Recently in my philosophy class “Environmental Ethics in the Anthropocene,” we were visited by conservation scientist Dr. Michelle Marvier, a professor in the Department of Environmental Studies & Sciences at Santa Clara University. She has been engaged in a lively debate within the conservatism community about the motivators behind conservation efforts: should we be protecting environmental systems more for their intrinsic value, or for the services they can provide to humans? In her latest publication, Dr. Marvier believes that:
“…supplementing ethically-based arguments with messages that align conservation with people’s self-interests will broaden the tent of conservation.” (Marvier 2013)
Sounds pretty reasonable, right? The core of the issue is essentially that the only people that buy into the intrinsic value of ecosystems and ecosystem services are the choir of self-identifying environmentalists that conservationists are preaching to, and that framing the context of conservationism in its instrumental value to humans as well ultimately reaches a much wider range of individuals that may not already be on the environmental bandwagon. This idea really resonated with me, even if I do [somewhat] buy into intrinsic values in nature, because especially in the context of support for the environment: the more the merrier, right?
Her and her colleagues have since labeled this “New Conservation,” and this idea seems to have offended older generations of conservation scientists/ecologists. Now there is a dichotomy within the movement: the intrinsic environmental purist vs the pragmatic, human-centric conservationist. What a mess; the last thing we need is a civil war between groups fighting for the same goal. As if the environmental problems didn’t seem bad enough, now progress towards these goals will be stalled while the experts are busy fighting each other. Personally, I think the purists may just have their panties in a bunch; nobody that believes in the intrinsic value argument is going to jump-ship on their efforts or values just because someone else wants nature conserved for a different reason. It’s the end result that counts here!
It will be interesting to see how this discussion unfolds further in the scientific community. Hopefully the planet doesn’t crash and burn while scientific leaders bicker…
-Nick Crossley
Environmental Ethics in the Anthropocene 