Why Conservation Is Failing and How It Can Regain Ground

Why Conservation Is Failing and How It Can Regain Ground PDF Author: Eric T. Freyfogle
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300133294
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 310

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Book Description
Critics of environmental laws complain that such rules often burden people unequally, restrict individual liberty, and undercut private property rights. In formulating responses to these criticisms, the conservation effort has stumbled badly, says Eric T. Freyfogle in this thought-provoking book. Conservationists and environmentalists haven’t done their intellectual homework, he contends, and they have failed to offer an understandable, compelling vision of healthy lands and healthy human communities. Freyfogle explores why the conservation movement has responded ineffectually to the many cultural and economic criticisms leveled against it. He addresses the meaning of good land use, describes the many shortcomings of “sustainability,” and outlines six key tasks that the cause must address. Among these is the crafting of an overall goal and a vision of responsible private ownership. The book concludes with a stirring message that situates conservation within America’s story of itself and with an extensive annotated bibliography of conservation’s most valuable voices and texts—important information for readers prepared to take conservation more seriously.

Agrarianism and the Good Society

Agrarianism and the Good Society PDF Author: Eric Freyfogle
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813172500
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
Every society expresses its fundamental values and hopes in the ways it inhabits its landscapes. In this literate and wide-ranging exploration, Eric T. Freyfogle raises difficult questions about America’s core values while illuminating the social origins of urban sprawl, dwindling wildlife habitats, and over-engineered rivers. These and other land-use crises, he contends, arise mostly because of cultural attitudes that made sense on the American frontier but now threaten the land’s ecological fabric. To support and sustain healthy communities, profound adjustments will be required. Freyfogle’s search leads him down unusual paths. He probes Charles Frazier’s novel Cold Mountain for insights on the healing power of nature and tests the wisdom in Wendell Berry’s fiction. He challenges journalists writing about environmental issues to get beyond well-worn rhetoric and explain the true choices that Americans face. In an imaginary job advertisement, he issues a call for a national environmental leader, identifying the skills and knowledge required, taking note of cultural obstacles, and looking critically at supposed allies. Examining recent federal elections, he largely blames the conservation cause and its inattention to cultural issues for the diminished status of the environment as a decisive issue. Agrarianism and the Good Society identifies the social, historical, political, and cultural obstacles to humans’ harmony with nature and advocates a new orientation, one that begins with healthy land and that better reflects our utter dependence on it. In all, Agrarianism and the Good Society offers a critical yet hopeful guide for cultural change, essential for anyone interested in the benefits and creative possibilities of responsible land use.

A Good That Transcends

A Good That Transcends PDF Author: Eric T. Freyfogle
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022632611X
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 230

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Book Description
Leopold's last talk -- The love of Wendell Berry -- Impressionism and David Orr -- The cosmos and Pope Francis -- Taking property seriously -- Wilderness and culture -- Naming the tragedy -- Conclusion: thinking, talking, and culture

The Disfiguration of Nature

The Disfiguration of Nature PDF Author: James G. Krueger
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1532654804
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 173

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Book Description
Good stewardship of nature and the earth—those foundations upon which life depends—is our most pressing challenge, requiring a monumental and relentlessly single-minded unity of purpose. Yet in America, the cause of conservation suffers while the political Left and Right conduct an endless tug of war. The result is stalemate and inaction. James Krueger shows how this state of affairs stems from a widespread—and unnecessary—confusion in thinking about conservation. He explores the movement’s beginnings and its profound and enduring connection with such traditional pro-life and pro-family values of stability, self-discipline, morality, and community, which could again be called upon to undergird a robust conservationist ethic. At the same time, Krueger embarks on a provocative questioning of values dear to the liberal Left—having to do with gender, family, economics, and individual rights—to ask whether these are not, at their core, violently opposed to the very nature liberal-minded people claim to champion and protect. The Disfiguration of Nature invites us to disconnect from our destructive illusions about both nature and ourselves in favor of a humble yet constructive—and eventually powerful—understanding, the kind that can create a desperately needed common ground in service of our shared American landscape and the promise of sound human culture upon it.

Property Rights and Sustainability

Property Rights and Sustainability PDF Author: David Grinlinton
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 900420105X
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 448

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Book Description
Published with the support of The New Zealand Law Foundation. As collapses and crises involving ecological systems, economic and financial management and international governance increase, the need for bold alternatives to traditional economic and legal responses has never been more urgent. Property concepts are an important element in the interaction between humans and the natural environment. An important driver of ecological harm, property concepts can also become a powerful tool for responding to ecological problems in ways that have so far eluded both government regulators and markets. Going beyond the traditional critiques of liberal property theories, Property Rights and Sustainability takes on the challenge of fundamentally reconceptualising property rights and systems. It makes a significant contribution to rebalancing the legal framework in a way that recognises humanity as a member of a larger ecological order, the health and integrity of which is of primary importance to the long-term viability of our planet. Property Rights and Sustainability will be an indispensable resource for those interested in the relationship between property law and the environment, and the ways in which property law can be reshaped to respond to the ecological challenges of our time.

A Delicate Balance

A Delicate Balance PDF Author: Angela C. Halfacre
Publisher: Univ of South Carolina Press
ISBN: 1611172799
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 689

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Book Description
Sustainability of the natural environment and of our society has become one of the most urgent challenges facing modern Americans. Communities across the country are seeking a viable pattern of growth that promotes prosperity, protects the environment, and preserves the distinctive quality of life of their regions. The coastal zone of South Carolina is one of the most endangered, culturally complex regions in the state and perhaps in all of the American South. A Delicate Balance examines how a multilayered culture of environmental conservation and sustainable development has emerged in the lowcountry of South Carolina. Angela C. Halfacre, a political scientist, describes how sprawl shock, natural disaster, climate change, and other factors spawned and sustain—but also threaten and hinder—the culture of conservation. Since Hurricane Hugo in 1989, the coastal region of South Carolina has experienced unprecedented increases in residential and commercial development. A Delicate Balance uses interdisciplinary literature and ethnographic, historical, and spatial methods to show how growing numbers of lowcountry residents, bolstered by substantial political, corporate, and media support, have sought to maintain the region's distinctive sense of place as well as its fragile ecology. The diverse social and cultural threads forming the fabric of the lowcountry conservation culture include those who make their living from the land, such as African American basket makers and multigenerational famers, as well as those who own, manage, and develop the land and homeowner association members. Evolving perceptions, policies, and practices that characterize community priorities and help to achieve the ultimate goal of sustainability are highlighted here. As Halfacre demonstrates, maintaining the quality of the environment while accommodating residential, commercial, and industrial growth is a balancing act replete with compromises. This book documents the origins, goals, programs, leaders, tactics, and effectiveness of a conservation culture. A Delicate Balance deftly illustrates that a resilient culture of conservation that wields growing influence in the lowcountry has become an important regional model for conservation efforts across the nation. A Delicate Balance also includes a foreword by journalist Cynthia Barnett, author of Blue Revolution: Unmaking America's Water Crisis and Mirage: Florida and the Vanishing Water of the Eastern U.S.

Earth Jurisprudence

Earth Jurisprudence PDF Author: Peter D. Burdon
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135144230
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 250

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Book Description
The idea of human dominion over nature has become entrenched by the dominant rights-based interpretation of private property. Accordingly, nature is not attributed any inherent value and becomes merely the matter of a human property relationship. Earth Jurisprudence: Private Property and the Environment explores how an alternative conception of property might be instead grounded in the ecocentric concept of an Earth community. Recognising that human beings are deeply interconnected with and dependent on nature, this concept is proposed as a standard and measure for human law. This book argues that the anthropocentric institution of private property needs to be reconceived; drawing on international case law, indigenous views of property and the land use practices of agrarian communities, Peter Burdon considers how private property can be reformulated in a way that fosters duties towards nature. Using the theory of earth jurisprudence as a guide, he outlines an alternative ecocentric description of private property as a relationship between and among members of the Earth community. This book will appeal to those researching in law, justice and ecology, as well as anyone pursuing an interest more particularly in earth jurisprudence.

Property Diversity and its Implications

Property Diversity and its Implications PDF Author: John Page
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 131727363X
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 239

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Book Description
Property is more diverse than is usually assumed. Developing the concept of property diversity, this book explores the varied role of property in placed human landscapes. In acknowledging the propertied diversity about us, the book highlights the paucity of our settled contemporary assumptions of property as defined by private ownership. Challenging this universalizing model, the book analyses how this self-limiting view produces critical blind spots in modern property discourse. In response, it offers a re-conceptualization of property that matches the grounded reality of our rich and diverse relationships with land. Integrating the plurality of real property types (private, public and common) with inclusive understandings of both interest and ownership, it thus identifies and substantiates an overarching theory of property diversity. Drawing on studies from numerous jurisdictions, including the USA, New Zealand, Australia, and the UK, its analysis of property as something more – and indeed other – than a place-less abstraction provides an invaluable contribution to the contemporary law and theory of property.

Living Above the Store

Living Above the Store PDF Author: Martin Melaver
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
ISBN: 1603580859
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 338

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Book Description
Not Merely Sustainable. Restorative. A viable business is a living thing, embedded in the complex web of economy, community, and ecology. Done right, business can help correct the modern stresses of environmental degradation and social fragmentation and create value for workers, shareholders, and additional stakeholders in the community. Living Above the Store explores a road less traveled, and chronicles how business can navigate a new path toward successful, restorative practices. Book jacket.

Exploring Wild Law

Exploring Wild Law PDF Author: Peter Burdon
Publisher: Wakefield Press
ISBN: 1743050739
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 370

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Book Description
From cover: "Wild law is a groundbreaking approach to law that stresses human interconnectedness and dependence on nature. It critiques existing law for promoting environmental harm and seeks to establish a mutually enhancing human-Earth relationship. For the first time, this volume brings together voices fromt he leading proponents of wild law around the world. It introduces readers to the idea of wild law and considers its relationship to environmental law, the rights of nature, science, religion, property law and international governance."