Fall of the Wild (eBook)

Extinction, De-Extinction, and the Ethics of Conservation

Ben A. Minteer (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF | EPUB

2018
Columbia University Press (Verlag)
978-0-231-54888-5 (ISBN)

Infos

Ben A. Minteer calls for reflection on the ethical dilemmas of species loss and recovery in an increasingly human-driven world. He probes the tension between our impulse to do whatever it takes and the risk of pursuing strategies that undermine our broader commitment to the preservation of wildness.

MinteerBen A.:

Ben A. Minteer is professor of environmental ethics and conservation and the Arizona Zoological Society Endowed Chair in the School of Life Sciences at ASU, a position established by the Maytag family when they founded what is now the Phoenix Zoo. His work grapples with two big questions: What obligations do we have toward species and wildlands in a rapidly changing and increasingly human-shaped environment? And how can a better understanding of the American conservation tradition enhance our efforts to secure a biologically and culturally rich environmental future? His writing is grounded in the tradition of American Pragmatism, especially its moral, scientific, and civic traditions. He is also a Fellow at the Center for Humans and Nature (Chicago).
Professor Minteer has authored or co-authored more than 70 articles, essays, and book chapters and his work has appeared in Science, Nature, PNAS, BioScience, Conservation Biology, Environmental Ethics, Slate, and Earth Island Journal among other outlets. He has also published many books, including After Preservation: Saving American Nature in the Age of Humans (University of Chicago Press) and The Landscape of Reform: Civic Pragmatism and Environmental Thought in America (MIT Press). His next book, The Ark and Beyond: The Evolution of Zoo and Aquarium Conservation (University of Chicago Press), will appear in the spring of 2018.Ben A. Minteer holds the Arizona Zoological Society Endowed Chair at Arizona State University, where he is a professor of environmental ethics and conservation in the School of Life Sciences. He has authored or edited many books, including The Landscape of Reform: Civic Pragmatism and Environmental Thought in America (2006) and The Ark and Beyond: The Evolution of Zoo and Aquarium Conservation (2018).

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The passenger pigeon, the great auk, the Tasmanian tiger-the memory of these vanished species haunts the fight against extinction. Seeking to save other creatures from their fate in an age of accelerating biodiversity loss, wildlife advocates have become captivated by a narrative of heroic conservation efforts. A range of technological and policy strategies, from the traditional, such as regulations and refuges, to the novel-the scientific wizardry of genetic engineering and synthetic biology-seemingly promise solutions to the extinction crisis.In The Fall of the Wild, Ben A. Minteer calls for reflection on the ethical dilemmas of species loss and recovery in an increasingly human-driven world. He asks an unsettling but necessary question: Might our well-meaning efforts to save and restore wildlife pose a threat to the ideal of preserving a world that isn't completely under the human thumb? Minteer probes the tension between our impulse to do whatever it takes and the risk of pursuing strategies that undermine our broader commitment to the preservation of wildness. From collecting wildlife specimens for museums and the wilderness aspirations of zoos to visions of "e;assisted colonization"e; of new habitats and high-tech attempts to revive long-extinct species, he explores the scientific and ethical concerns vexing conservation today. The Fall of the Wild is a nuanced treatment of the deeper moral issues underpinning the quest to save species on the brink of extinction and an accessible intervention in debates over the principles and practice of nature conservation.

Inhalt

1. Our Vanishing (and Reappearing) Wildlife2. A Bird in the Hand3. The Call of the Quasi Wild4. Elephants Somewhere5. Promethean Dreams6. Heaven and Earth AcknowledgmentsNotesFurther ReadingIndex

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 14.1.2019
• Zusatzinfo: 25 b&w illustrations
• Verlagsort: New York
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Natur / Technik
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie ► Ethik
• ISBN-10: 0-231-54888-5 / 0231548885
• ISBN-13: 978-0-231-54888-5 / 9780231548885