits, field experience, and a thesis or project. Contact: John Opie,
Department of Social Science and Policy Studies, New Jersey Institute of
Technology, Newark, NJ 07102. Phone 201/596-3676 or 596-3291. Fax: 201/565-0586.
Global Ecology: Nature, Society, and Sustainability. Study and Travel Around
the World. The International Honors Program, in cooperation with Bard College,
plans an eight-month travel program for academic credit, September 1993-May
1994. The itinerary includes England, Austria, Hungary, India, Thailand,
Malaysia, New Zealand, Belize, Mexico, and the United States. The fee is
$ 17,150.00, and the group is limited to thirty students. There will be
six faculty from several nations, including Edward Goldsmith, founder and
publisher of THE ECOLOGIST and Vandana Shiva, research scientist and feminist
activist from India. Credit is 32 hours from Bard College, in anthropology,
biology, ecology, and economics. Contact IHP, 19 Braddock Park, Boston,
MA 02116. Phone 617/267-8612.
Rainforest Field Studies in Guatemala and Belize, spring 1993. Field studies
in ecosystem conservation, with attention to policy and ethical issues in
development and conservation. College credit. Contact: Sierra Institute,
University of California Extension, 740 Front Street, Suite 170, Santa Cruz,
CA 95060. Phone 408/427-6618.
Temple University Press has announced a series of books, ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS,
VALUES AND POLICY. Holmes Rolston will be the general editor, and the Press
solicits appropriate manuscripts. Send proposals to Jane Cullen, Senior
Acquisitions Editor, Temple University Press, Broad and Oxford Streets,
Philadelphia, PA 19122. Or send them to Holmes Rolston, Department of Philosophy,
Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523.
Holmes Rolston (Philosophy, Colorado State University) will be Spencer-Leavitt
Visiting Distinguished Professor at Union College, Schenectady, NY, May
16-30, as part of the launching of an environmental studies program there.
Peter Wenz (Philosophy, Sangamon State University, Springfield, IL) was
on the Board of Listeners for the World Uranium Hearing, September 13-19,
in Salzburg, Austria. This was a hearing for peoples adversely affected
by nuclear materials to voice their concerns before a Board of Listeners
composed of two councils, one of scientists, one of jurists. The first council
was composed of persons from medicine, biology, physics, ethnology, chemistry,
geology, geography, archeology, meteorology and anthropology; the second
of scholars with expertise in human rights and environmental law at the
national and international levels. The forum was sponsored by over two dozen
international environmental groups.
Robert Elliot is the contact person for Australia and New Zealand. Send
membership forms and dues in amount $ 15.00 Australian ($ 7.50 for students)
to him. Address: Department of Philosophy, University of New England, Armidale,
NSW, 2351, Australia. Telephone (087) 7333. Fax (067) 73 3122. E-mail: relliot@metz.une.oz.au
Wouter Achterberg is the contact person for the United Kingdom and Europe
(For Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, see below). Those in Western
Europe and the Mediterranean should send their dues to him (the equivalent
of $ 10 US) at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Amsterdam, Nieuwe
Doelenstraat 15, 1012 CP Amsterdam, Netherlands. Contact him if in doubt
what currencies he can accept. Fax: 31 (country code) 20 (city code) 5254503.
Phone: 31-20-5254530.
Jan Wawrzyniak is the contact person for Eastern Europe and the former Soviet
Union. He is on the faculty in the Department of Philosophy at Adam Mickiewicz
University of Poznan, Poland. Because of the fluid economic situation in
Eastern Europe, members and others should contact him regarding the amount
of dues and the method of payment. He also requests that persons in Eastern
Europe send him information relevant to a regional newsletter attachment
to this newsletter, as well as to share such information with the international
membership of the society. Business address: Institut Filozofii, Adam Mickiewicz
University, 60-569 Poznan, Szamarzewskiego 91c, Poland. Phone: 48 (country
code) 61 (city code) 46461, ext. 288, 280. Fax: 48 (country code 61 (city
code) 535535 (note new fax). Home address: 60-592 Poznan, Szafirowa 7, Poland.
Phone 48/61/417275. Checks can be sent to his home with more security.
Azizan Baharuddin, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, is the contact
person for ISEE for South-East Asia (Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore,
Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia, and the Philippines). Dr. Azizan teaches
history and philosophy in the Science Faculty. Contact her with regard to
membership and dues payable (the approximate equivalent of $US 10, but with
appropriate adjustment for currency differentials and purchasing power).
Her address is The Dean's Office, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya,
59100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Fax 60 (Country code) 3 (City code) 756-6343.
Members and others are encouraged to submit appropriate items for the newsletter
to Holmes Rolston, Department of Philosophy, Colorado State University,
Fort Collins, CO 80523, who is editing this newsletter. Phone 303/491-5328
(office) or 491-6315 (philosophy office) or 484-5883 (home). Fax: 303-491-4900,
24 hours. News may also be submitted to Laura Westra, Department of Philosophy,
University of Windsor, Ontario, Canada N9B 3P4, and Canadian news is best
directed to her. Items may also be submitted to other members of the Governing
Board. Include the name of an appropriate contact person, where relevant
and possible. International items are especially welcomed. The Newsletter
is assembled shortly after January 1, April 1, July 1, October 1.
ISEE dues for 1993 are payable now. Memberships run on a calendar year basis,
with NEW members who join in October, November, and December having memberships
extended through the following full calendar year. The Secretary is not
ordinarily able to send receipts, as this takes additional time and expense.
The Society runs on a rather minimal budget, with dues mostly (and barely)
covering the costs of Newsletter printing and mailing. To pay dues, see
the last page of the Newsletter.
Back issues of the ISEE Newsletter? The Newsletter, with this issue, concludes
volume no. 3 (vol. 1, 1990; vol. 2, 1991; vol. 3; 1992). Back issues are
available at US $ 10.00 per year, or $ 4.00 per single issue, and these
requests should be directed to the Secretary (address on last page). In
addition to reprinting back issues, this cost covers student secretarial
help in locating and shipping these issues, plus mailing costs.
Positions Available
Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, has advertised a position in applied
ethics, assistant professor, tenure track. Applicant must be able to teach
business ethics and one or more of the following: gender and ethics, environmental
ethics, computer ethics, philosophy of law, ethics and religion. Contact:
Chair, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Old Dominion University,
Norfolk, VA 23529-0083. JOBS FOR PHILOSOPHERS, October 1992.
Moravian College, Bethlehem, PA, has advertised a position, assistant professor,
tenure track, in history and central traditions of Western philosophy, with
competence in one of the following, aesthetics, environmental philosophy,
feminism, phenomenology, philosophy of science. Contact G. Clarke Chapman,
Chair, Department of Religion and Philosophy, Moravian College, 1200 Main
Street, Bethlehem, PA 18018-6650. JOBS FOR PHILOSOPHERS, October 1992.
The University of Amsterdam, Department of Practical Philosophy, has announced
a position as postdoctoral lecturer in social philosophy and the philosophy
of culture, with 60% of time within the context of their MA in environmental
philosophy. Applications were to be received last fall. For information
contact Wouter Achterberg, Faculteit der Wijsbegeerte, Universiteit van
Amsterdam, Nieuwe Doelenstraat 15, 1012 CP Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Richard Sylvan, Professor of Philosophy at the Australian National University,
Research School of Social Sciences, Canberra, is interested in a summer
or other interim position in North America. He has a strong research and
teaching interest in environmental philosophy, as well as logic, and general
competence in teaching philosophy.
Recent Books, Articles, and Other Materials
Reminder: ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS, ENVIRONMENTAL VALUES, and (for the most
part) THE TRUMPETER and BETWEEN THE SPECIES and ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY REVIEW
are not catalogued here. ISEE members interested in keeping abreast of the
literature in the field need to consult those journals directly. Members
are also encouraged to send notice of articles (preferably copies) to the
editor, especially of those articles and books published in places members
at large are less likely to see.
--ENVIRONMENTAL PHILOSOPHY: A BIBLIOGRAPHY. The Centre for Philosophy and
Public Affairs, University of St. Andrews, Scotland, has published a series
of booklets on environmental philosophy commissioned by the U.K. Nature
Conservancy Council. One of general interest is this bibliography, 75 pages
in length. It contains a small section of key books and articles, a comprehensive
and thematic listing of recent work in environmental ethics, philosophy,
and policy, and a description of research centers, societies, and education
programs concerned with environmental philosophy. Copies are available at
ú3.00 within the U.K and the equivalent of ú4.00 elsewhere.
Orders to Dr. John Haldane, Centre for Philosophy and Public Affairs, University
of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, Fife KY16 9AL, Scotland, UK.
ENVIRONMENTAL GRANTMAKING FOUNDATIONS, 1992 Directory. Rochester, NY: Environmental
Data Research Institute, 1992. (797 Elmwood Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620)
490 pages, $ 40. 250 foundations that give environmental grants.
This quarter has seen an embarrassment of riches in books designed for the
textbook market, teaching introductory environmental ethics. And there are
several more underway.
--Joseph R. Des Jardins, ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS: AN INTRODUCTION TO ENVIRONMENTAL
PHILOSOPHY. 272 pages, paper. Wadsworth, 1993. Sections on basic ethical
concepts, forests, pollution, climate change, economics, energy, future
generations, duties to animals, biocentrism, the land ethic, deep ecology,
ecofeminism. Discussions include the spotted owl controversy, monkey-wrenching
and the Rio Summit. End of chapter summaries and discussion questions. Makes
a particular effort to survey all the areas of the field, yet a reasonably
compact text. Des Jardins is professor of philosophy at the College of St.
Benedict/St. Johns University, St. Joseph, MN.
--Peter C. List, ed., RADICAL ENVIRONMENTALISM: PHILOSOPHY AND TACTICS.
Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1993. 276 pages, paper. Sections
on Deep Ecology (Arne Naess, Bill Devall, George Sessions), on Ecofeminism
(Carolyn Merchant, Elizabeth Dodson Gray, Ynestra King, Karen J. Warren),
on Social Ecology and Bioregionalism (Murray Bookchin, Jim Dodge, Kirkpatrick
Sale, Judith Plant), on Radical Ecoactivism and Ecotactics (Greenpeace,
Bob Hunter, Paul Watson) on the Monkey Wrench Gang (Edward Abbey), on the
Sea Shepherd Society (Paul Watson), on Earth First! (Dave Foreman, Mike
Roselle and the Middle Santiam Protest, George Draffan and the Cathedral
Forest and Oregon Old Growth, on Redwood Summer), on Ecofeminist Activism
(Pamela Philipose, Cynthia Hamilton, Chaia Heller), on Bioregionalist Activism
(Peter Berg) and Responses (Eugene Hargrove, Edward Abbey, Dave Foreman,
Michael Martin. List, as editor, says, "... understanding this movement
can help `moderates' sharpen their resolve to do more about environmental
problems and find solutions which will check the relentless consumption
of wild nature." Peter List is professor of philosophy at Oregon State
University.
--Michael Zimmerman, General Editor, J. Baird Callicott, George Sessions,
Karen J. Warren, and John P. Clark, Associate Editors, ENVIRONMENTAL PHILOSOPHY:
FROM ANIMAL RIGHTS TO RADICAL ECOLOGY. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall,
1993. Baird Callicott edits part one, Environmental Ethics, with selections
from Richard Routley (Sylvan), Peter Singer, Tom Regan, Kenneth Goodpaster,
Paul Taylor, Mark Sagoff, Aldo Leopold, Callicott, and Holmes Rolston. George
Sessions edits part two, Deep Ecology, with selections from Thomas Berry,
Arne Naess, Warwick Fox, and Sessions. Karen Warren edits part three, Ecofeminism,
with selections from Carolyn Merchant, Val Plumwood, Ariel Salleh, and Warren.
John Clark edits part four, with selections from Murray Bookchin, Janel
Biehl, Clark, Joel Kovel and George Bradford. A well-rounded collection
with full length articles, not excerpts.
--Susan J. Armstrong and Richard G. Botzler, eds., ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS:
CONVERGENCE AND DIVERGENCE. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1993. Soft cover, under
$ 25. Principally for the college text market. The biggest anthology in
the field, 70 articles, quite comprehensive, and shows McGraw-Hill's intention
to enter this market. Likely to be one of the dominant introductory anthologies.
Section 1 is "The Role of Science" in environmental ethics and
policy. Section 2 is "The Role of Moral Philosophy." Section 3:
"The Aesthetic Value of Nature." Section 4: "Historical Context"
(environmental history). Section 5: "Economic/Political/Legal Issues."
Section 6: "Anthropocentrism" (mostly those defending it). Section
7: "Individualism" (animal rights, biocentrism for individual
organisms). Section 8: "Ecocentrism" (the land ethic). Section
9: "The Challenge of Ecofeminism." Section 10: "Judeo-Christian
Perspectives." Section 11: "Multicultural Perspectives" (Native
Americans, Islam, Taoism, Hinduism, Buddhism). Armstrong is professor of
philosophy at Humboldt State University, Botzler is professor of wildlife
there.
--Richard E. Hart, ed., ETHICS AND THE ENVIRONMENT. Lanham, MD: University
Press of America, 1992. Paper, $ 16.50. Cloth, $ 42.50. 158 pages. A dozen
papers from a conference at Long Island University, C. W. Post Campus, in
1985. Suitable for classroom use. Hart is professor of philosophy at Bloomfield
College.
--Purusottama Bilimoria, ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS (Geelong, Victoria, Australia:
Deakin University, 1992). 219 pages. The introductory essay is "The
Moral Enfranchisement of Nature: A Short Introduction to Environmental Ethics,"
the first thirty pages of the book. There is also included a study by Jock
McCulloch on "Hiroshima and the Problem of Nuclear War: A Case Study."
The latter part of the book is reprinted readings from Arne Naess, Paul
Taylor, Hans Jonas, and Robert Elliot, also documentary readings relevant
to Hiroshima and nuclear winter. This book was produced as class materials
for use at Deakin University in a class entitled "Ethics and Society,"
but is appropriate for wider use. Contact Purusottama Bilimoria, Faculty
of Humanities, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria 3217, Australia.
--Greta Gaard, ed., ECOFEMINISM: WOMEN, ANIMALS, NATURE. Philadelphia: Temple
University Press, 1993. 331 pages. 12 articles. Samples: Josephine Donovan,
"Animal Rights and Feminist Theory"; Huey-li Li, "A Cross-Cultural
Critique of Ecofeminism." Gaard is professor of composition and women's
studies at the University of Minnesota, Duluth.
--Eugene C. Hargrove, ed., THE ANIMAL RIGHTS/ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS DEBATE:
THE ENVIRONMENTAL PERSPECTIVE. Albany: State University of New York Press,
1992. Eleven essays documenting the history of the animal rights/environmental
ethics debate. This appeared somewhat earlier.
Also see recent ISEE Newsletter issues for environmental ethics and animal
rights coverage in general introductory philosophy and ethics textbooks.
--John Arthur, ed., MORALITY AND MORAL CONTROVERSIES, 3rd ed. Englewood
Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1993. 480 pages. Another introductory text with
a section on environment: "The Value of Life: People, Animals, and
the Environment." There are three readings: William F. Baxter, "People
or Penguins: The Case for Optimal Pollution"; Peter Singer, "All
Animals Are Equal"; and J. Baird Callicott: "Animal Liberation:
A Triangular Affair." Arthur is at the State University of New York,
Binghamton.
--Tom L. Beauchamp, CASE STUDIES IN BUSINESS, SOCIETY, AND ETHICS, 3rd ed.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1993. Includes a section on cases involving
business and the environment.
--Thomas Donaldson and Patricia H. Werhane, ETHICAL ISSUES IN BUSINESS:
A PHILOSOPHICAL APPROACH. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1993. 494
pages. A new text, with a section on the environment. Case study of the
Exxon Valdez spill; William T. Blackstone, "Ethics and Ecology";
Mark Sagoff, "At the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, or Why Political
Questions are Not All Economic"; Tom Regan, "The Nature and Possibility
of An Environmental Ethic." Donaldson is at Georgetown University.
Werhane is at Loyola University, Chicago.
Continuing, recent books and materials:
--Samuel P. Hays, "Environmental Philosophies," review of Bryan
G. Norton, TOWARD UNITY AMONG ENVIRONMENTALISTS and Max Oelschlager, ed.,
AFTER EARTH DAY: CONTINUING THE CONSERVATION EFFORT, SCIENCE, December 11,
1992. SCIENCE chooses these two books as representative of recent environmental
philosophy, recognizing also that ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS is the main journal
in the field. Hays notes appreciatively the operational pragmatism in Norton
and finds the most useful essays in Oelschlager's anthology to make similar
claims. Hays is professor of history at the University of Pittsburgh.
--Richard H. Grove, "Origins of Western Environmentalism." SCIENTIFIC
AMERICAN, July 1992. Strategies to preserve nature arise early in the colonial
period, in reaction to concerns about exploitation and abuse. Scientists
played an important part in this burgeoning concern. Grove, a geographer
at Cambridge in charge of the environmental history unit, thinks that the
role of scientists in conservation history needs more recognition.
--R. Edward Grumbine, GHOST BEARS: EXPLORING THE BIODIVERSITY CRISIS. Washington,
DC: Island Press, 1992. 336 pages. $ 25.00 hardcover. A species centered
approach will ultimately fail to protect ecosystems and diversity. Using
the fate of the endangered grizzly bear (the "ghost bear") to
explore the causes and effects of species loss and habitat destruction,
Grumbine surveys the big picture, weaving together conservation biology,
natural history, environmental policy, law, ethics, and grassroots activism
into a comprehensive conservation strategy. Grumbine urges that humanity
enter into a greater partnership with nature, working with it, rather than
attempting to control it. Reed Noss says, "I have seen no better rendering
of modern conservation science into readable prose." Grumbine is Director
of the Sierra Institute, University of California Extension, Santa Cruz.
--Andrew C. McLaughlin, REGARDING NATURE. Albany: State University of New
York Press, 1993. Paper $ 16.95; Cloth, $ 49.50. To be released in March.
Details later.
--Christopher Ives, "Nature Wild and Stylized: Gary Snyder and the
Japanese Love and Destruction of SHIZEN (Nature)." Paper given at American
Academy of Religion, San Francisco, November 21-24. The Japanese are often
said to love nature, but Japan has a dismal environmental record. One reason
why the Japanese love of nature has produced such poor stewardship is that
the nature loved by most Japanese has been nature simplified or reduced
to what they regard as expressing its essence. This is stylized, not wild
nature. Many of the remaining natural areas in Japan have been shaped and
manipulated away from their wild state. Gary Snyder, though influenced by
the Japanese, does not really appropriate the Japanese stylized nature but
his orientation is primarily toward wild nature. Nevertheless Japanese ideas
were useful to him and can be useful to others. Ives is in the Department
of Religion, University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, WA 98416. Copies available
from him.
ZWIERZETA I MY (ANIMALS AND US) continues to be published as the Polish
journal for animal welfare issues. Recent issues are No. 3, with articles
on animal abuse issues within Poland, an article on vegetarianism, on Albert
Schweitzer's reverence for life philosophy, on zoos and hunting in Poland,
and No. 4, with articles on the abuse of geese and ducks to produce fat
livers for export to Western Europe, with some translations from Konrad
Lorenz's works on geese into Polish, and an article about wolf- reintroduction
in Poland and its protection as an endangered species. (Thanks to Jan Wawrzyniak.)
ISLE: INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES IN LITERATURE AND ENVIRONMENT is a new journal
providing a forum for critical studies of literature that addresses ecological
theory, environmentalism, concepts of nature and their artistic depictions,
and the human/nature dichotomy. Sponsored by Indiana University of Pennsylvania
and the University of Nevada, Reno. The editorial board (as yet incomplete)
includes Gary Snyder, Karen Warren, Ariel Salleh, Judith Plant, and others.
Papers and subscriptions are invited. Contact Patrick D. Murphy, editor,
ISLE, English Department, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, PA
15705-1094.
--Robyn Eckersley, ENVIRONMENTALISM AND POLITICAL THEORY: TOWARD AN ECOCENTRIC
APPROACH. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992. Paper. 274 pages.
(See Newsletter, 3, 3, Fall 1992.) More information: The book is available
in the UK from University College London Press at ú10.95 paper and
ú30 cloth. It is available in Australasia from Allen & Unwin
at $AU 29.95. Eckersley is now a lecturer in the Politics Department at
Monash University, Melbourne.
--Peter Hay and Robyn Eckersley, eds., ECOPOLITICAL THEORY. Hobart: Board
of Environmental Studies, University of Tasmania, 1992. ISSN 1034-1412.
Contains essays by, among others, Robyn Eckersley, Patsy Hallen, Warwick
Fox, and Richard Sylvan on a wide range of issues in environmental philosophy
and politics.
--John A. Jakle and David Wilson, DERELICT LANDSCAPES: THE WASTING OF AMERICA'S
BUILT ENVIRONMENT. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 1992. 320 pages.
$ 23.50 paper, $ 65.00 cloth. The landscapes that America has built and
abandoned reveal the deeper character of American character. Both authors
are in the Department of Geography at the University of Illinois in Urbana-
Champaign.
--Larry M. Dilsaver and Craig E. Colton, eds., THE AMERICAN ENVIRONMENT:
HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHIC INTERPRETATION OF IMPACT AND POLICY. Lanham, MD: Rowman
and Littlefield, 1992. 288 pages. $ 22.95 paper, $ 60.00 cloth. The authors
regret that historical geographers have over recent decades left the study
of nature- culture interactions to others, such as environmental historians
and philosophers, and hope to reaffirm the importance of geography in this
discussion. There is a long but thinly attended past scholarship here, and
a rapidly accelerating research agenda. Nine authors. Dilsaver is in geography
at the University of South Alabama, Colton is in history and geography at
Sangamon State University, Springfield, IL.
--Liu Gocheng, Chao Liancheng, Zhang Zhonglun and Ye Ping, BIOSPHERE AND
HUMAN SOCIETY (in Chinese). Beijing: People's Press, 1992. 4.65 yuan. 302
pages. ISBN 7-01-000807-8/B.70. Eleven chapters. Section 1 is on "Biosphere
Laws." Section 2 is on "Interaction Connection between Human Society
and the Biosphere." Section 3 is on "Modern Human Society Control
and Adjustment, and its Developmental Trend in Harmony with the Biosphere."
The authors discuss the coordinated interrelationship between humans and
the biosphere, argue for ways of establishing the scientific foundations
of ecophilosophy in China. This is said to be the first systematic work
on the holistic interactions between human society and nature to be published
in China.
--Yu Mouchang, "Ecoethics: The Moral Philosophy of Foresters"
(in Chinese) in JOURNAL OF BEIJING FORESTRY UNIVERSITY, No. 4, 1992. Beijing
Forestry University Press, Beijing, 1992. The traditional pattern in forestry
is characterized by a high output of commodity production from forests.
But according to ecoethics, forests are valuable in diverse ways. They should
be valued not only in terms of economics but also in terms of ecology, aesthetics,
and ethics. Ecoethics offers new viewpoints from which to understand forests
and forestry and new ways to orient research. Ecoethics can be used as a
working philosophy for forest researchers. Hence it provides valuable ideas
for the transition from the traditional economic patterns of forestry to
a new forest management that seeks to optimize multiple values. Yu Mouchang
is with the Institute of Philosophy, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences,
Beijing.
--Frithof Capra, David Seindl-Rast, with Thomas Matus, BELONGING TO THE
UNIVERSE: EXPLORATIONS ON THE FRONTIER OF SCIENCE AND SPIRITUALITY. San
Francisco: Harper and Row, 1992. $ 10.00, paper. Conversations between Capra,
physicist and cosmologist with an Eastern turn of mind, and Seindl-Rast,
a Benedictine monk.
--Matthew Fox, SHEER JOY: CONVERSATIONS WITH THOMAS AQUINAS ON CREATION
SPIRITUALITY. San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1992. 532 pages. $ 18.00. Fox
is a Dominican priest and Director of the Institute in Culture and Creation
Spirituality, Oakland, CA.
--Brian Swimme and Thomas Berry, THE UNIVERSE STORY: FROM THE PRIMORDIAL
FLARING FORTH TO THE ECOZOIC ERA--A CELEBRATION OF THE UNFOLDING OF THE
COSMOS. San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1992. 305 pp. Hardcover, $ 22.00.
Swimme is a mathematical cosmologist, California Institute of Integral Studies,
San Francisco; Berry is a Catholic priest and historian of cultures.
--Rosemary Radford Reuther, GAIA AND GOD: AN ECOFEMINIST THEOLOGY OF EARTH
HEALING. San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1992. $ 22.00, hardcover. "Ecological
healing is a theological and psychic- spiritual process." "Classical
traditions did not only sacralize patriarchal hierarchy over women, workers,
and the earth. They also struggled with what they perceived to be injustice
and sin and sought to create just and loving relations between people in
their relation to the earth and to the divine. Some of this effort to name
evil and struggle against it reinforced relations of domination and created
victim-blaming spiritualities and ethics. But there are also glimpses in
this heritage of transformative, biophilic relationships. These glimpses
are a precious legacy that needs to be separated from the toxic waste of
sacralized domination." "A healed relation to each other and to
the earth calls for a new consciousness, a new symbolic culture and spirituality"
(Introduction). Reuther does not want either a male God or a female Gaia.
Reuther is professor of theology at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary.
--Wayne Simsic, NATURAL PRAYER: ENCOUNTERING GOD IN NATURE. Mystic, CT:
Twenty-Third Publications, 1991. 101 pages. Wonder, reverence, and praise
in encounter with the beauty of nature.
--Susan E. Schreiner, THE THEATER OF HIS GLORY: NATURE AND THE NATURAL ORDER
IN THE THOUGHT OF JOHN CALVIN. Durham, NC: Labyrinth Press, 1991. 164 pages.
$ 30.00. The concept of God's providence is a kind of arch that frames both
the concept of nature and of grace in Calvin's thought. With sympathetic
attention to Calvin's concept of natural law.
--Janel M. Curry-Roper, "Contemporary Christian Eschatologies and their
Relation to Environmental Stewardship," THE PROFESSIONAL GEOGRAPHER
42(1990): 157-169. Contemporary Protestant Christians hold differing views
that affect their attitudes toward the environment. Dispensationalism tends
to use ecological deterioration as a gauge to predict Christ's return and
the end of the present age. Postmillennialism teaches that the natural and
human world will improve up to Christ's return and puts responsibility on
Christians for that improvement. Amillennialism and Historic Premillennialism
teach that the possibility of ecological and social improvement is limited
in the present age though Christians are to attempt to heal the Earth's
wounds to show evidence of a future renewed Earth." Roper is professor
of geography at the Central University of Iowa, Pella.
--Art Meyer and Jocele Meyer, EARTHKEEPERS: ENVIRONMENTAL PERSPECTIVES ON
HUNGER, POVERTY, AND INJUSTICE. Scottsdale, PA: Herald Press, 1991. 264
pages. $ 12.95. A biblical theology of creation brought to bear on the duties
of Christians in major areas of ecological concern: global warming, ozone
depletion, wasted natural resources, pollution, toxic wastes.
--Wolfgang Huber, "Rights of Nature or Dignity of Nature?" THE
ANNUAL OF THE SOCIETY OF CHRISTIAN ETHICS, 1991, pp. 43-60. The dignity
of nature is a better category for the valuation and protection of nature
than is the rights of nature; it is also a better category than that of
intrinsic value. Huber is professor of theology at the University of Heidelberg
--Shannon Jung, WE ARE HOME: SPIRITUALITY OF THE ENVIRONMENT. Ramsey, NJ:
Paulist Press, 1993. Paper, $ 7.95. Jung is professor at Wartburg Theological
Seminary, Dubuque, IA.
--Elizabeth Achtenmeier, NATURE, GOD, AND PULPIT. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans,
1992. 206 pages. $ 17. A biblically based study of preaching about nature
and God. With sample sermons. "Few doctrines are so neglected as the
doctrine of creation and yet none is more important to the gospel in the
twentieth century." Achtenmeier is adjunct professor of homiletics
at Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, VA.
--John F. Haught, THE PROMISE OF NATURE: ECOLOGY AND COSMIC PURPOSE. Ramsey,
NJ: Paulist Press, 1993. Details unavailable.
--Calvin B. Dewitt and Ghillean T. Prance, eds., MISSIONARY EARTHKEEPING.
Macon: GA: Mercer University Press, 1992. Hardbound, $ 30.00. Paper, $ 16.95.
Christian missions for better and worse as encouraging earthkeeping in third
world countries. Dewitt is in environmental studies at the University of
Wisconsin, Madison. Prance is Director of the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew.
Essays by Dennis E. Testermann, a forester with mission experience in Nigeria
and Pakistan; Robert Clobus, a Catholic priest in Ghana; Mutombo Mpanya,
from the mission field in Zaire; James W. Gustafson, in Thailand. Originally
a forum at the Au Sable Institute of Environmental Studies.
--Robert B. Keiter and Mark S. Boyce, eds., THE GREATER YELLOWSTONE ECOSYSTEM:
REDEFINING AMERICA'S WILDERNESS HERITAGE. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Hardbound, 428 pages. Twenty- four articles, many with a philosophical bent.
Samples: Mark S. Boyce, "Natural Regulation or the Control of Nature?";
Robert B. Keiter and Mark S. Boyce, "Greater Yellowstone's Future:
Ecosystem Management in a Wilderness Environment"; Joseph L. Sax, "Ecosystems
and Property Rights in Greater Yellowstone: The Legal System in Transition."
"Yellowstone is the symbol of modern society's commitment to preserving
the vestiges of its wilderness heritage." "There simply is no
alternative but to collaborate in defining an ecosystem-management ethic"
(Preface). Keiter is in the College of Law and Boyce in the Department of
Zoology, University of Wyoming, Laramie.
--TRANSACTIONS OF THE 57TH NORTH AMERICAN WILDLIFE AND NATURAL RESOURCES
CONFERENCE, 1992, contains the papers from two sessions of interest. Special
Session 5: Biological Diversity in Wildlife Management, nine papers, for
example: genetic diversity in captive breeding and reintroduction programs,
international issues, faunal mixing and faunal integrity. This session is
available in reprint from U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Ecology
Research Center, 4512 McMurray Avenue, Fort Collins, CO 80525. Special Session
6: Biological Diversity in Aquatic Management, ten papers, including Edwin
P (Phil) Pister, "Ethical Considerations in the Conservation of Biodiversity,"
papers on degradation caused by introduced fishes, on the reintroduction
of native species, and on public policy as this affects fish conservation.
This has also been reprinted by the American Fisheries Society. (Thanks
to Phil Pister).
--Norman Maclean, YOUNG MEN AND FIRE. Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1992. 288 pages. $ 19.95. On August 5, 1949 a crew of fifteen of US Forest
Service elite airborne firefighters jumped into a remote fire in Montana.
All but three were killed. This is their story, and its aftermath. For another
Maclean story about Montana, see A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT, in the media section.
--Arnold Berleant, THE AESTHETICS OF ENVIRONMENT. Philadelphia: Temple University
Press, 1992. The meaning and influence of environmental perception on human
life. The foremost characteristic of environmental perception is the quality
of engagement. Berleant is professor of philosophy at Long Island University,
C. W. Post Campus.
--Peter Dickens, SOCIETY AND NATURE: TOWARDS A GREEN SOCIAL THEORY. Philadelphia:
Temple University Press, 1992. 203 pp. Paper and cloth. Dickens starts with
Marx and the claim that work is the main source of human separation from
nature, then builds on Anthony Giddens' social theory, and critiques deep
green and deep ecology movements. Dickens is in urban studies and social
policy at the University of Sussex, UK.
--Carol Bigwood, EARTH MUSE: FEMINISM, NATURE, ART. Philadelphia: Temple
University Press, 1993. 357 pages. Sample chapters: "Deconstructing
the Culture/Nature Dichotomy," and "Ecological Be(coming) in the
World-Earth Home."
--Thomas I. White, BUSINESS ETHICS: A PHILOSOPHICAL READER. New York: Macmillan,
1993. Chapter 18 is on "Business and the Environment." Articles
by W. Michael Hoffman, "Business and Environmental Ethics"; David
P. Henson, "The Ethics of Development and Global Environmentalism";
Peter Singer, "The Place of Nonhumans in Environmental Issues,"
and Eric Katz, "Defending the Use of Animals by Business: Animal Liberation
and Environmental Ethics"; also two case studies: nuclear power and
dolphins. A long book, 867 pages.
--Douglas Lee Eckberg, T. Jean Blocker, "Varieties of Religious Involvement
and Environmental Concerns: Testing the Lynn White Thesis," JOURNAL
FOR THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF RELIGION 28(1989):509-517. Based on a telephone
survey, the authors ask, "Is there a measurable `disdain' for nature
which grows from acceptance of Biblical authority?" They conclude,
"Within the limits of our data, White's thesis received firm support
from our results." Eckberg is a professor of sociology at Winthrop
College, Rock Hill, South Carolina. Blocker is a professor of sociology
at the University of Tulsa, Oklahoma.
--William C. French, "Ecological Degradation and the Judgment of God,"
CHRISTIAN CENTURY, January 6-13, 1993. Critical reviews of Al Gore, EARTH
IN THE BALANCE, and Bill McKibben, THE AGE OF MISSING INFORMATION, see below.
French teaches ethics at Loyola University, Chicago.
--Bill McKibben, THE AGE OF MISSING INFORMATION. New York: Random House,
1992. 261 pages. $ 20.50. McKibben conducted an experiment. On May 3, 1990
he had the entire output of the United States' largest cable TV system taped,
almost 100 channels. McKibben analyzed the films, programs, news, commercials
to discover the nature of electronic media and how it reduces the sort of
information we receive. This analysis is compared with the information presented
to him on an overnight stay in the Adirondack Mountains. The ecological
crisis is grounded in an inability to relate to the natural world, and this
is compounded by the media. What habits of mind and body do TV ads and jingles
help produce? Sloppy habits, where we cease to be mindful of how we are
connected to a finite Earth. McKibben (like Gore) analyzes this as, at depth,
a spiritual problem.
--Carolyn Merchant, ed., MAJOR PROBLEMS IN AMERICAN ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY:
DOCUMENTS AND ESSAYS. Lexington, MA: D. C. Heath, 1993. 544 pages. American
environmental history from pre-contact Indian times to the present, each
illustrated by several primary source documents and essays. Specific regional
concerns as well as larger cultural issues including the confrontation between
nature and civilization in the nineteenth century. Conservation, pollution,
and wilderness preservation. Many dozens of documents over four centuries
from the past to the present. With an instructor's manual. Merchant is professor
of environmental history at the University of California, Berkeley.
--Samuel I. Zeveloff and Cyrus M. McKell, eds., WILDERNESS ISSUES IN THE
ARID LANDS OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES. Albuquerque: University of New
Mexico Press, 1992. $ 29.95. Details unavailable.
--Barbara K. Rhodes and Rice Odell, A DICTIONARY OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUOTATIONS.
New York: Simon and Schuster, 1992. $ 35.00. 343 pages. 3700 quotations
from proverbs, slogans, bumper stickers, speeches, periodicals, scientific
papers, and philosophical works. Arranged alphabetically in 143 categories,
and within categories chronologically. Ranges from early Greek history through
George Bush. Author and subject index.
--Jeffrey A. Sayer, Caroline S. Harcourt, and N. Mark Collins, eds., THE
CONSERVATION ATLAS OF TROPIC FORESTS: AFRICA. By the World Conservation
Union (IUCN). New York: Simon and Schuster, 1991. 256 pages, 62 maps. $
95.00.
--N. Mark Collins, Jeffrey A. Sayer, Timothy C. Whitmore, eds., THE CONSERVATION
ATLAS OF TROPICAL FORESTS: ASIA AND THE PACIFIC. By the World Conservation
Union (IUCN). New York: Simon and Schuster, 1991. 256 pages, 55 maps. $
95.00.
--GEC-O: THE NEWSLETTER OF THE ESRC GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE PROGRAMME
has produced its first two issues, with a circulation of over three thousand.
This newsletter reports on the Global Environmental Change program launched
in the United Kingdom by the Economic and Social Research Council and is
said to be the largest ever UK social science research program ever undertaken
on any topic in the UK. The goal is "to take global environmental issues
to the heart of the social sciences in the international debate on global
environmental change." The Newsletter will appear three times a year.
Wye College also offers correspondence courses in environmental policy and
management available to students anywhere in the world. For information
contact Michael Redclift, Research Coordinator, ESRC Global Environmental
Change Programme, Wye College (University of London), Near Ashford, Kent
TN25 5AH, UK.
--NATURE-SCIENCES-SOCIêTêS is a new journal produced by the
French Centre National de Recherche Scientifique. The Centre with the journal
hopes to being about greater interdisciplinary research and action between
the natural and social sciences, with application to environmental issues.
Papers will be in French and occasionally in English. Contact: Agnes Pivot,
NSS Association, GRS/CNRS, Universite Paris X - Bat G, 92001 Nanterre Cadex,
France.
--Peter Carruthers, "Brute Experience," JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY
86 (1989):258-269. "The question whether brutes have experience has
been granted as obvious in recent times, and in one sense of the term `experience'
no doubt it is so. But not, I shall argue, in the sense that makes their
experience an appropriate object of moral concern." "Many experiences
... do not feel like anything." These are "nonconscious experiences."
Only conscious experiences have a distinctive phenomenology, a distinctive
feel." Based on "the nonconscious status of most animal experiences,"
Carruthers concludes that "in the case of brutes: since their experiences,
including their pains, are nonconscious ones, they are of no immediate moral
concern." "Much time and money is presently spent on alleviating
the pains of brutes which ought properly to be directed toward human beings.
... Such activities are not only morally unsupportable but morally objectionable."
"And it also follows that there is no moral criticism to be leveled
at the majority of people who are indifferent to the pains of factory- farmed
animals." Carruthers is at the University of Essex.
--David Rothenberg, IS IT PAINFUL TO THINK? CONVERSATIONS WITH ARNE NAESS
Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. $ 16.95 paper. $ 39.95 cloth.
--Errol E. Harris, ONE WORLD OR NONE: PRESCRIPTION FOR SURVIVAL. Atlantic
Highlands, NJ: Humanities Press International, 1993 (June). 176 pages. Paper
$ 15.00. Cloth, $ 35.00. The one practicable solution is to establish a
world authority democratically elected and empowered to enforce a world
law. It is imperative that peoples and NGO's unite for the ratification
of the Constitution for the Federation of Earth, already drafted by the
World Constitution and Parliament Association. Harris is professor of philosophy
emeritus at Northwestern University.
--Stephen Jay Gould, "What Is a Species?" DISCOVER, December 1992.
"Species are almost always objective entities in nature. ... Species
are not arbitrary units, constructed for human convenience, in dividing
continua. Species are the real and objective items of nature's morphology.
They are `out there' in the world as historically distinct and functionally
separate populations `with their own historical role and tendency.' ...
Species are unique in the Linnean hierarchy as the only category with such
objectivity. ... By grasping the objective status of species as real units
in nature ... we may better comprehend the moral rationale for their preservation.
You can expunge an arbitrary idea by rearranging your conceptual world.
But when a species dies, an item of natural uniqueness is gone forever.
Each species is a remarkably complex product of evolution--a branch on a
tree that is billions of years old. ... Species are living, breathing items
of nature. We lose a bit of our collective soul when we drive species (and
their entire lineages with them), prematurely and in large numbers, to oblivion."
Gould earlier wrote, "I also appreciate that we cannot win this battle
to save species and environments without forging an emotional bond between
ourselves and nature as well--for we will not fight to save what we do not
love." ("Unenchanted Evening," NATURAL HISTORY, September
1991.
--Martha Rojas, "The Species Problem and Conservation: What Are We
Protecting? CONSERVATION BIOLOGY 6(1992):170-178. "There is no agreement
on what species are, how they should be delimited, or what they represent.
But in conservation science ... species are either treated as types or as
evolutionary units." Rojas finds difficulties, both theoretical and
practical, with either approach, which result in insufficient protection
of biodiversity. Much of the variation that it is desirable to protect may
not be registered at the level of species. Rojas is with the Funcaci¢n
Natura, Bogata, Columbia. This article should be read as a complement to
the Gould article above.
--R. I. Vane-Wright, C. J. Humphries and P. H. Williams, "What to Protect?--Systematics
and the Agony of Choice," BIOLOGICAL CONSERVATION 55(1991):235-254.
Note that this is a different journal from CONSERVATION BIOLOGY; it is published
in the UK. The authors propose an index of taxic diversity. This index is
superior to the usual counts of species richness and abundance, because
it incorporates factors of taxonomic distinctness and information encoded
by cladistic relationships. Two species of rats contain less taxic diversity
than a one species of rat and a panda. The index also gives attention to
faunal and flora regions from which diversity originates. The index can
be quantitatively expressed. Such an approach can be of vital importance
in deciding what to protect and how to protect it, especially where we cannot
protect everything and often have to act swiftly. The authors are with the
Biodiversity Programme, Departments of Botany and Entomology, The Natural
History Museum, London.
--Evernden, Neil, THE SOCIAL CREATION OF NATURE. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins
University Press, 1992. More information later.
--Elinor Ostrom, GOVERNING THE COMMONS: THE EVOLUTION OF INSTITUTIONS FOR
COLLECTIVE ACTION. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
--David Crocker, "The Hope for Just, Participatory Ecodevelopment in
Costa Rica," in SOCIALE ARBEIT UND INTERNATIONALE ENTWICKLUNG, eds.
Gregor Sauerwald, Wigbert Flock, and Reinhold Hemker (Munster, Hamburg:
Lit Verlag, 1992), pp. 121-134. The social democratic developmental model
in Costa Rica has been replaced by a neoliberal development emphasizing
free trade. Both models have their drawbacks and down sides. A better model
emphasizes (1) the satisfaction of basic human needs, (2) democratic self-
determination, (3) environmental respect, and (4) the equal opportunity
for personal self-realization. Costa Rica has the best chance of any Latin
American country to become a model for blending harmony with the environment
and development. Crocker is professor of philosophy at Colorado State University.
--David Crocker, "Functioning and Capability: The Foundations of Sen's
and Nussbaum's Development Ethic," POLITICAL THEORY 20 (1992):584-612.
Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum base a sustainable development ethic on
a "capability ethic," which has advantages over an emphasis on
economic growth, commodity production, or meeting basic human needs.
--N. Taylor Gregg, "Sustainability and Politics: The Cultural Connection,"
JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 90(1992)(no. 7, July):17-21. "To major questions
have emerged from the current crisis over forest management practices. While
much of the argument justifiably seems to have concerned whether we have
the scientific knowledge and techniques to manage wisely, a more fundamental
question remains: `Manage for what?' ... Foresters can probably manage for
whatever values the public wants--but the current problem lies in achieving
a consensus for what those values are. ... There is also a lack of value
consensus within the profession itself, as evidenced by the ongoing debate
within the Society of American Foresters over the appropriate substance
of a land ethic canon." The SAF has subsequently adopted a land ethic
canon, see below. Includes discussion of a survey of the value systems of
professional foresters. Gregg is former editor of the JOURNAL OF FORESTRY.
--Lynton Keith Caldwell and Kristin Shrader-Frechette, POLICY FOR LAND:
LAW AND ETHICS. Lanham, MD, Rowman and Littlefield, and Lanham, MD: University
Press of America, 1992. $ 24.95 paper. $ 67.50 cloth. A survey of the problem
that have arisen from environmentally counterproductive land policies and
use. The authors challenge traditional justifications for property rights
and land use. California agricultural land and Appalachian coal land are
used as case studies. Caldwell is professor emeritus of political science
at Indiana University. Shrader-Frechette is professor of philosophy at the
University of South Florida.
--Kenneth D. Frederick and Roger A. Sedjo, eds., AMERICA'S RENEWABLE RESOURCES:
HISTORICAL TRENDS AND CURRENT CHALLENGES. Washington, DC: Resources for
the Future, 1991. 296 pages. Chapters on water, forests, rangeland, cropland,
wildlife, outdoor recreation. With particular attention to sustainable development.
A frequent theme is that private ownership of resources provides the best
resource protection and management. Most of the authors are researchers
on the staff of Resources for the Future (RFF), a non-profit organization
working since 1952 to promote development, conservation, and use of natural
resources.
--David Rothenberg, "The Greenhouse from Down Deep: What Can Philosophy
Do for Ecology?" PAN ECOLOGY 7(no. 2, Spring, 1992):1- 3. "The
philosopher of ecology can only implore you to try to conceive of your self
and your purpose not in opposition to an environment which is beginning
to fight back, but through the surrounding world which may support us forever
if we learn to base our cultures upon ideals that allow the earth to flourish."
"It is the idea of nature independent of humanity which is fading,
which needs to be replaced by a nature that includes us, which we can only
understand to the extent that we can find a home in the enveloping flow
of forces which is only ever partially in our control. ... There is no such
thing as a pure, wild nature, empty of human conception. The moment we identify
it as such, it becomes ours! The minute we call some area of the earth separate
from our influence, we are putting human constraints on the environment.
We are blocking it out. It is a human thing. Wilderness is a consequence
only of a civilization that sees itself as detached from nature. ... This
a romantic, exclusive and only-human concept of a nature pure and untrammeled
by human presence. It is THIS idea of nature which is reaching the end of
its useful life." Rothenberg is professor in the Department of Humanities,
New Jersey Institute of Technology.
--Betsy Carpenter and Bob Holmes, "Living with Nature," U. S.
NEWS AND WORLD REPORT, November 30, 1992. Story on Edward O. Wilson's urgent
defense of biodiversity. Wilson says, "Wilderness settles peace on
the soul because it needs no help; it is beyond human contrivance. Wilderness
is a metaphor of unlimited opportunity, rising from the tribal memory of
a time when humanity spread across the world ... godstruck, firm in the
belief that virgin land went on forever." With the loss of wild nature,
"we face an enormous psychological and spiritual loss." We "court
spiritual disaster."
--Richard J. Lambert, "Rethinking Productivity: The Perspective of
the Earth as the Primary Corporation," POPULATION AND ENVIRONMENT:
A JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES 13(1992): 193-208. Ten guiding principles
to guide an ecological consciousness, with each of these used to reinterpret
the primary locus of productivity as Earth. Lambert is with Productivity
Breakthrough, Inc., in Scarsdale, NY.
--Ladelle McWhorter, ed., HEIDEGGER AND THE EARTH: ISSUES IN ENVIRONMENTAL
PHILOSOPHY. Six essays. Samples: "Heidegger and Ecology," "The
Strange Uncanniness of Human Being on Earth; "Meeting and Place."
McWhorter is professor of philosophy at the University of Richmond, Virginia.
--Patti K. Sinclair, E FOR ENVIRONMENT: AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF CHILDREN'S
BOOKS WITH ENVIRONMENTAL THEMES. R. R. Bowker. 292 pages, $ 39.95. Of special
interest to elementary school teachers, environmental educators, librarians,
parents, and those interested in teaching environmental ethics to children.
Covers a wide range of material, from picture books that help instill in
young readers a sense of wonder at the natural world, on through meatier
nonfiction and fiction for older children. Author, title and subject indices,
as well as a list of environmental classics for older students and adults.
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich has launched a series of children's books dedicated
to promoting ecological awareness: Gulliver Green Books.
Recent thesis:
Robert L. Chapman has completed at Ph.D. dissertation, "Values Beyond
Culture: A Study in Environmental Axiology," at Fordham University,
Bronx, NY, under Elizabeth Kraus. The central argument is that nature posses
non-instrumental value. The arguments are mainly aesthetic and favorably
supplement a purely ethical approach to environmental value. Chapman is
now adjunct assistant professor at Pace University, New York, New York,
where he is teaching environmental ethics and establishing a degree program
in environmental studies.
Recent theses at Colorado State University:
--J. Douglas Daigle, THE ROLE OF A PLANETARY NARRATIVE IN ENVIRONMENTAL
ETHICS, Spring 1993. Narrative as forming the larger unitary framework in
which to understand nature and the human place in nature, with a sense of
present crisis in the planetary store. The concluding chapter is on oceans
interpreted as the common heritage of humankind and their role in contributing
to a sense of global history.
--Marguerite S. E. Forest, OUGHT AND CAN IN ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS: ETHICAL
EXTENSIONISM AND MORAL DEVELOPMENT, Summer 1992. Extending the range of
moral concern from humans to animals to plants to ecosystems, compared with
stages in moral development. The position of J. Baird Callicott fails because
the full sequence of stages has not been developed. Lawrence Kohlberg's
concept of justice is inadequate because it is anthropocentric and not holistic
and ecosystemic. Carol Gilligan's caring orientation integrates the needed
holistic environmental ethics and the more advanced moral stages.
Jeanne-Marie Bartas, THE TALE OF THE STARRY HEAVENS ABOVE AND THE MORAL
LAW WITHIN: KANT'S AESTHETIC THEORY. Kant's aesthetic theory as a basis
for environmental ethics. Completed spring 1992.
Christopher J. Preston, REINTEGRATION WITH NATURE: AGAINST DUALIST METAPHYSICS.
Cartesian metaphysics separates humans from nature; both environmental philosophy
and environmental science (especially Barbara McClintock) offer possibilities
for metaphysical reintegration with nature. Completed fall 1992.
Videotapes and media
MONKEY ISLAND. Rhesus macaques on Cayo Santiago, an island off Puerto Rico.
50 minutes. Aired on PBS November 15, 1992. Produced by Paneikon for Nature
and WNET, New York. In 1938 scientists from Columbia University brought
400 macaques here from India, originally as experimental animals, but they
have been essentially feral for half a century, now 1200 animals, with a
flourishing population, often studied as a laboratory in primate behavior.
Based on the research of John Berard. Excellent photography, especially
of the young, also of some standoff fights between groups. Berard claims
that former ideas about male dominance structuring the society are in error
and that the females structure the society. The narrator has much tendency
to anthropomorphize, especially sexual behaviors. Makes an interesting case
history in feral populations, also in "animal virtues" if such
exist. The narration draws some hesitant parallels between macaque and human
behavior, but thinks it is beyond science to know how deep these parallels
go. For availability contact WNET and Nature, 356 West 58th St., NY, NY
10019. Phone 212/560-2000.
SLAVES TO THE QUEEN. Wasps and Bees. 50 minutes, produced for BBC, 1992,
by Steve Nichols, Kevin Flay director, in cooperation with University Museum,
Oxford. Aired on PBS on Nature, November 29, 1992. Good photography. Rampant
anthropomorphism, really a classic example of extrapolating human moral
behaviors into wasps and bees, and can be useful in this connection. Supposedly
the narrators and producers know better, but do this anyway as an attention-getting
device. The queen injects drugs into the workers to keep them forever her
slaves; they are forced to obey, dominated by her, condemned to a life of
hard labor, and on and on. There are also some horror stories, supposedly,
the wasp larvae feeding inside on the helplessly paralyzed caterpillars,
and so forth. For availability contact WNET and Nature, 356 West 58th St.,
NY, NY 10019. Phone 212/560-2000.
WAKE UP, DOROTHY! 19 minute VHS for elementary and junior high youth in
contemporary rap music style. Dorothy learns to care for creation. Produced
by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, available from Augsburg Fortress
for $ 9.95. Phone 800/328-4648.
A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT. Robert Redford's film based on Norman Maclean's
novella about Montana, fly fishing, and families. The film captures the
wonderful sense of place in Montana and conveys the art and ethic of fly
fishing, handed down from generation to generation. The sense of belonging
on the land is interwoven with the loves and tragedy of a Montana family.
"In the end all things merge into one, and a river runs through it."
The film is set in the 1920's on the Blackfoot River in Montana, but that
river is now so heavily polluted by mining wastes and runoff from large
clearcuts that the once pristine waters now fail to support a healthy trout
fishery. The movie makers had to film to story instead on the Gallatin and
Yellowstone Rivers. For another of Maclean's works, see YOUNG MEN AND FIRE
in the recent books section.
CARETAKERS OF THE PLANET EARTH: THE NATIVE AMERICAN TRADITION AND THE VIEW
FROM SPACE. A videoconference tentatively scheduled for broadcast April
2 on the satellite network, and free to community colleges (and others?)
who are in certain videoconference networks. The space age experiences of
astronauts, video footage from NASA archives are to be interpreted against
the background of native American worldviews. Produced by the Louisiana
Education Resource Network (though there seem to have been some problems
in production). For information, call 318/674-3444. Another number is 800/525-4950.
Issues
The United States goes green. There are almost 10,000 environmental groups
in the United States. The twenty largest can raise one billion dollars a
year. The National Wildlife Federation, with 5.3 million members has a larger
budget than the United Nations Environmental Programme. New laws require
governments, businesses, and others to spend more than $ 100 billion a year
on pollution control. Most school districts now include environmental studies
in their curricula. Politicians at all levels are feeling the influence
of an environmentally motivated public. Al Gore is seen as a top environmental
spokesman and the Clinton-Gore administration is expected to be especially
friendly to the cause. Main problem areas: endangered species, toxic waste
disposal, cleaner air and water, and environmental relief for the politically
and economically disenfranchised. Special report in THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE
MONITOR, January 12, 1993, with stories overviewing the mainline environmental
groups, grass-roots organizations, counter-movements reacting to save jobs,
business cleaning up its act, and an interview with Al Gore. A Cabinet level
Secretary of the Environment now seems likely.
The Society of American Foresters has adopted a new land ethic statement.
Termed a "land ethic canon," the statement was approved by 77%
of those voting by mail referendum ballot last fall, about 6,000 of the
12,000 members of the Society, or a 3 to 1 margin. The new ethic reads,
with the new language underlined:
STEWARDSHIP OF THE LAND IS THE CORNERSTONE OF THE FORESTRY PROFESSION. The
purpose of these Canons is to govern the professional conduct of members
of the Society of American Foresters in their relations with THE LAND, the
public, their employers, including clients, and each other as provided in
Article VIII of the Society's Constitution. Compliance with these Canons
DEMONSTRATES OUR RESPECT FOR THE LAND AND OUR COMMITMENT TO THE WISE MANAGEMENT
OF ECOSYSTEMS, AND ensures just and honorable professional and human relationships,
mutual confidence and respect, and competent service to society. (Preamble)
A MEMBER WILL ADVOCATE AND PRACTICE LAND MANAGEMENT CONSISTENT WITH ECOLOGICALLY
SOUND PRINCIPLES. (Canon I)
Raymond S. Craig, a forester with the Oregon Department of Natural Resources,
was the chair of the SAF Land Ethic Task Force. For discussion see two interpretive
articles, "Further Development of a Land Ethic Canon," JOURNAL
OF FORESTRY, January 1992, and "Land Ethic Canon Proposal: A Report
from the Task Force," August 1992. Another relevant paper is "Biological
Diversity in Forest Ecosystems: A Position of the Society of American Foresters,"
February 1992.
Craig explains, "Most foresters aren't comfortable with espousing philosophy!
We don't usually use words like "respect" and "love"
in our everyday work. Yet foresters invariably use these words when asked
to explain how they feel about the forest, particularly when discussing
the reasons that led them to choose this profession." "The challenge
lies in expanding out role beyond commodity production to embrace management
in consideration of other values." Foresters now follow the imperative
of Leopold "to value all components of ecosystems, without regard to
their usefulness to humans, because all components have intrinsic value.
As we manage lands, those values must be considered in our decisions"
(Report from the Task Force). Craig expressed his hope that "the land
ethic would permeate the soul of the (SAF) organization. It becomes a part
of all that professional foresters represent and what they say." Opponents
objected that there was an inherent conflict between the new land ethic
canon and existing canons that demand loyalty to employers and clients.
A proposed canon that read "A member will manage land for long- term
sustainability using ecologically sound principles," was withdrawn
after repeated objections that what was to be sustained was unclear.
Carl Sagan was the keynote speaker at the Society of American Foresters
annual conference, October 26-29 in Richmond, Virginia. He portrayed Earth
from space, and what remote sensing would reveal about changes in the green
cover, resulting from deforestation, pollution, atmospheric changes, encouraging
foresters to think globally about how forests figure into biosphere health.
He spoke for an hour and was questioned another hour.
Black bear hunting. Colorado voters approved a ban on spring bear hunting
(when sows may have cubs), as well as a ban on bear hunting with dogs or
with bait, in a public referendum in the November election. The vote was
85% to 15% for the ban, about 2.1 million to about 370,000. Only two of
the fifty states remain that permit all three.
Scientific collecting and endangered species. Ornithologists in Somalia
discovered a new species of shrike, captured the only specimen seen, caged
it, studied it for some months, took blood samples and feathers for DNA
analysis, but refused to kill it, and released it back into the wild. They
named the species LANIARIUS LIBERATUS, to emphasize that the bird was described
from a liberated individual. There is no type specimen, or, rather, the
type specimen is still out there somewhere in the wild. Nigel Collar, of
the International Council for Bird Preservation, Cambridge, England, said,
"I have no concern at all, absolutely no concern at all it was the
right thing to do. It was totally and absolutely the right thing to do."
But systematists and museum curators have complained. Storrs L. Olson, curator
of birds at the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian, says,
"It's sentimentality getting in the way of good science. It's not rational.
It's not logical." "We have standards. And there is reason for
the standards." There is nothing left to study the species, no skin,
no skeleton, no anatomy. We don't know the gut length. We don't even know
now what questions we might want to ask of a preserved specimen a hundred
years hence. Scott Lanyon, head of the division of birds at the Field Museum
of Natural History in Chicago, says that it is time for systematists to
take a stand. "If we don't respond to this kind of action, then others
will feel that it's all right. This is a step backwards." Richard Banks,
a bird systematist with the U. S. Fish and Wildlife says the trend away
from traditional preservation is growing. "There were two or three
instances within the last several years of people publishing photographs
of birds, describing new species with nothing more to serve as a specimen.
I think that it's bad business, bad science. It's not science at all to
describe a species on the basis that they did and without anything to serve
as a type specimen."
Meanwhile, some mammalogists, good scientists, discovered an unknown and
rare shrew, named it CROCIDURA DESPERATA, "to point out the desperate
situation of the new species," and then killed the only two individuals
they had found for specimens. These events come on the heels of Robert Loftin's
timely analysis of the morality of scientific collecting in ENVIRONMENTAL
ETHICS, Fall 1992. Story in NEW YORK TIMES, April 28, 1992. (Thanks to Kevin
Eddings, Harrison, NY.)
The Today Show featured Africa the week of November 16-20, with considerable
attention to wildlife conservation, also to the tradeoffs between development
and conservation. Bryant Gumbel, the leading host, had worked on the various
episodes for six years, which were intermixed with live coverage from Hwange
National Park in Zimbabwe and from Victoria Falls. The co-host was Katie
Couric. Some memorable scenes and issues: culling 5,000 impalas in the face
of drought and for food for local peoples; mercy-killing an elephant calf,
dying from lack of water and food; burning ivory as part of the ban on the
sale of ivory; a shoot-to- kill policy to prevent elephant poaching; de-horning
a rhinoceros, lest it be killed by poachers, old films of Teddy Roosevelt
as a safari hunter; Masai tribesmen draining blood from cattle and drinking
it. There were balanced discussions of wildlife for tourism versus the interests
of native peoples, overpopulation, overgrazing, deforestation, dam-building,
desertification, misguided environmental policies, colonial exploitation,
and other issues. Many marvelous wildlife photography scenes.
World's biggest, oldest organism? A fungus, ARMILLARIA BULBOSA, that occupies
over thirty acres has been located in Michigan, confirmed by the fact that
samples taken from all portions of it are genetically identical. From growth
rates, it is estimated to be between 1,500 and 10,000 years old.
Christopher Columbus and the environmental crisis. Kirkpatrick Sale claims
that Columbus' discovery "enabled Europe to accumulate wealth and power
previously unimaginable" fueling modern civilization and "most
significant, it enabled humanity to achieve, and sanctify, the transformation
of nature with unprecedented proficiency and thoroughness, to multiply,
thrive, and dominate the earth as no single species ever has, altering the
products and processes of the environment, modifying systems of soils and
water and air, altering stable atmospheric and climatic balances, and now
threatening, it is not too much to say, the existence of the earth as we
have known it and the greater proportion of its species, including the human."
Kirkpatrick Sale, THE CONQUEST OF PARADISE (New York: Alfred Knopf, 1990),
p.
4.
A recent Gallup Poll, "The Health of the Planet Survey," in 22
nations finds that more than half of the persons surveyed in 19 of the 22
countries hold that protecting the environment should take precedence over
economic growth. Nations range from a high of 77% in Denmark to a low of
36% in Bolivia. In the United States 59% so prefer and the United States
is in the bottom half of the nations surveyed. Brazil, Mexico, Uruguay,
Korea, and Chile have larger percentages that the United States. The United
Kingdom preference is 56%. The survey in detail is available, among other
places, from the North American Conference on Religion and Ecology, 5 Thomas
Circle NW, Washington, DC 20005.
Facing a lawsuit from environmental groups, the Bush Administration agreed
in mid-December to increase plant and animal protection by 53%, increasing
the number of endangered plants and animals afforded federal protection
to roughly 1,150 from 749 today by 1997. The government will designate about
100 species a year from protection, double the rate over recent years. The
agreement also requires a preliminary study of 900 species by September
30 of this year. About 90% of the new species are expected to be in Hawaii,
California, the Pacific Northwest and the desert Southwest. Story in DENVER
POST, December 16, 1992.
Connecticut joins several other states in putting biological conservation
on the automobile license tags. "Preserve the Sound" (the Long
Island Sound) is available on special plates. Maryland continues with its
"Treasure the Chesapeake," and similarly in other states.
Recent and Upcoming Events
--January 8-10. American Society for Christian Ethics, Savannah Georgia,
with sessions on environmental ethics from a Christian perspective. Details
earlier.
--February 11-16. American Association for the Advancement of Science, Boston,
with ISEE panel on "The Scientific Foundations of Environmental Ethics."
Details earlier.
--February 15-17. "Education for Environmental Competence," in
Singapore. Details earlier.
--March 15. Lecture and sessions on environmental ethics at University of
Guelph, sponsored by Department of Philosophy, led by Holmes Rolston. Contact
Michael Ruse, Department of Philosophy, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario
N1G 2W1, CANADA.
--April 10. Eric Katz, "Ethics, Earth, and Technology: Nature as a
Moral Category," April 10, 1993, in the series BOSTON COLLOQUIUM FOR
THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE. Details earlier.
--April 14-17. Knowing God, Christ, and Nature in the Post- Postivistic
Era, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, ID. Contact: Center for Continuing
Education, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, ID 46556. Phone 219/239-6691.
--April 29-May 2. Eastern Communication Association Convention at New Haven,
CT. The theme is "Earthtalk: Saving our Planet and Our Selves Through
Communication Empowerment." Contact Thomas L. Veenendall, Department
of BSCDT, Montclair State College, Upper Montclair, NY 07043. Phone 201/893-5193.
(Thanks to Mary McAfee,
Colorado Division of Wildlife)
--May 21-23. "Technology and Ecology," VII Biennial Congress of
the Society for Philosophy and Technology, Valencia, Spain. Eric Katz is
a speaker. Contact: Larry Hickman, Department of Philosophy, Texas A &
M University, College Station, TX 77843- 4237.
--May 24-26. National Association of Environmental Professionals, Raleigh,
NC, North Raleigh Hilton and Convention Center. Theme: "Current and
Future Priorities for Environmental Management."
Papers are invited. Contact: National Association of Environmental Professionals,
5165 MacArthur Boulevard, NW, Washington, DC 20016.
--June 7-July 16. The American West: Environment and History, 1993 National
Endowment for the Humanities, Summer Seminar for College Teachers. Donald
Worster, Director, University of Kansas, Lawrence. Twelve participants will
receive a stipend of $ 3,200. Apply by March 1 to Professor Donald Worster,
The American West Seminar, Hall Center for Humanities, 211 Watkins Home,
The University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66046-2967. The Rockefeller Foundation
Fellowship, Program in Nature, Culture, and Technology, also offers two
fellowships of up to $ 35,000 (which may be combined with sabbatical sources)
for scholars resident at the University of Kansas August 1993 through May
1994. Contact Worster.
--June 9-14. Society for Conservation Biology, meeting at Arizona State
University, Tempe. Details on ISEE session, see earlier.
--June 15-16. World Phenomenology Institute, meeting in Prague, Czechoslovakia.
General Theme: "Intersubjectivity, the World, and
the Sense of Life in the Transformation of Personality." Papers are
invited on environmental awareness and the sense of the natural world. North
American inquiries by March 15 to A. T. Tymieniecka, 348 Payson Road, Belmont,
MA (USA) 02178.
--June 20-26. Sixth Annual Wildbranch Workshop in Outdoor, Natural History,
and Environmental Writing. Sterling College, Craftsbury Common, Vermont.
For those who want to improve and market their environmental writing. Contact
David Brown, Director, Sterling College, Craftsbury Common, VT 05827,
--June 27-July 3. VII Pacific Science Inter-Congress, in Okinawa, Japan.
Main themes are speciation, dispersal, and conservation of species in the
Pacific and appropriate technologies and policies for the development and
conservation of natural environments in the Pacific. Papers invited. Contact
Pacific Science Association, P. O. Box 17801, Honolulu, HI 96817.
--July 20-22. Royal Institute of Philosophy Conference, Philosophy and the
Natural Environment, Cardiff, Wales. Speakers include Robert Elliot, on
"Ecology and Environmental Ethics"; Holmes Rolston, "Value
in Nature and the Nature of Value," Nigel Dower, and others. Contact
Robin Attfield and Andrew Belsey, Philosophy Section, University of Wales
College of Cardiff, P. O. Box 94, Cardiff CF1 3XE, UK
--July 9-11. Ecotheology and Religious Education, Denton, TX, sponsored
by the Center for Environmental Philosophy. Contact Eugene C. Hargrove,
Department of Philosophy, University of North Texas, P. O. Box 13496, Denton,
TX 76203-3496.
--July 29-August 1. A New Generation for Animal Rights. Conference at Rutgers
University, New Brunswick Campus, New Brunswick, NJ. Numerous speakers,
including Tom Regan. Numerous workshops. With a particular interest in creating
a national student organization for animal rights, and a special appeal
to students and teachers. Contact Lisa Finlay, A New Generation for Animal
Rights, 209 N. Graham Street, Chapel Hill, NC 27516. Phone 919/942-6909.
Fax 9191/942-3875.
--August 1-14. Applied Deep Ecology, Philo, California. 2 week summer school
course, in association with the Sierra Institute and the California Institute
of Integral Studies. Faculty include Bill Devall, Susan Griffin, Ed Grumbine,
David Abram, Alan Drengson, Bill Moyer and others. The location is a retreat
center two and a half hours north of San Francisco. Cabins and camping are
available. Contact: Institute for Deep Ecology Education (IDEE), Box 2290,
Boulder, CO 80306. Phone 303/939-8398.
--August 12-18. The Community, The Family, and Culture, Conference of the
Institute for Advanced Philosophic Research, Estes Park, Colorado. Papers
are invited on numerous issues, including, "The Environment: Urban,
Rural, and Wilderness." Contact Dr. Nancy E. Snow, Program Chair, Marquette
University, Department of Philosophy, 132 Coughlin Hall, Milwaukee, WI 53233.
Phone 414/288-3670. Deadline April 1, 1993.
--August 17-20. Tenth International Social Philosophy Conference, University
of Helsinki, preceding the World Congress of Philosophy in Moscow. Several
papers deal with environmental issues.
--August 22-28. 19th World Congress of Philosophy, Moscow. With two ISEE
Sessions. See details earlier.
--August 24-26. Creating a Forestry for the 21st Century: An Interdisciplinary
Symposium, Portland Oregon. A conference on the wave of change sweeping
over forestry. Numerous sponsoring institution, including Oregon State University,
University of Washington, the U.S. Forest Service New Perspectives in Forestry
Programme, and others. Contact: Washington State University Conferences
and Seminars, 7612 Pioneer Way East, Puyallup, WA 98371. Phone 206/840-4575.
--September 24-October 1. 5th World Wilderness Congress, in Norway, with
ISEE session on philosophy, wild nature, and sustainable human life. See
call for papers by David Rothenberg, above.
--November 5-7, Regional Development in the 21st Century: Think Globally,
Act Locally," Naha, Okinawa. Sponsored by the East-West Center, Honolulu,
at the University of Hawaii. Contact EWCA Alumni Office, 1777 East-West
Road, Honolulu, HI 96948.
1994
--January 20-21, 1994. Conference on Ethical Issues in Agenda 21. Details
earlier.