ENV 3113 - Conservation Ethics

Credits: 4
What is the value of nature? As we face some of the most pressing and unprecedented environmental crises in human history, this question is fundamental to understanding conflicts that are grounded in divergent values related to natural resource access, use, and responsibility. In this course we will examine a wide range of intellectual efforts to address the ethical dimensions of our relationship with the Earth and the natural world, other species, and future generations. Students will be introduced to the major perspectives in traditional Western conservation ethical thought, as well as perspectives and debates overland and wilderness ethics, animal rights, biocentrism and deep ecology, social ecology and environmental justice, ecofeminism, green activism, and urban ecology and postmodernism. In addition, this course will use the analysis of contemporary texts to introduce multiple marginalized perspectives not traditionally included in American conservation programs or policies, including those of black, indigenous, and communities of color and/or limited wealth.

McDaniel Plan: Textual Analysis