Stewardship and the Future of the Planet: Promise and Paradox (Routledge Advances in the History of Bioethics)

This volume examines historical views of stewardship that have sometimes allowed humans to ravage the earth as well as contemporary and futuristic visions of stewardship that will be necessary to achieve pragmatic progress to save life on earth as we know it. The idea of stewardship – human responsibility to tend the Earth – has been central to human cultures throughout history, as evident in the Judeo-Christian __Genesis__ story of the Garden of Eden and in a diverse range of parallel tales from other traditions around the world. Despite such foundational hortatory stories about preserving the earth on which we live, humanity in the Anthropocene is nevertheless currently destroying the planet with breathtaking speed. Much research on stewardship today – in the disciplines of geography, urban studies, oceans research, and green business practice – offers insights that should help address the ecological challenges facing the planet. Simultaneous scholarship in the humanities and other fields reminds us that the damage done to the planet has often been carried out in the name of tending the land. In order to make progress in environmental stewardship, scholars must speak to each other across the disciplinary boundaries, as they do in this volume. This volume examines historical views of stewardship that have sometimes allowed humans to ravage the earth as well as contemporary and futuristic visions of stewardship that will be necessary to achieve pragmatic progress to save life on earth as we know it. Cover 1 Half Title 2 Series Page 3 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Table of Contents 6 List of Illustrations 8 Acknowledgments 9 List of Contributors 10 Introduction: The Contradictory Inflections of Stewardship 16 Overview of the Volume 19 Human Self-Perception and Misperception 20 Dystopian Visions of Past, Present, and Future 20 Approaches to Contemporary Challenges 21 Envisioning the Future 22 Notes 22 Bibliography 25 Part I: Human Self-Perception and Misperception 26 Chapter 1: Stewardship and Sense of Place: Assumptions and Ideals 28 The Premise 28 Sense of Place 29 Stewardship 31 Sense of Place ≠ Place Attachment 33 Place Attachment ≠ Positive Action 34 Conflicting Place Meanings 35 Lessons and Ideals 37 Notes 39 Bibliography 41 Chapter 2: “I Was Under No Necessity of Seeking My Bread”: Robinson Crusoe and the Stewardship of Resources in Eighteenth-Century England 44 Why People Have Read Robinson Crusoe as an Economic Model 45 Towards a Notion of Christian Stewardship 47 Making Bread 50 The Rise of the Economic Model 57 Notes 59 Bibliography 62 Chapter 3: Stewardship in American Literature: Promise and Paradox in the New World 65 Susan Cooper and the Origins of Stewardship in American Literature 66 Aldo Leopold, Rachel Carson, and the Science of Environmental Stewardship 73 Gary Snyder’s Turtle Island and the Ecopoetics of Stewardship 77 Notes 81 Bibliography 85 Part II: Dystopian Visions of Past, Present, and Future 88 Chapter 4: Monstrous Stewardship and the Plantation in Charles Chesnutt’s “The Goophered Grapevine” 90 Notes 99 Bibliography 100 Chapter 5: Human Stewardship and “Reproductive Futurism” in Dystopian Fiction 101 Precarious Heredity 103 The Stewardship of Heredity 106 Stewardship, the Coercive Placental Economy, and Planetary Futures 109 Notes 115 Bibliography 117 Chapter 6: Climate Change and Apocalyptic Literature: Post-Human Stewardship in Paolo Bacigalupi’s Drowned Cities Trilogy 119 Welcome to the Jungle: The Kudzu and Voodoo of Orleans 125 From Sea to Rising Sea: Washington, DC 128 Cradle of Liberty No More: Seascape Boston and the Hunt for Tool 131 From Revolution to Evolution 133 Notes 141 Bibliography 145 Part III: Approaches to Contemporary Challenges 148 Chapter 7: Political Aspects of Stewardship for Wildlife in the U.S. 150 Origins of Ideas of Protecting Wildlife 150 Do Wildlife Have Agency? 152 The Politics of the Endangered Species Protection at the U.S. Federal Level 154 The Politics of Stewardship at the State Level 158 The Current State of Stewardship in the U.S.: The Trump and Biden administrations 160 Notes 163 Bibliography 166 Chapter 8: The Future of the Seascape and the Humanity of Islanders: Focusing on the Korean Archipelago 171 What Is the Island’s Humanities Topography? 171 What Does Humanities Topography Change? 172 Marine Awareness 173 Natural Environment 174 Identity 174 Science and Technology 175 Knowledge, Boundary, Network: Components of Humanities Topography and Their Function 175 Knowledge: Island, a Museum of Marine Knowledge 176 Boundary: Island on the Boundary 177 Network: Openness, Self-reliance, and Democracy 178 Interdisciplinary Approach for Research Methodology of Island Humanities Topography 178 Common Interests and Collaboration with Other Disciplines 179 Diversity 180 Space 181 Knowledge 182 Islandness 182 Sustainability 183 Conclusion 183 Notes 185 Bibliography 187 Chapter 9: Stewardship of Rangelands in the 21st Century: Managing Complexity from the Margins 190 Desertification 192 Succession 194 Rangelands as Climate Solution 197 Conclusion 200 Notes 201 Bibliography 204 Part IV: Envisioning the Future 208 Chapter 10: Product Stewardship: Ethics and Effectiveness in a Circular Economy 210 Social Meanings of Product Stewardship 210 Extended Producer Responsibility for Waste 211 Product Stewardship as Shared Responsibility 212 Product Stewardship as a Risk Management Tool 213 Product Stewardship as Shared Value Creation 213 Updating Product Stewardship for a Circular Economy 214 Limitations of Product Stewardship in a Circular Economy 215 Addressing Increasing Levels of Consumption and Waste 216 Incentivizing Circular Redesign 217 Supporting Reduction, Repair, or Reuse 218 Driving Innovation at the Ecosystem Level 219 Conclusion 220 Notes 221 Bibliography 224 Chapter 11: An Evolutionary Systems Theoretic Perspective on Global Stewardship 227 Evolutionary Systems Theory 230 Inherited Systems that Have Given Rise to the Challenges of the Anthropocene 234 Urban Systems 234 Technological Systems 238 Political and Economic Systems 240 Global Stewardship Within Our Inherited Systems 242 Notes 246 Bibliography 247 Chapter 12: Stewardship in the Anthropocene: Meanings, Tensions, Futures 249 Stewardship Meanings and Tensions 251 Multiple Stewardships in Policy and Practice 253 Government-Led Landscape Stewardship in South Africa 253 Civic-led Urban Stewardship in Bengaluru (India) and New York (U.S.A.) 255 Corporate-Led Biosphere Stewardship of the World’s Oceans 255 Stewardship as a Boundary Object 256 Concluding Discussion: Stewardship and the Challenges of the Anthropocene 259 Notes 260 Bibliography 263 Index 267 apocalyptic,literature;,Charles,Chesnutt’s,The,Goophered,Grapevine;,circular,economy;,climate,change;,dystopian,fiction;,economic,development;,human,misperception;,human,self-perception;,human,stewardship;,Korean,archipelago;,product,stewardship;,reproductive,futurism apocalyptic literature,Charles Chesnutt’s The Goophered Grapevine,circular economy,climate change,dystopian fiction,economic development,human misperception,human self-perception,human stewardship,Korean archipelago,product stewardship,reproductive futurism "This volume examines historical views of stewardship that have sometimes allowed humans to ravage the earth as well as contemporary and futuristic visions of stewardship that will be necessary to achieve pragmatic progress to save life on earth as we know it. The idea of stewardship - human responsibility to tend the Earth - has been central to human cultures throughout history, as evident in the Judeo-Christian Genesis story of the Garden of Eden and in a diverse range of parallel tales from other traditions around the world. Despite such foundational hortatory stories about preserving the earth on which we live, humanity in the Anthropocene is nevertheless currently destroying the planet with breathtaking speed. Much research on stewardship today - in the disciplines of geography, urban studies, oceans research, and green business practice - offers insights that should help address the ecological challenges facing the planet. Simultaneous scholarship in the humanities and other fields reminds us that the damage done to the planet has often been carried out in the name of tending the land. In order to make progress in environmental stewardship, scholars must speak to each other across the disciplinary boundaries, as they do in this volume"-- Provided by publisher