Helen KopninaNorthumbria University · Faculty of Business and Law
Helen Kopnina
PhD Cambridge University
Teaching and research in environmental sustainability, environmental education, degrowth economy, & biodiversity
About
250
Publications
217,501
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5,137
Citations
Citations since 2017
Introduction
Dr. Kopnina, Helen (Ph.D. Cambridge University, 2002) is employed at Northumbria University, Newcastle, UK. Helen teaches sustainable business and conducts research within four interrelated main areas: sustainability, business, and environmental ethics, environmental education, and biological conservation. Helen (co)- authored over two hundred articles and seventeen books. Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.nl/citations?user=pE0rWdgAAAAJ&hl=nl
Additional affiliations
September 2015 - March 2017
Position
- Professor (Assistant)
Description
- Employed at both at the Leiden University and at The Hague University of Applied Sciences (HHS) in The Netherlands.
September 2007 - September 2011
Position
- PostDoc Position
Description
- Postdoc research health and employment policy
September 2007 - present
Position
- Coordinator Sustainable Business Program, lecturer
Description
- Coordinating and teaching minor Sustainable Business and a required major course Business Ethics and Sustainability. Supervising thesis on the subject of circular economy, sustainable business models, and eco-innovation
Education
May 1997 - May 2001
January 1996 - February 1997
September 1992 - May 1995
Publications
Publications (250)
This article explores the implications of the shift of environmental education (EE) towards education for sustainable development (ESD) in the context of environmental ethics. While plural perspectives on ESD are encouraged both by practitioners and researchers of EE, there is also a danger that such pluralism may sustain dominant political ideolog...
Preserving global biodiversity depends upon designating many more large terrestrial and marine areas as strictly protected areas. Yet recent calls for addressing biodiversity loss by setting aside more protected areas have been met with hostility from some social scientists and even some conservation biologists. The main objections against the so-c...
Today, there is growing interest in conservation and anthropologists have an important role to play in helping conservation succeed for the sake of humanity and for the sake of other species. Equally important, however, is the fact that we, as the species that causes extinctions, have a moral responsibility to those whose evolutionary unfolding and...
By supporting creation of protected areas, conservation projects are known to bring economic prosperity to the local communities, but also incite criticism. A common theme in the critique of conservation organizations is the proximity to neoliberal agencies seeking to capitalize on environment, which disadvantage the local communities. Community pa...
In an article titled "Robochop," The Economist reported a practical problem and its technological solution. The problem was that swarms of jellyfish clogged up the pipes of a Swedish nuclear power plant on the Baltic Sea coast, forcing the plant's temporary shutdown. The proposed solution involved utilizing an invention of "a fleet of killer robots...
![Figure 1. World Population growth over time (Source [2]).](publication/366047102/figure/fig1/AS:11431281104958040@1670332733362/World-Population-growth-over-time-Source-2_Q320.jpg)
Academia and government often ignore or deny the impact of population growth on the environment. However, key scientific institutions and reports confirm that population growth is a major driver of climate disruption and other environmental crises. We review the environmental science of population growth. Issues that block dialogue are discussed, s...
The Leaders’ Pledge for Nature highlights the fact that since ecosystems underpin human well-being, we need to “recognize that the business case for biodiversity is compelling”. In this article we argue that, in all areas of water management, there is an urgent need for a paradigmatic and practical shift to species-inclusive and sustainable water p...
Summary
This chapter will briefly discuss the Integrated Science: transdisciplinary authors’ perspective on how they see the future of their field in 30 years. The authors will briefly discuss their perspectives on the future of various topics, from sustainability to biomedical and economic challenges.
Currently, there is no non-anthropocentric guide to the practice of nature conservation and the treatment of invasive species and domestic animals. In examining the so-called ‘ecocentric’ and ‘animal’ ethics, we highlight some differences between them, and argue that the basic aspiration for support of all nonhuman life needs to be retained. We mai...
Many authors have noted the role that anthropocentrism has played in creating humanity’s dysfunctional relationship with the natural world. As human hubris (excessive pride or self-confidence) is an ailment that contributes to the anthropogenic sixth mass extinction of Earth’s biodiversity, we argue instead for ‘harmony with nature’. In recent deca...
The main objective of this study is to characterize socially responsible consumption (SRC) through the lens of social welfare and degrowth proposals. The central research questions are (i) whether SRC can contribute to the realization of the foundations of a degrowth society and (ii) whether SRC fits into the critique of the economic growth paradig...
The study hypothesis developed in this chapter is that the exercise of art criti-cism and aesthetic judgment encourages the emergence of such specific temper-ament dispositions necessary for a substantial increase in critical thinking skills in engineering students. The metacognitive tools designed in this work consid-ered that criticality requires...
In the Half-Earth vision, conservationists, scientists, and policymakers work together with local communities without compromising the interests of wildlife and ecosystems. The vision requires decolonizing nonhuman species through marshaling ecocentric philosophy, animal sentience science, and, crucially, local communities' support. While the studi...
The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) has become influential in biodiversity conservation. Its research is published widely and has been adopted by the United Nations and the Convention for Biological Diversity. This platform includes discussion about how values relate to biodiversity conservat...
Closed-loop production strategy, which aims to retain the highest utility and value of products, components, and materials at all times, aims to address resource depletion as part of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 12, concerned with “responsible consumption and production.” The circular economy is based on the 9R principles,...
Invasion biology is increasingly facing criticism for its moral attitude towards and treatment of “invasive alien species.” In this paper, we argue that invasion biology relies upon dubious assumptions of human supremacy. We also argue that the language and official classification of introduced animals is intertwined with their ethically problemati...
Circular economy and Cradle to Cradle (C2C) attempt to address unsustainable consumption as part of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These “closed-loop” production systems promise absolute decoupling of natural resource consumption from economic activity. However, while absolute decoupling, ideally, can aid the SDGs’ “inclusive economic growth...
The unfolding crises of mass extinction and climate change call for urgent action in response. To limit biodiversity losses and avert the worst effects of climate disruption, we must greatly expand nature protection while simultaneously downsizing and transforming human systems. The conservation initiative Nature Needs Half (or Half Earth), calling...
Anthropocentrism in Western (modern industrial) society is dominant, goes back hundreds of years, and can rightly be called 'hubris'. It removes almost all moral standing from the nonhuman world, seeing it purely as a resource. Here, we discuss the troubling components of an-thropocentrism: worldview and ethics; dualisms, valuation and values; a ps...
This article discusses closed-loop systems, namely Cradle to Cradle and circular economy, in the context of sustainable education. These circular models, at least ideally, promise absolute decoupling of resource consumption from the economy. This article presents student assignments applying these models to Hennes & Mauritz, a clothing retail compa...
Preliminary empirical research conducted by the leading author has shown that design students using biological analogies, or models across different contexts, often misinterpreted these, intentionally or unintentionally, during design. By copying shape or form without integrating the main function of the mimicked biological model, students failed t...
This article focuses on the intersection of indigenous peoples, conservation, and elephant well-being in Cambodia. While social justice advocates emphasize the human cost of conservation in human-animal conflicts, those concerned with animal protection and rights have problematized the treatment of elephants. This critique stems from evidence that...
This article examines the practical implications of ecological democracy or ecodemocracy, inquiring how capable democratic societies are of addressing environmental challenges. It asks: What is needed to secure democratic legitimacy for policy measures to benefit nonhuman species? What would ecodemocracy look like in practice? Different types of ex...
This article will discuss the concepts of Cradle to Cradle and Circular Economy in relation to sustainable production involving philosophical debates on economic growth, and the risk of subversion of managerial practice to business as usual. The case study is based on the assignments submitted by Masters students as part of a course related to sust...
This article will discuss social, environmental, and ecological justice in education for sustainable development (ESD) and Education for Sustainable Development Goals (ESDG). The concept of sustainable development and, by extension, the ESD, places heavy emphasis on the economic and social aspects of sustainability. However, the ESD falls short of...
This Special Issue “Ecocentric education” contains articles focused on ecological values in environmental education (EE) and education for sustainable development (ESD) [...]
Indigenous rights’ relationship to ecological justice in Amazonia has not been explicitly explored in the literature. As social scientists rarely talk about violence against non-humans, this case study of conservation in Amazonia will explore this new area of concern. Ethical inquiries in conservation also engage with the manifold ways through whic...
Despite the willingness of many educational institutions worldwide to embrace Education for Sustainable Development and Education for Sustainable Development Goals, critical scholars have pointed out that the very enterprise of sustainable development is not without its contradictions. Therefore, any education that engages with sustainable developm...
Over the past five decades, scientists have been documenting negative anthropogenic environmental change, expressing increasing alarm and urging dramatic socioecological transformation in response. A host of international meetings have been held but the erosion of biological diversity continues to accelerate. The lack of effective political action...
This article provides a nano (hyperlocal) view of climate change mitigation by viewing
regenerative organizing through the eyes (as well as bodies and senses, etc.) of the households engaged in community-based energy projects. By showing what humans make up for in the largely absent relationship between nature and technology in these projects, we e...
At present, leading international agencies such as the United Nations Environment Programme are largely focused on what they claim to be win–win scenarios of ‘sustainable development’ rhetoric. These combine social, economic and environmental objectives. However, as noted in the World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity, environmental integrity is esse...
Compassionate conservation argues that actions taken to protect the Earth's diversity of life should be guided by compassion for all sentient beings. A set of essays published in Conservation Biology call to reject compassionate conservation. Critics argue that there are situations in which harming animals in conservation programs is appropriate. T...
While environmentalism is often associated with different non-governmental organizations, agencies, movements, institutions, and grassroots groups, one of the least understood types of environmentalism is so-called radical activism. This article will argue that the label of radicalism or even terrorism attached to some forms of environmental activi...
Building on the Millennium Development Goals, Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and Education for Sustainable Development Goals (ESDG) were established. Despite the willingness of many educational institutions worldwide to embrace the SDGs, given escalating sustainability challenges, this article questions whether ESDG is desirable as “an...
As many in society work towards global sustainability, we live at a time when efforts to conserve biodiversity and geodiversity, and combat climate change, take place simultaneously with land grabs by large corporations, food insecurity, and human displacement through an ecological breakdown. Many of us seek to reconcile more-than-human nature and...
This book arose out of a desire to consider how society is travelling in terms of retaining the rich diversity of life on this spectacular planet. Once green and teeming, it is now a planet in peril, with the living world in decline (e.g. Wijkman and Rockstrom 2012; Ceballos et al. 2015). In this book we also consider where ‘justice’ lies in all th...
This chapter will discuss Bachelor level students’ perceptions of social (environmental) and ecological justice. Social justice concerns the fairness of distribution procedures, based on individual moral convictions of fairness and the willingness to obey the demands of authorities (Hegtvedt in Justice. Advances in group processes. Emerald Group Pu...
This chapter will elaborate on issues discussed in Chap. 1, where we have mentioned that environmental justice is often associated with social justice, or justice in distribution of environmental risks and benefits.
This entry begins by reviewing the definitions of “human,” “environment,” and “dichotomy,” consequently turning to the debates concerning the human–environment relationship. Synthesizing various studies, it supposes that advanced tool use, language, hypersociality, advanced cognition, morality, civilization, technology, and free will are distinctly...
This book provides keys to decrypt current political debates on the environment in light of the theories that support them, and provides tools to better understand and manage environmental conflicts and promote environmentally friendly behaviour.
As we work towards global sustainability at a time when efforts to conserve biodiversity and combat cl...
This article adds to the “golden rules” of rewilding (the 3 Cs), that of Cores, Carnivores, and Corridors, a fourth C – Compassion – which would ensure that any (re)introduction must be in the interests of the individual animals involved. Using the history of the Oostvaardeplassen project as a case study, the scientific and ethical constraints and...
Defining Terms: Anthropocentrism, Humanism, and Post-humanism.
Etymologically derived from the Greek words ανθϱωπ ́ oς (anthropos, or human being) and κεντϱ ́ oν (kentron, or center), the term “anthropocentrism” is a worldview that privileges the aim of improving human welfare over other aspirations. The commonly held
meaning of anthropocentrism is...
The Dutch conservation area Oostvaardersplassen was initiated as a rewilding project within the Netherlands' protected area network. It came under the spotlight when management strategies and practices were criticized by scientists, conservation practitioners, and the public, from a number of perspectives-not all of which were compatible. This arti...
For interspecies justice, animal welfare, and animal rights, the planet needs to be divided on the basis of species' natural resource requirements. The Half-Earth View is that to maintain viable populations of the Earth's remaining species, half of landscapes and seascapes need protection from intensive economic activity. This protection is needed...
This article presents and discusses student assignments reflecting on the documentary film If a Tree Falls, written as part of the Business Ethics and Sustainability course at The Hague University of Applied Sciences. This article follows two lines of inquiry. First, it challenges mainstream environmental education, supporting critical pedagogy and...
With the effects of climate change linked to the use of fossil fuels, as well as the prospect of their eventual depletion, becoming more noticeable, political establishment and society appear ready to switch towards using renewable energy. Solar power and wind power are considered to be the most significant source of global low-carbon energy supply...
The emerging field of biomimicry and learning to design with and for nature has expanded in recent years through a diversity of educational programs. Inspiration following natural forms may give the appearance of being sustainable, but the question remains, how sustainable is it? Misunderstanding the function of these forms may leave designers with...
The emerging field of biomimicry and learning to design with and for nature has expanded in recent years through a diversity of educational programs. Inspiration following natural forms may give the appearance of being sustainable, but the question remains, how sustainable is it? Misunderstanding the function of these forms may leave designers with...
This article aims to gauge students' perceptions of the Dutch Party for Animals (PvdD) in order to reflect on the political representation of nonhumans (animals). The support for political representation of nonhumans is based on the ethical underpinning of deep ecology; growing recognition of the importance of sustainability; and increased societal...
Anthropologists, political ecologists, and social justice advocates working in biological conservation have mediated between discriminated communities and outsiders, particularly helping to influence public opinion and bring attention to indigenous rights through advocacy work. A less explored area is how indigenous rights relate to ecological just...
With the effects of climate change linked to the use of fossil fuels becoming more noticeable, political establishment and society appear ready for renewable energy. Yet, despite these expectations, fossil fuels still comprise nine-tenths of the global commercial energy supply. In this article, the history, technology, and barriers to acceptance of...
This article discusses liberal arts college students’ perceptions of environmental and ecological justice. Complementing emerging studies of education that tackles human–environment relationships, this article discusses student assignments related to the debates in social/environmental and ecological justice written as part of the course ‘Environme...
Closed loop or ‘circular’ production systems known as Circular Economy and Cradle to Cradle represent a unique opportunity to radically revise the currently wasteful system of production. One of the challenges of such systems is that circular products need to be both produced locally with minimum environmental footprint and simultaneously satisfy d...
It is true that one of the harmful consequences of creating categories where one group is unique and superior to others is that it justifies discriminating against the inferior groups. And outright abuse of nonhuman animals is indeed morally unjustifiable. But what is to be done about it?
This chapter examines some of the challenges of unlearning anthropocentrism – i.e., the deep-seated cultural, psychological, and enacted prejudices of human specialness – in nature-based early childhood education programs. We begin with a critical exploration of recent trends in environmental philosophy and the conservation sciences that seek to mo...
In human-controlled environments and in cultivated landscapes, the plants accommodate social, cultural and economic needs. This article will focus on the use of plants for agriculture, urban planning, forestry, environmental education and indoor decoration in The Netherlands. This exploration, based on literature review and observations, reveals mo...
Justice for nature remains a confused term. In recent decades justice has predominantly been limited to humanity, with a strong focus on social justice, and its spin-off – environmental justice for people. We first examine the formal rationale for ecocentrism and ecological ethics, as this underpins attitudes towards justice for nature, and show ho...
Ecomodernism 2018: Is Modernization the Path to Saving Nature?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYINl3cb6_Q&t=32s
Modernization — including urbanization, economic growth, and a shift from subsistence farming to manufacturing and services —has been associated with both absolute increases in environmental impacts and falling per capita demands on man...
This chapter will introduce circular economy (CE) and cradle-to-cradle (C2C) models of sustainable production. It will reflect on the key blockages to a meaningful sustainable production and how these could be overcome, particularly in the context of business education. The case study of the course for bachelor's students within International Busin...
Social scientists of conservation typically address sources of legitimacy of conservation policies in relation to local communities' or indigenous land rights, highlighting social inequality and environmental injustice. This chapter reflects on the underlying ethics of environmental justice in order to differentiate between various motivations of c...
Sustainable Business: Key Issues is the first comprehensive introductory-level textbook to address the interface between environmental challenges and business solutions to provide an overview of the basic concepts of sustainability, sustainable business, and business ethics. The book introduces students to the background and key issues of sustainab...
We revisit the reality that endless economic growth on a finite planet is unsustainable, especially if society has exceeded ecological limits. This paper examines various aspects of society’s endless growth predicament. It reviews the idea that there are ‘limits to growth’; it then considers the ‘endless growth mantra’ within society. The paper the...
Anthropocentrism, in its original connotation in environmental ethics, is the belief that value is human-centred and that all other beings are means to human ends. Environmentally -concerned authors have argued that anthropocentrism is ethically wrong and at the root of ecological crises. Some environmental ethicists argue, however, that critics of...
Anthropologists have mediated between discriminated communities and outsiders, helping to influence public opinion through advocacy work. But can anthropological advocacy be applied to the case of violence against nonhumans? Ethical inquiries in anthropology also engage with the manifold ways through which human and nonhuman lives are entangled and...
The Future of Conservation survey, launched in March 2017, has proposed a framework to help with interpreting the array of ethical stances underpinning the motivations for biological conservation. In this article we highlight what is missing in this debate to date. Our overall aim is to explore what an acceptance of ecocentric ethics would mean for...
In human-controlled environments, areas of wild plants are ‘translated’ into cultivated landscapes to accommodate social, cultural and economic needs. This article explores indoor, agricultural and (sub)urban landscape in the Netherlands, focusing on the use of plants both indoors and outdoors, and reveals anthropocentric, instrumental and unsustai...
This article describes how Circular Economy (CE) and Cradle to Cradle (C2C) can be used in university teaching to address these frameworks' strengths and weaknesses in practice. The advantages of these frameworks for radical change are outlined, including their emphasis on upcycling rather than recycling (downcycling). This article discusses how st...
This chapter will introduce circular economy and cradle to cradle models of sustainable production. It will reflect on the key blockages to a meaningful sustainable production and how these could be overcome, particularly in the context of business education. The case study of the course for bachelor’s students within International Business Managem...
Questions
Questions (10)
Many researchers have reported that their name is not findable (no hyperlink) via Google Scholar while their account is set on "public", the name does appear in the collaborator lists of coauthors: https://support.google.com/websearch/thread/35444744?hl=en
My profile is public but can only be found via a link that I can send to someone directly to access it: https://scholar.google.nl/citations?user=pE0rWdgAAAAJ&hl=nl). I have tried reaching Google Scholar Support/Help via https://support.google.com/scholar/contact/general and: https://scholar.google.com/intl/en/scholar/help.html but to no avail. There seems to be a technical glitch in the system. Is anybody familiar with the technicalities of Google Scholar? Any advice?
Does anybody know of any initiatives, other than Publons that gives credit to peer-reviewers, that lobbies for free open access publishing? It would be great if peer-reviewers got publication discounts from open access publishers. Paid open access seems to discriminates against 'poor' universities & researchers who cannot pay out of their own pocket and for those researchers that publish a lot. It does not seem ethical to pay for own publications - the richest will publish the most, especially considering all the predatory journals that would publish any poor quality materials for money, Scholars are doing their peer-reviews for free and publishers get paid for publishing their work...
