Value Systems in Conservation: A Philosophical Perspective

1. Philosophy of Conservation.

2. Question • Which has more value: a white spruce tree or a yew shrub? Michigan State U Alberta Agriculture

3. Question • Would you pay $1 to save the N. Atlantic right whale? • 350 survive today NOAA

4. Why Philosophy? • Indian poem • We are limited by what we know • Problems can only be defined by what we know • Solutions can only be developed by what we know • Conser Bio is value ridden unlike ecology or pure sciences

5. Why does conservation matter to people? • Describes how we view the natural world and how we may react to conservation challenges

6. History • Found in religious teachings • Confucianism • Nature interrelated • Conserve nature to preserve human society • Buddhism • Loving kindness to nature • Still desire, reduce consumption

7. Conservation & Religion • Hinduism • Self realization • Respect for all life • Christianity • Two views (dominion, connected) • Use/steward • Islam • Respect for creation is respect for God • Conserve resources

8. Human Value Systems • Utilitarian value • Has value because it can be used • E.g. forests for timber • Anthropocentric view • Has value because people can use it

9. Utilitarian value • Values: • Goods (timber, fish, water) • Services (sewage treatment, air filtration) • Information (clouds/weather, crow mortality/West Nile, snow accumulation/avalanche) • Spiritual, cultural and psychological(teachings using nature or natural objects (large pine tree to the Iroquois people), beautiful landscapes that draw in tourists, wilderness for canoe enthusiasts.

10. Utilitarian value • Under this view use of nature is good, non use a waste • View prevalent in settling Canada • Still reflected in our laws • Both white spruce and yew have uses for people.

11. Intrinsic value • Has value itself • People have intrinsic value • How about other life forms?

12. Intrinsic value • Since living things and ecosystems are self organizing some consider they have intrinsic value • If you said that you would pay $1 to save the N. Atlantic right whale you agree it has intrinsic value

13. Ethics • Changes in philosophy (value systems) has led to changes in ethics (moral code) • Changes result from human experiences usually • Catastrophes • Tragedies • New knowledge Examples: forestry, fishing

14. History of Western Ethics on Conservation • mid 19th Century • Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and John Muir • Wild places as spiritual/mystical, have intrinsic value (transcendental conservation ethic) • Natural places need protection even if they have no economic value John Muir worked to protect Yosemite National Park & parts of the Sierra Nevada mountains. Resulted in the founding of the Sierra Club

15. History of Western Ethics on Conservation • Late 19th Century • Gifford Pinchot, Ted Roosevelt • Need to protect areas because they had value to humans • Utilitarian conservation ethic

16. History of Western Ethics on Conservation • Aldo Leopold “Sand County Almanac” • Is a synthesis of the other two ethics • Recognizes our interconnectedness with nature, • We cannot separate what we think valuable from those parts that we see as not valuable • All parts valuable • Helicopter analogy

17. Focus of Conservation Biology • Understanding of species extinction • Speciation • Small population viability • Design of management practices • Genetic and demographic consequences

18. Focus of Conservation Biology • Conserve functional attributes of ecosystems • Habitat fragmentation • Change in composition and structure • Gap analyses • Landscape ecology • Island biogeography • Restoration ecology