puppies 336 final

Robert Elliot restoration thesis?

--His thesis: "My claim, then, is that restoration policies do not always fully restore value because part of the reason that we value bits of the environment is because they are natural to a high degree. It is time to consider some counterarguments." --He believes that the value is not always fully restored --Explains that we value some parts of the environment --"Natural to a high degree" means we (humans) have affected it as little as possible --We fundamentally change the natural into an artifact

Do you think Winona LaDuke would embrace or reject the fundamental proposals of the Brundtland Commission? Please explain your answer.

--LaDuke: Traditional Ecological Knowledge -Surpasses scientific paradigm by conceiving of an animate nature -Good life defined by two tenets: cyclical thinking and reciprocal relations and responsibilities to earth --Brundtland Report: Also focused on sustainability but no conception of "reciprocal relations" with earth -Sustainable development: "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." -Poverty reduction (scientific and economic approach) -LaDuke does not agree with Brundtland commission report because it blames poor communities for not being "green enough" when they don't have the resources/finances to become more green -BUT she does agree with proposals because reducing production and increasing the quality of growth are good

(Idea of local economy) fit within the sustainability rubric proposed by Yanarella, Klein, and Lancaster?

-Berry's ideas fit into strong sustainability as defined in sustainability rubric by Yanarella, Klein, and Lancaster -"As has been argued, only a strong sustainability framework of understanding and practice can meet the looming threats to local and global ecosystems -Strong sustainability is described as -Understands that growth is not equivalent to development -Conceives of sustainability as a local, informed, balance-seeking process, operating within its sustainable area budget, and by so doing, exports no negative imbalances beyond its budgeted territory or into the future, thus opening spaces of possibility and opportunity -Seeks to generate local/regional sustainability policy making metaphorically around the model of a sustainability game involving multiple scenario building as the driving process for generating sustainable solutions to urban development, land use, site selection

Explain how this question is answered by (a) the Brundtland Commission

-Brundtland Commission -Addresses the inequality of growth and development between wealthy and poor nations. -Fundamentally but not restrictively anthropocentric -An increase in development in wealthy areas use more resources -The more resources cause more waste - wealthy dump waste in poverty stricken areas

What is the trouble with wilderness according to William Cronon?

-Cronon argues against the idea that preserving wilderness means being a responsible environmentalist. -Trouble with wilderness = the idea of "wilderness" as a place where the human is but a visitor and where primeval natural forces control the area. -Cronon argues this idea of wilderness is a social construct (social constructivist)

Does the triple-bottom line conception of corporate accounting advanced by John Elkington offer a design plan to commensurate with Hawken's? How so, or how not?

-Elkington focuses on the fact that businesses need to pay more attention to the triple bottom line: combining interests of the social, environmental, and economic bottom lines. -"sustainable capitalism will need more than just environment-friendly technologies and, however important these may be, markets which actively promote dematerialization."

Does Perkins Marsh support or controvert central argument around restoration thesis proposed by Robert Elliot?

-Elliot argues that restoration policies do not fully restore the value of nature. -Therefore when something undergoes restoration, the natural is turned into an artifact. So I believe the conclusions found by Marsh support the argument made by Elliot against the restoration thesis. -Marsh argues that human disturbance of nature is a difference in kind rather than degree. This is because humans disturb nature to where is cannot be restored, a disturbance unmatched by any animal.

4. What are the basic issues and who are the central figures in the conservation/preservation debate?

-Gifford Pinchot (conservation) -Can't discuss modern sustainability without talking about Pinchot -He was first to submit sustainability theory -First to say sustainability is important for generations of today and future generation -Moral obligation is for present generation though -He was first to say forests are a crop aka we should plant forests like we plant crops -Pinchot says we need to conserve these resources and use, develop, and maintain these resources for future generations but their value is for current generations

? Explain how this question is answered by Guha and Martinez-Alier.

-Guha and Martinez-Alier -Unchecked economic growth leads to exhaustion of natural resources and to pollution -"The wealth provides the means to correct environmental damage, that wealthy people are environmentally more conscious because they can afford to care for quality of life issues, and that poverty is one main cause of environmental degradation, are politically correct beliefs. HOWEVER, for many ecologists this constellation of beliefs represents no more than an attempt to blame the victims" -Poor produce fewer wastes -Poor communities produce less liquid and solid wastes -Wastes of the poor are more suitable for composting -wealth produces large amounts of wastes -Effluents of the affluence -"Poor urban areas are noisier and more polluted than high-income urban areas. However, this is not due to greater waste production but to lower protective, or mitigating, expenditure" -Massive consumption of goods has been achieved at the cost of exhausting resources, polluting the environment, and extinguishing biological diversity

Paul Hawken argues that we need to imagine and design a system of sustainable commerce. What are the key features of this re-design?

-Hawken's re-design focuses on creating a system of sustainable commerce in which "the natural, everyday acts of work and life accumulate into a better world as a matter of course, not a matter of altruism" -he encourages humans to take back the power that corporations have generated. -Under the Charter of Incorporation, citizens are allowed to revoke the charter of companies who continually harm, violate and abuse public trust. -Moving on, Hawkens wants us to incorporate the environmental degradation cost in products, therefore making industrially produced products and non-renewable energy sources more expensive than renewable energy sources and organic food. -Hawken's wants us to transform our production values from producing for recycling to producing for decomposition--this will help counter our overconsumption problem because everything we consume can be reused by the earth. (clothes, fridges)

Explain the distinction that Ralph Waldo Emerson draws between natura naturata and natura naturans

-In the simplest terms: Natura naturata is passive nature -And natura naturans is efficient nature (also understood as creative nature, described in emerson's own words as the "quick cause") -Naturata can be viewed as the picturesque, the view of the horizon or the woods from on top of a mountain. It implies a stillness, a finished quality. -Naturans is a driving force, a continuation or process.

Katz "Big Lie"

-Katz ("The Big Lie") argues that humanity does not hold any obligation nor ability to repair/reconstruct damaged natural systems (pg. 390-391) -However, this does not mean that man has the right to modify nature to its own end

Katz furthers Elliot's argument by saying

-Katz furthers Elliot's argument by rejecting the idea that we can restore nature -he restoration thesis follows the same domination logic that destroyed nature in the first place -Once we dominate nature for our own purposes, we have destroyed her (Baconean argument) --The restoration thesis follows our own ideas; thus it is anthropocentric • Restoration is an act of hubris • By restoring nature, man is actually creating more artifact o The "Big Lie" Katz writes about is assuming that man can restore nature in the first place

Cronon

-Myth of origin/frontier: idea that nature/the frontier is unpopulated and vacant of humans. -Frontier was actually populated (indigenous people of U.S.A. were here when we were expanding westward) -This was a dream of romantics, wealthy people (a reflection of our culture) o Paradox: "wilderness" "quietly expresses the very values its devotees [environmentalists] seek to reject" -Is an idea of responsible environmentalism but at the same time insinuates irresponsible environmentalism (because it ignores that there are people living in the wilderness - ignores concerns of social justice). -"First world environmentalism" - environmental imperialism -Separates us (humans) from nature.

Why does Henry David Thoreau argue that "in wildness is preservation of the world?

-Nature is a kind of "sanctum sanctorum", where all good things are wild and free -"Every tree sends its fibers forth in search of the wild..(pg 17)" -Nature arises from itself. Civilizations domesticate and cover over nature, but cities are vital in that they have a wild animal in them. -The very wildness of our existence is what sustains our culture, which is why "in wildness is preservation of the world". -In the beauty of wild nature, Thoreau saw the source of human's independence and self-reliance, which were necessary in order for humans to survive and grow as a species. The wildness of nature is a necessary antidote to the evils of society which detracts from these important values.

George Perkins Marsh conclusions about the nature of human impacts on earth?

-Nature that is undisturbed is without human beings and goes back to equilibrium -Humans disturb nature to where it cannot be restored, therefore not a difference in degree but kind -We ought to act in a way that nature can be rectified or restored ----Marsh uses the example of a beaver, explaining that a beaver simply knocks down a tree where a human knocks down a whole forest -"I am not aware of any evidence that wild animals have ever destroyed the smallest forest, extirpated any organic species, or modified its natural character, occasioned any permanent change of terrestrial surface, or produced any disturbance of physical condition which nature has not, of herself repaired without the expulsion of the animal that had caused it."

Where and how well would Wendell Berry's idea of a local economy fit within the sustainability rubric proposed by Yanarella, Klein, and Lancaster? Please explain your answer.

-Neighborhood- neighbors ask themselves what they can do or provide for one another and they find answers that they and their place can afford -Principle of subsistence- neighborhood= community and community is made up of neighbors who cherish and protect what they have in common. -It does not import products it can produce and does not export local products until local need has been met

Cronon

-Paradox: "wilderness" "quietly expresses the very values its devotees [environmentalists] seek to reject" -Is an idea of responsible environmentalism but at the same time insinuates irresponsible environmentalism (because it ignores that there are people living in the wilderness - ignores concerns of social justice). -"First world environmentalism" - environmental imperialism -Separates us (humans) from nature.

Principles of conservation movement

-Pinchot is very anthropocentric view that forests have value for human use aka emphasis on development -very similar to that Locke who talked about that land has value when man's hands have worked it, doesn't talk about animals and their rights or anything

Is poverty a cause of environmental degradation?

-Poverty IS NOT a cause of environmental degradation - wealth is

Paul Hawken argues that we need to we need to imagine and design a system of sustainable commerce. What are the key features of this re-design? Does the triple-bottom line conception of corporate accounting advanced by John Elkington offer a design plan to commensurate with Hawken's? How so, or how not?

-The ideas brought forth by Elkington are related to aspects of Hawken's design plan; however, Hawken provides a more extensive approach to designing a new sustainable system of commerce. -While Elkington's audience is primarily companies

How does Eric Katz expand upon Robert Elliot's argument against the restoration thesis?

-The restoration thesis -- If I restore an area, I can restore it to at least the value it had before, if not a higher value than before -Elliot ("Faking Nature") argues that restoration policies do not always restore value because humans value "bits" of the environment because they are in fact natural to a high degree -The parts that we value are the ones we are not able to restore -Naturalness of the area is what is ultimately lost

Why does Henry David Thoreau argue that "in wildness is preservation of the world?

-Thoreau starts "Walking" by talking about "sauntering", which can be interpreted as a sort of pilgrimage instead of just walking aimlessly. -He uses it in terms of a sort of religious enterprise where one can wander with no aim- free of all worldly engagements. Thoreau says that he can find the source of his own vitality in nature, rejuvenate, and make himself young again.

Cements idea that human being is natural member of biotic world?

-natura naturans is nature in motion. It is the evolution of all things as a natural process that relates man to nature. As we evolve, so we must use nature to further our evolution. Therefore, we will always be a product of nature in the sense that we came from nature and that it is only through nature that we advance.

How, if at all, does this distinction help clarify the idea that the human being is a natural member of the biotic world? (Emerson)

-the first lichen race has disintegrated the thinnest external plate into soil, and opened the door for the remote Flora,Fauna, Ceres, and Pomona, to come in. How far off yet is the trilobite! how far the quadruped! how inconceivably remote is man!All duly arrive, and then race after race of men. It is a long way from granite to the oyster; farther yet to Plato, and the preaching of the immortality of the soul. Yet all must come, as surely as the first atom has two sides. -This refers to evolution as being part of the natura naturans. It applies to all nature and man as well. I believe this is the similarity that can be used to argue that man is a member of the biotic world.