Searching for Sustainability: Interdisciplinary Essays in the Philosophy of Conservation Biology (Cambridge Studies in Philosophy and Biology)

This book examines from a multidisciplinary viewpoint the question of what we mean - what we should mean - by setting sustainability as a goal for environmental management. The author, trained as a philosopher of science and language, explores ways to break down the disciplinary barriers to communication and deliberation about environment policy, and to integrate science and evaluations into a more comprehensive environmental policy. Choosing sustainability as the keystone concept of environmental policy, the author explores what we can learn about sustainable living from the philosophy of pragmatism, from ecology, from economics, from planning, from conservation biology and from related disciplines. The idea of adaptive, or experimental, management provides the context, while insights from various disciplines are integrated into a comprehensive philosophy of environmental management. The book will appeal to students and professionals in the fields of environmental policy and ethics, conservation biology, and philosophy of science. Half-title......Page 3 Series-title......Page 5 Title......Page 7 Copyright......Page 8 Contents......Page 9 General Introduction......Page 13 I Pragmatism as an Environmental Philosophy......Page 21 1 The Constancy of Leopold’s Land Ethic......Page 25 I......Page 26 II......Page 33 III......Page 35 IV......Page 38 NOTES......Page 40 LITERATURE CITED......Page 41 2 Thoreau and Leopold on Science and Values......Page 42 THOREAU'S TRANSFORMATIVE VALUES......Page 43 THE DYNAMICS OF NATURE AND THE DYNAMICS OF CONSCIOUSNESS......Page 46 THE ENVIRONMENTALISTS' DILEMMA REVISITED......Page 50 THOREAU'S SCIENCE......Page 51 ALDO LEOPOLD AND SCIENTIFIC CONTEXTUALISM......Page 53 REFERENCES......Page 57 INTRODUCTION: THE ROLE OF ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICISTS IN POLICY PROCESS......Page 59 PART 1: MONISM AND THE MISSION OF ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS......Page 63 Callicott’s Dilemma......Page 64 Non-Anthropocentrism and the Land Ethic......Page 69 The Scope of Environmental Ethics......Page 71 Ontology and Epistemology......Page 72 PART 2: AN ALTERNATIVE TO ONTOLOGY......Page 75 Nature as a Multi-Scalar, Open System......Page 77 A Tri-Scalar Model......Page 79 CONCLUSION......Page 84 NOTES......Page 85 4 Convergence Corroborated......Page 90 NOTES......Page 97 INTRODUCTION......Page 100 1. 'CONFORM' VERSUS 'TRANSFORM' THEORIES OF TRUTH......Page 101 2. OBJECTIVITY, ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS AND ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY......Page 104 3. PRAGMATISM AND SUSTAINABILITY THEORY......Page 110 NOTES......Page 113 REFERENCES......Page 115 II Science, Policy, and Policy Science......Page 117 6 What Is a Conservation Biologist?......Page 119 7 Biological Resources and Endangered Species......Page 122 Phase 1: Single-Species Protection (1800–1980)......Page 123 Phase 2: Biodiversity (1980–1988)......Page 126 Phase 3: Sustainability of Ecosystem Health (1988–present)......Page 127 WHY WE NEED THE (ANACHRONISTIC) ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT......Page 128 APPLYING THE U.S. EXPERIENCE TO GLOBAL BIODIVERSITY......Page 137 CONCLUSION......Page 138 REFERENCES......Page 139 8 Leopold as Practical Moralist and Pragmatic Policy Analyst......Page 142 NOTES......Page 147 INTRODUCTION: DO WE NEED NEW TERMINOLOGY FOR ECOLOGICAL COMMUNICATION?......Page 148 PART 1. ECOLOGY'S COMMUNICATION PROBLEM......Page 151 PART 2. SERIAL THINKING VERSUS INTEGRATED THINKING IN ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH......Page 155 PART 3. THE IMPACT OF ECOLOGISTS ON POLICY: THE CASE OF WETLANDS......Page 158 PART 4. SCALING AND VALUING IN SCIENCE AND POLICY......Page 164 PART 5. SOME CHARACTERSTICS OF AN INTEGRATED LANGUAGE OF MANAGEMENT......Page 168 1. Adaptive Management......Page 169 2. Perspective and Place......Page 170 5. Normative Content......Page 171 6. Communication Enhancement......Page 172 CONCLUSION: DO WE NEED NEW TERMINOLOGY?......Page 173 LITERATURE CITED......Page 174 III Economics and Environmental Sustainability......Page 177 10 Sustainability, Human Welfare, and Ecosystem Health......Page 180 PART I. SUSTAINABILITY AND HUMAN WELFARE......Page 181 PART II. A CLASSIFICATION OF RISKS......Page 183 PART III. SCIENTIFIC CONTEXTUALISM......Page 186 PART IV. HEALTH, INTEGRITY, AND SUSTAINABILITY......Page 188 CONCLUSION......Page 191 NOTES......Page 192 REFERENCES......Page 193 INTRODUCTION......Page 195 I. ECONOMICS AND THE STUDY OF PREFERENCES......Page 196 II. CONSUMER SOVEREIGNTY......Page 199 1. The Competitive Advantage Argument......Page 200 3. The Value Neutrality Argument......Page 201 4. The Democracy Argument......Page 203 5. The Positivist/Emotivist Argument......Page 204 III. CONCLUSION......Page 209 NOTES......Page 210 REFERENCES......Page 211 1. INTRODUCTION: ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY AND ANALYSIS: A SHARED CRISIS......Page 213 2. DEFINITIONS OF SUSTAINABILITY LOCATE A PARADIGMATIC SPLIT IN POLICY MODELS......Page 215 3. COMPETING PARADIGMS......Page 216 4. A NEUTRAL CONCEPTUAL GEOGRAPHY......Page 222 5. THE EXTRAPARADIGMATIC DEBATE ANALYSED......Page 229 6. CONCLUSION......Page 233 NOTES......Page 234 REFERENCES......Page 235 I. INTRODUCTION: ECOLOGISTS, ECONOMISTS, AND THE SEARCH FOR SUSTAINABLE POLICIES......Page 237 II. REVERSIBILITY AND SUBSTITUTABILITY......Page 239 III. VALUES, VALUATION, AND ACCOUNTING......Page 245 IV. A TWO-TIER DECISION MODEL......Page 248 V. SCALE-SENSITIVE EVALUATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL POLICIES......Page 250 VI. CONCLUSION......Page 252 NOTES......Page 253 REFERENCES......Page 255 1. INTRODUCTION......Page 261 2. FIXED TASTES, PREFERENCES, AND CONSUMER SOVEREIGNTY......Page 263 3. FOUR DEGREES OF CONSUMER SOVEREIGNTY......Page 265 3.1. Degree 1: Unchanging Preferences......Page 266 3.3. Degree 3: Consumer Sovereignty as Commitment to Democracy......Page 268 3.4. Degree 4: Democratic Preference Change......Page 270 4. HOW PREFERENCES CHANGE......Page 272 6. CULTURAL VERSUS GENETIC EVOLUTION......Page 274 7. PROSPECTIVE: VALUES AND THE FUTURE......Page 277 8. CONCLUSIONS......Page 284 REFERENCES......Page 286 IV Scaling Sustainability......Page 289 15 Context and Hierarchy in Aldo Leopold’s Theory of Environmental Management......Page 292 CONCLUSION......Page 298 REFERENCES......Page 299 INTRODUCTION......Page 300 A THEORY OF SCALE FOR BIODIVERSITY PROTECTION......Page 301 Scale and Biodiversity Policy......Page 304 WHOLE ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT......Page 307 AUTOPOIETIC SYSTEMS......Page 309 THE VALUE OF BIODIVERSITY......Page 312 CONCLUSION......Page 313 REFERENCES AND NOTES......Page 315 INTRODUCTION: THE SEARCH FOR A TRANSDISCIPLINARY SCIENCE OF SUSTAINABILITY......Page 317 ADAPTIVE MODELING OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS......Page 320 INTEGRATING ECOLOGY AND ECONOMICS: CURRENT APPROACHES......Page 322 ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS AS PROBLEMS OF SCALE......Page 323 HOLLING’S PANARCHY AS A SCALE-SENSITIVE MODEL OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS......Page 327 DEFINING INTEGRITY......Page 328 SPATIO-TEMPORAL INTEGRITY AS A GUIDE TO ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY......Page 330 WIN–WIN STRATEGIES IN A MULTISCALAR SYSTEM OF MANAGEMENT......Page 332 CONCLUSION......Page 335 REFERENCES......Page 337 18 Change, Constancy, and Creativity......Page 340 A. The Argument from Constant Change......Page 341 B. The Argument against Grand Theory......Page 342 C. Responses to the Arguments of the New Ecology......Page 343 II. RE-THINKING ECOLOGICAL CONSTANCY......Page 345 III. ORGANICISM: WEAK AND STRONG VERSIONS......Page 348 IV. RESPONDING TO ORGANICISM......Page 351 NOTES......Page 355 19 Democracy and Sense of Place Values in Environmental Policy......Page 357 AN EXAMPLE......Page 363 Locality......Page 366 Pervasiveness......Page 367 Partial Measurability......Page 369 A CLASSIFICATION OF PLACE-RELATIVE VALUES......Page 371 MEASURING AND AGGREGATING SENSE OF PLACE VALUES......Page 372 APPLICATIONS TO POLICY AND PLANNING......Page 376 REFERENCES......Page 379 V Some Elements of a Philosophy of Sustainable Living......Page 385 20 Caring for Nature......Page 387 WILD ANIMALS......Page 390 OBLIGATIONS TO SUSTAIN NATURAL PROCESSES......Page 391 WILD ANIMALS IN ZOOS......Page 395 ANIMAL ALTRUISM......Page 397 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS......Page 404 NOTES......Page 405 REFERENCES......Page 406 PART 1. VALUE THEORIES AND BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY......Page 408 PART 2. RE-THINKING THE PROBLEM OF CONSERVATION PRIORITIES/TARGETS......Page 413 PART 3. ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT: A PROCESS-ORIENTED APPROACH......Page 416 PART 4. ALTERNATIVES TO MONISTIC ASSUMPTIONS AND THE ENTITY ORIENTATION......Page 421 CONCLUSION......Page 427 NOTES......Page 428 INTRODUCTION: WHAT DO WE OWE THE FUTURE?......Page 432 1. The Trade-Offs Problem......Page 434 2. The Distance Problem......Page 435 4. The Typology of Effects Problem......Page 436 PART 2. SOLOW AND THE GRAND SIMPLIFICATION......Page 437 PART 3. THE SEARCH FOR STRONGER ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY......Page 440 1. Toxic Time Bomb Cases......Page 444 4. Severe but Gradual Ecological Declines......Page 445 PART 5. PASSMORE AND SHARED MORAL COMMUNITIES......Page 451 PART 6. WHAT DO WE OWE THE FUTURE (II)?......Page 455 NOTES......Page 459 VI Valuing Sustainability: Toward a More Comprehensive Approach to Environmental Evaluation......Page 469 23 Commodity, Amenity, and Morality......Page 472 REFERENCES......Page 478 24 The Cultural Approach to Conservation Biology......Page 479 REFERENCES......Page 488 1. INTRODUTION......Page 490 2. A DILEMMA......Page 491 3. OPTIONS VERSUS CONSTRAINTS AS A GUIDE TO LONGTERM MANAGEMENT......Page 493 4. OPERATIONALIZING THE OPPORTUNITIES/CONSTRAINTS INDEX......Page 496 5. THE RECONCILIATION PROBLEM......Page 501 6. CONCLUSION......Page 503 REFERENCES......Page 504 OUR BEQUEST TO THE FUTURE......Page 505 A QUESTION OF ECONOMICS?......Page 506 AN ECOLOGICALLY INFORMED SAFE MINIMUM STANDARD CRITERION......Page 512 BIODIVERSITY AND RESOURCES......Page 513 INTERPRETING “UNBEARABLE COSTS”......Page 517 REFERENCES......Page 524 INTRODUCTION......Page 526 PART I. ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT: AN EMERGING PARADIGM?......Page 530 PART II. AN EVALUATIVE APPROACH FOR ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT......Page 537 PART III. SOME HEURISTICS FOR PARTICIPANTS IN ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT PROCESSES......Page 543 A Process Heuristic......Page 546 An Evaluative Heuristic......Page 547 PART IV. EVALUATING DEVELOPMENT PATHS IN THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS: AN APPLICATION......Page 550 CONCLUSION......Page 555 NOTES......Page 556 REFERENCES......Page 557 Index......Page 561 This book examines the setting of sustainability as a goal for environmental management. The author explores ways to break down the disciplinary barriers to communication and deliberation about environment policy, and to integrate science and evaluations into a more comprehensive environmental policy. The book appeals to students and professionals in the fields of environmental policy and ethics, conservation biology and philosophy. This is a multidisciplinary analysis of what we mean by setting sustainability as a goal for environmental management. Norton explores ways to break down the disciplinary barriers to communication and deliberation about environment policy