School of Geography & Environmental Studies, University of Tasmania
KGA100/101 - SEMESTER 2, 2001
LECTURE UNIT 3: ENVIRONMENT & SOCIETY
Valuing Nature
(Perspectives from Wilderness, Environmental History, and Conservation History)
Copyright: Jim Russell
Tues 30 July, Tues 7 August The Origins of Recent Environmental Awareness:
The 'Age of Ecology' (Parts I, II)
Humankind, in remodelling the earth as its home, has made great changes to landscapes
and to the world's other inhabitants, displacing many of them or being involved in their
extinction.
(Future lectures on hunter-gatherers and on the transition to agricultural societies discuss
(i) the kinds of changes in prehistory and how they altered human relations with nature;
(ii) how little is known about why the changes occurred; and (iii) speculation on how the
changes might have affected the ways people value nature.
These two ‘Age of Ecology’ lectures cover the origins of recent environmental debate - the
1960s and 70s.
What you need to understand ...
1.
What is meant by the term 'Age of Ecology'.
2.
Why Rachel Carson and Silent Spring were important.
3.
The distinction between an instrumental view of nature, as opposed to an intrinsic
values view.
The 'Age of Ecology'
In the 1960s, a new consciousness of ecology as a science and a heightened awareness of
the degree and implications of changes to the planet burst onto the world stage, fostered
by some leading scientists who spoke out publicly.
The threat of nuclear devastation had helped this cause, but a number of environmental
"disasters" in the 1960s also convinced people of the force of Rachel Carson's judgement in
Silent Spring that life itself, including human life, was at risk from chemicals. Ecology
gave Carson and many other scientific authors the backing they needed for their claims.
The impact and significance of Silent Spring
•
The realisation that the total environment, including humans - not only
species - was under threat.
•
some
Science-led protest: the 'Age of Ecology'; science was used by Rachel Carson
and others to reveal problems and give protest respectability.
•
As shown by her earlier books, Carson was strongly emotional about
nature,
valuing it for its own sake: a relatively early expression of the idea that nature could be
said to have "intrinsic" value.
•
Modern ideas of "environmental management" date from this time.
•
Great impetus to public involvement in environmental debates.
•
Exhibits huge values clash: on the one side, recognition that balance of
nature
important; on other, the view that humankind is in the business of controlling nature.
The results: environmental protection and management, for example, through legislation
Environmental management as a concern of government and an area of professional
interest arose in response to the scientific claims and to the sequence of environmental
disasters. The Western world, including the USA and Australia, responded with new
environmental legislation and the development of public agencies devoted to
environmental affairs.
Instrumental vs intrinsic values
The first term refers to valuing nature for its usefulness to people alone; the second, as
indicated above, adds the dimension that nature has value of itself, i.e., plants, critters
etcetera have "rights" to fulfil their own potentials and are not merely for human use.
Readings:
Carson, Rachel 1962, Silent Spring, Penguin Books, London, pp. 21-32.
Miller, G. T. 1994, Living in the Environment, 8th Edition, Wadsworth, Belmont, California,
pp. 38-44; 24-27.
For those who want to read more:
Frawley, Kevin 1992, A Green Vision: The Evolution of Australian Environmentalism, in
K. Anderson and F. Gale, Inventing Places, Longman Cheshire, Melbourne, pp. 215-234,
but particularly pp. 224-232.
Miller, G. T. 2000, Living in the Environment, Brooks/Grove, Pacific Grove, California,
p565; 615-618.