Lecture 6 Biology 5865 Conservation Biology Biological Diversity Values Ethical Values
Contemporary Science
Conservation values of species What are the values of species? Intrinsic or inherent value - independent of its usefulness to people Instrumental or utilitarian value - usefulness to man Economic value Spiritual value God s Creations Scientific value Umbrella species Ecological value nature s services Realized and potential values keep the options alive
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The Ethical Value of Biological Diversity - key ethical arguments (Primack 2010) Each species has a right to exist intrinsic value All species are interdependent People have a responsibility to act as stewards of the Earth People have a duty to their neighbors People have a responsibility to future generations Respect for human life and human diversity is compatible with a respect for biological diversity environmental justice Conservation biologists need to be sensitive to the public perception that they care more about birds, turtles, or nature in general than they do about people
Inherent or Intrinsic Value To many people, ethical arguments provide the most convincing reasons for conservation (Primack 2010, p. 115) Endangered species act states that the justification for their protection is the aesthetic, ecological, educational, historical, recreational, and scientific value of species
Ethics of Biodiversity Linkages between environmental ethics, conservation, and social and economic justice have been incorporated into The Earth Charter (World Resources Institute, 2003) written by many world leaders Modern western societies have often not embraced these views Environmental Ethics - new field of philosophy ethical value of the natural world
Spiritual Values Virtually all major religions include statements about stewardship with the natural world See Primack Box. 6.2 (p. 122-123)
Judeo-Christian Perspective - from Primack (2010) In Genesis, God instructs Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply and fill the Earth and subdue it; have dominion over every living thing that moves upon the Earth (p. 13) Genesis describes the creation of the Earth s biological diversity as a divine act, after which God saw that it was good and blessed them. (p. 120) Moses, Isaiah, St. John the Baptist, St. Francis of Assisi, and even Jesus, all sought out the solitude of wilderness to obtain spiritual strength and receive guidance of God. (p. 126)
Nature, which was once at the heart of Judaism, has been all but banished from our teachings Thousands of years ago, Jewish leaders tried to remove nature from Judaism. What were they so afraid of? That if people continued to worship on mountaintops they would not need the priests or large ornate temples? the high priests wanted to consolidate their power, so they built a huge temple in Jerusalem and taught that God wanted to be worshipped only within its walls. So the priests ordered the destruction of the altars on the high places and herded us all indoors. Published in 2007
Islam (from Groom et al. 2006) Teaches that human beings have a privileged place in nature..all other natural beings were created to serve humanity. In the 1980 s a group of Saudi scholars scoured the Koran for environmentally relevant passages and drafted the Islamic Principles for the Conservation of the Natural World This document articulates an Islamic version of stewardship - He (man) is only a manager of the earth and not a proprietor, a beneficiary not a disposer or ordainer. They also emphasized a just distribution of natural resources not only among members of the present generation, but among members of future generations. See also Islam and Ecology (Foltz et al. 2003, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.)
Hinduism from Groom et al. (2006) Emerson and Thoreau were influenced by subtle philosophical doctrines of Hinduism Hinduism unambiguously invites human beings to identify with other forms of life, for all lifeforms share the same essence The suffering of one life-form is the suffering of all others; to harm other beings is to harm oneself Inspired one of the most successful conservation movements in the world, the Chipko movement, has managed to rescue many of India s Himalayan forests from commercial exploitation For more information see Hinduism and Ecology (Chappel and Tucker, 2000, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA)
Buddhism - from Groom et al. (2006) Buddhism provides all the essential elements for a relationship to the natural world characterized by respect, care, and compassion. Buddhists believe that all living beings are in the same predicament: We are driven by desire to a life of continuous frustration, and all can be liberated if all can attain enlightenment. Thus Buddhists can regard other living beings as companions on the path to Buddhahood and nirvana For more information see Buddhism and Ecology (Tucker and Williams, 1997, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA)
E.O. Wilson and Evangelicals The Creation (2006) An Appeal to Save Life on Earth - a letter to a southern Baptist minister A spectacularly bold plea to humankind.wilson is our Thoreau crossed with Einstein.He gives readers a kind of loving tour of the miracle of biodiversity and explains why protecting what remains is crucial to human survival Melinda Walsh, Sacramento News and Review Life and the biological diversity on the planet is God s creation (The Creation) humans are a part of that Creation and nature is essential to the survival of humans
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Biodiversity and Human Development - enlightened self interest - preserving biodiversity and developing our knowledge will make us better and happier people (from Primack 2010) Protecting our life support and economy Aesthetic and recreational enjoyment Artistic and literary expression Historical understanding Walking the landscapes that our ancestors walked, we gain insight into how they experienced the world Our fast-paced existence makes this much more difficult stop and smell the roses Religious inspiration Scientific knowledge
From Science 322: p. 1611, 12 Dec 2008 Not on the web site! a walk through an arboretum enabled people to perform better on a standard working memory task in comparison to the stimuli of a stroll through a downtown landscape.
Scientific and Educational Value Galapagos (Darwin s) finches - inspiration for evolution, natural selection and Darwin s Origin of Species Inspiration to fly from birds
Scientific Value - Three of the Central Mysteries in the World of Science? *** 1. How life originated? 2. How did we get this diversity of life found on Earth? 3. How did humans evolve?
Ecological Value Dominant species - species that constitute a large proportion of the biomass of an ecosystem Keystone species - species that play a major ecological role within an ecosystem (examples include starfish, red-cockaded woodpecker, beaver, prairie dogs)
Deep Ecology Begins with the premise that all species have value in themselves, and humans have no right to reduce this richness. The philosophy includes an obligation to work to implement the needed changes through a commitment to personal lifestyle changes and political activism. Urges all concerned people to escape from their narrow, everyday concerns and to act and live as if nature mattered.
Essay 2c (Meffe and Carroll 1994) Discovering Radical Environmentalism in our Own Backyard from Natural Rights to Rights of Nature Essay by Roderick Frazier Nash, U of California, Santa Barbara Natural rights liberalism is the most potent concept in the history of American thought In 1215 the Magna Carta challenged the exclusivity of the royal definition of rights The message was straightforward: we are members of this society and we want rights too
Radical Environmentalism in our Own Backyard continued - 2 By 1776 England s American colonies had expanded this meaning all men had rights and they were willing to fight for them Yet, red men, black men, and female men were not regarded as full members of the moral community In the early 1830 s a huge paradigm change the abolition of slavery began and by 1865 all slaves were legally free
Radical Environmentalism in our Own Backyard continued - 3 Today we see in the environmental movement remarkable growth the radical idea that nature has rights that humans should respect Appeals to the end of earth slavery (e.g., rooted in deep ecology, Earth First, Greenpeace) The Endangered Species Act of 1973, national parks, and wilderness acts gives legal protection to non-human existence rights It is plausible that American morality can once again expand move from natural rights to the rights of nature
Concluding Comments - from E.O. Wilson (2002, The Future of Life) The bottleneck of society what will it take to sort out Earth and calculate what it will take to provide a satisfying and sustainable life for everyone into the indefinite future The ecological footprint 1 ha for each person in developing countries, but 9.6 ha/person in the US to provide food, water, housing, energy, transportation, waste disposal, etc. See www.myfootprint.org