Wilderness and the American mind
... They considered nature savage, even wasteful, a place to which no civil man ought go (Cronon, 1996;Saarinen, 2004b). They used the word wilderness to describe virgin regions, untouched by European hand, where any prior indigenous life and its appearances had been ignored, erased, or considered equally wild as the surrounding nature (Cronon, 1996;Lewis, 2007;Nash, 2014;Weatherby & Vidon, 2018). ...
... Today, wilderness is understood to be, in one way or another, a human creation (Cosgrove & Daniels, 1988;Cronon, 1996;Eidsvik, 1989;Kidner, 2014;Lewis, 2007;Nash, 2014;Saethórsdóttir et al., 2011). We agree that wilderness is not an ecosystem, but a mindset towards it (Dean, 2007). ...
... The Wilderness Act was passed in the US in 1964 (Nash, 2014). According to the Act, wilderness is a place outside society and culture, and it should remain where "man himself is a visitor who does not remain" (Hall et al., 2008, p. 135). ...
Visual representations of destinations have always inspired travellers. Commissioned paintings were employed to promote the allure of untouched nature, challenging earlier perceptions of perilous wilderness. Staged photographs, postcards, and popular media served similar promotional purposes. However, the advent of social media has brought about a significant shift. It’s no longer just about sharing holiday snapshots with friends back home. Through global social media platforms, visitors inspire others about where to visit and what to see. This shift from traditional media to user-generated content means that social media users now have an impact on the tourist gaze outside government policies, environmental planning, or visitor management control. At the same time, managers of protected recreational areas have faced the challenge of meeting the needs of increased outdoor recreation and visitations to protected areas while safeguarding their ecological integrity. The increasing influence of social media as travel inspiration highlights the need for a better understanding of how social media impacts visitors and its potential contributions to visitor management. In this study, I explored how social media impacts visitors gaze in protected nature recreational areas, using the example of Kilpisjärvi and the Käsivarsi Wilderness Area in northwestern Finnish Lapland. The research question is divided into three sub-questions: 1) What is posted on social media about visits to Kilpisjärvi and the Käsivarsi Wilderness Area? 2) How does this content reinforce or challenge existing perceptions of nature? 3) What insights do social media and Big Data informationgathering methods offer for visitor monitoring? I situated these research questions within the theoretical framework of the cultural construct of nature. To provide a longitudinal perspective on how our perception of nature is shaped by cultural and social influences, I explored the role of visual arts in wilderness discourses from the Romantic era to the present social media age. Next, I studied social media as a platform reflecting the tourist gaze: it is where the visitors share visual narratives, shaping the interpretation of landscapes and co-creating destination imagery. This characteristic of social media has allowed for several quantitative and qualitative visitor monitoring studies in the last years. The social media data, which was collected in 2019, consists of images that underwent analysis using both a computer vision programme for image analysis and manual categorisation techniques. Textual data was manually classified. I reflect on the consequent quantitative data with netnographic observations and ultimately use spatial analysis to overlay the social media data onto the geological, political, and environmental context of Kilpisjärvi. This study reveals that visitors’ social media posts from Kilpisjärvi often perpetuate colonialist and romanticised imagery of wilderness landscapes. Large open landscapes dominate the selected content, while images depicting individual elements of ecological nature or local everyday life and cultures are relatively few. Social media demonstrates a strong feeling of community, which strengthens, at unprecedented speed, the power of its impact on the tourist gaze, framing nature into sharable images. These results suggest that social media guides visitors to nature destinations primarily to admire landscapes, often overlooking ecological aspects. This tendency may foster a superficial relationship with nature. Furthermore, social media propagates a colonial discourse by marginalizing local and indigenous cultures, rendering them invisible within the landscapes depicted. This study contributes to the evolving research field by providing further evidence of the usability and limitations of social media data for visitor monitoring. Additionally, it advances qualitative interpretations of spatial and quantitative social media data through novel use of viewshed analysis to study visitor preferences. Finally, I have addressed the challenge for visitor management to balance the social media’s benefits in promoting destinations with its potential to shape the tourist gaze and limited representations of nature through shareable images.
... Ela enfatiza a autonomia da natureza selvagem, o seu aspecto indomado e sublime. A percepção de que o mundo natural não foi criado pelos humanos nem para os humanos conduz à afirmação de seu caráter transcendental e à atribuição de um valor intrínseco a ele (NASH, 2014;WORSTER, 1998;LEWIS, 2007;DEVALL;SESSIONS, 2007). ...
... Até o século XVIII, o que se valorizava era uma natureza antropizada, seja a da arcádia, pastoril, ou a do classicismo, com suas formas geométricas. Com o romantismo, a wildernessas florestas, os grandes desertos, as montanhas, a vastidão das pradarias, os rios e o mar -ganhou um status de natureza transcendental, para além do artefato humano, a ser admirada e respeitada (NASH, 2014). Além disso, entre os séculos XVI e XIX, houve uma série de transformações na maneira como homens e mulheres, dos mais variados estratos sociais, percebiam e classificavam o mundo natural ao seu redor. ...
... Quando, em 1851, Thoreau proferiu, no Liceu de Concord, uma palestra sobre a relação dos humanos com a natureza, ele expressou a sua disposição para valorizar a natureza selvagem, indomada, a wilderness, por ela própria. Tratavase de compreendê-la e defendê-la, de viver em íntima conexão com ela (NASH, 2014). Ele iniciou a palestra da seguinte maneira: ...
O artigo trata da emergência, no século XIX, de uma tradição que atribui à natureza um valor intrínseco e do seu desenvolvimento até o final do século XX. Mostra o papel da sensibilidade romântica em relação à proteção das paisagens selvagens (wilderness) e como, ao longo do tempo, houve um deslocamento para uma preocupação com a fauna, a flora e os ecossistemas. A conclusão é que, embora as transformações tenham se acumulado, uma linha de continuidade persiste: a atribuição de um valor intrínseco para a natureza, mais recentemente entendida como biodiversidade.
... Harriet Martineau and John Stuart Mill, for example, emphasized the importance of considering the long-term welfare of humanity and the planet, foreshadowing contemporary concerns about sustainable development (ibid.). As nineteenth-century ideas matured, the conservation movement gained momentum, developing out of "preservationism" and the 1872 creation of Yellowstone National Park in the United States (Nash, 2001). Following the popularization of national parks in the USA, the twentieth century witnessed the creation of such parks and protected areas the world over. ...
The word “sustainability” is all around us. In the speeches of politicians and business leaders, in billboard-size fonts and in the fine print on consumer products, in the words of friends and family concerned about climate change, it is a term that permeates contemporary life, even as its meaning has become increasingly difficult to pin down. Nominally, “sustainability” refers to the use of resources in a manner that ensures their replenishment and continued availability for future generations. Yet critics have long noted how even this general meaning of sustainability has been diluted, even describing it as “one of the least meaningful and most overused words in the English language” (Owen, 2011: 246). Indeed the word continues to multiply across all scales of social, political, and economic life, popping up in expected and quite often unexpected places (see Chapter 1). Today, “sustainability” seems to be so deeply ingrained in our everyday communication practices that it is difficult to grasp how “the world once made do without the word” (Caradonna, 2022: 1).
... En effet, avec la naissance de zones protégées, une administration chargée d'en contrôler les accès et d'en discipliner les usages voit le jour. Plusieurs travaux en histoire environnementale ont montré comment la fabrique de la nature comme un bien commun et partagé se fait alors au détriment de certaines populations dont on efface la présence, exproprie les terres ou corrige les conduites (Cronon 1996 ;Spence 2000 ;Nash 2014 ;Jacoby 2021Jacoby [2001). Par exemple, l'État fédéral charge l'armée de la protection du parc de Yellowstone, de sa création à la mise en place du National Park Service (NPS) en 1916 -et l'adoption du National Park Service Organic Act, établissant officiellement le NPS au sein du département de l'Intérieur (DOI). ...
Introduction to the Special Issue Public Lands
... Some works would present nature as a powerful, untouched space wherein humans' lives might be threatened. This approach sees humans as separate from, if not opposed to, nature [11]. They are simply two different entities which probably need to compete with each other. ...
This article discusses the correlation between flood disasters in West Sumatra in March and May 2024 and the science fiction novel Parable in the Sower by Octavia E. Butler. The novel explores how social and environmental degradation amidst the extreme weather and climate change in the fictional setting of America in 2024-2027 mirrors West Sumatra’s lack of preparedness to face similar situations in reality. The novel warns people of the consequences of environmental issues by addressing our vulnerabilities and resistance to change. Through the concept of “Earthseed”, the story reminds society to work toward positive changes through resilient infrastructure, disaster preparedness, and empathy when facing natural disasters.
... 1. For an introduction to the European Romantic Era concept of nature in general and as it applies to the construction wilderness as a concept in the United States (see Nash, 1967, chapter 4). ...
Interactive technology has a complicated relationship with recreation in nature. Many people have praised, and many have lamented the impact of interactive technology on recreation in nature. Because nature recreation has important wellness benefits and interactive technology is likely to remain a part of nature recreation, there is a need to design interactive technology for nature recreation. Unfortunately, little generalized knowledge exists on how to design such technology. We create new intermediate design knowledge for interactive technology in nature recreation by drawing from others’ work, our prior work, and specifically Borgmann and Verbeek’s philosophies of technology. Our contribution is a framework based on a decomposition of engagement into nine facets related to engagement with place, time, and community. Four examples demonstrate the descriptive and generative power of the framework. This framework may enable the creation of interactive systems that complement rather than compete with nature recreation and may better preserve the wellness benefits of nature recreation.
... For the 'environmental' purposes of this SI, this still traditional 'militarized' move to training for adventure leadership and its credentialing in the USA also incorporated the wilderness idea -a key 'romantic' ideal imprinted in the 'American' mind (Nash, 1973(Nash, [1967). The 'nature romance' had gained cultural and, even, political traction in USA during the 19C. ...
Outdoor Education (OEd) has made limited progress over the past four decades in providing an interdisciplinary response to the collapse of ecological systems. ‘Modern’ British-North American practices of outdoor pursuits were imported unproblematically to other parts of the Global North and South and remain trapped in the early twentieth century British legacy of adventure activities and, in the 1970s, the development in USA of outdoor leadership qualifications. ‘Nature’ has been oppressively (re)designed in OEd as a challenge, a risk, to be conquered for (human) survival, not to be saved. This historical study of the evolution of Anglo-North American OEd and its pedagogical deployment as experiential learning provides a snapshot of the dominant conceptions and popular constructions of the ‘outdoor experience’ – a paradoxical mix of outdoor activities and skills and competencies, as they are driven by the concepts of adventure, recreation, leisure, personal growth, risk and safety, and leadership.
... Concurrently, the Conservation Movement, associated with the United States Forest Service and spearheaded by Gifford Pinchot, emerged, emphasizing the conservation of natural resources, albeit with a primary focus on their future utility (MILLER, 2001) -thus lacking the profound respect for nature espoused by Muir. The stark contrast between these two initiatives elucidates a fundamental principle in understanding environmental issues from their inception to the present day: we may argue, with little contention, that Muir's perspective on the environment can be characterized as 'ecocentric', while Pinchot's approach leans towards 'anthropocentrism' (CAMPBELL, 2010;DRYZEK, 2013;ECKERSLEY, 2003;NASH, 2014). To illustrate this contrast, Wilkins (1996) recounts an episode where Muir dissuaded Pinchot from killing a large tarantula at the Grand Canyon, asserting that "it had as much right to be there as we did" (WILKINS, 1996, p. 195). ...
... This principle has characteristics of symbiosis, interconnectedness and interdependence of all things, transformation, and cyclic movements in harmony. Humanity is understood to be part of nature, the relationship between humanity and nature is marked by respect and benevolence, bordering on love and a rejection of acting against nature [83][84][85]. In Taoist philosophy, everything is interconnected, and human society is an integral component of the co-evolving spontaneous living system, where each contains elements that define and balance the other within a continuous polarity. ...
The magnitude and scale of the challenges ahead require fundamental sustainability transitions towards sustainable societies on an unprecedented level in human history. This paper argues that reflecting on the philosophical underpinnings of sustainability transitions and complementing the human–nature relationship with a more holistic and ecological perspective is necessary for the transition to a sustainable “humble world”. Using Taoist philosophy as an enabler, this paper explores the three principles of “interconnectedness and symbiosis”, “equality, balance and justice of all things” and “follow the Tzu-Jan and WuWei” to enrich sustainability transition studies and guide the construction for transition trajectories. By exploring the instrumental potential of Taoist-inspired principles in sustainability transitions, this paper provides a pre-paradigm complementary rationale for the “why” behind the “how” of achieving a sustainable future. The paper’s conclusions establish common ground for a transdisciplinary dialogue between Taoist philosophy and sustainability science (especially on sustainability transitions), strengthen the rationale for sustainability transitions, reveal transition commonalities compatible with Taoist philosophy, and add depth, richness, and inclusiveness to the cross-cultural knowledge base of sustainability transitions.
... While concepts of nature vary, "pristine" nature is rooted in a value for an environment allegedly unadulterated by humans, a formation epistemically grounded within Western discourses of paradise (Deckard 2009) and a Romantic/Transcendental affinity for the wilderness (Nash 2001). While the writings of numerous explorers, travelers, poets, and theorists substantially contributed to the discursive shaping of pristine nature, this article is primarily concerned with its visual representation, beginning with the understanding that publicly-displayed images are always ideologically implicated and are formed through individuals drawing upon a repertoire of known signifiers within a given context (Kress and Van Leeuwen 2021). ...
Images of improperly-discarded waste offer a case for examining the broader politics of “pristine nature.” As a global visual register in which the environment is depicted without human impact, an historicization of pristine nature reveals how it was enregistered through the Romantic and Transcendental movements as well as colonial ideologies of the wilderness. Informed by fieldwork in Oman and 300 Instagram posts collected between 2021–23, “untouched nature” and the “self-in-nature” are identified as two genres of pristine nature. Yet their citation in Oman spurs a question: does history always implicate a contemporary sign? The identification of a third genre, “anti-litter,” pursues this question by investigating what happens when the camera is turned upon trash. Despite the association of anti-litter with sustainability, the genre was similarly enregistered through a complicated history. Its citation in Oman, however, demonstrates that actors wield genres in response to sociocultural and political-economic context, suggesting the grounds from which a semiotics of sustainability might emerge.
... A natureza passou a ser vista como um refúgio dos problemas da sociedade, uma fonte de beleza e deslumbramento. À medida em que a natureza foi se tornando um recurso mais escasso, a apreciação humana sobre a mesma cresceu de maneira inversamente proporcional (Nash, 2001). ...
Since the 1960 Rome Olympics, the urban transformations triggered by the Olympic Games have gained a greater proportion, leading to a questioning of its heritage. In 2014, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) released a document with 40 guidelines so that the bidding proposal became more aligned with the host city’s future development plan. In this context, Paris is preparing to host the 2024 Olympics, with a campaign strongly rooted in sustainability. Although the French capital already has a consolidated transport network and most of the sporting venues are already built, the sustainability narrative is questionable since it is a mega-event which generates huge carbon emissions. The aim of this paper is to analyse the Paris 2024 Olympic bid to understand the urban transformations provoked by the mega-event and how they might meet sustainability and urban resilience criteria. Keywords: mega-events, Olympics, Paris 2024, urban sustainability.
Desde as olimpíadas de Roma, em 1960, as transformações urbanas desencadeadas pelos jogos ganharam maior importância e os seus legados passaram a ser questionados. Em 2014, o Comitê Olímpico Internacional (COI) lançou um documento com 40 diretrizes para que o projeto de candidatura fosse mais alinhado com os planos para o desenvolvimento futuro da cidade sede. Nesse contexto, Paris se prepara para receber as olimpíadas de 2024 com um discurso fortemente enraizado na sustentabilidade. Embora a capital francesa já conte com uma consolidada rede de transportes e grande parte dos equipamentos esportivos construídos, o discurso acerca da sustentabilidade é questionável pois se trata de um megaevento com gigantescas emissões de carbono. O objetivo desse trabalho é realizar uma análise sobre a candidatura olímpica de Paris 2024 para entender as transformações urbanas provocadas pelo megaevento e de que forma elas podem atender a critérios relacionados à sustentabilidade e à resiliência urbana. Palavras-chave: megaeventos, olimpíadas, Paris 2024, sustentabilidade urbana.
... The second is a "citizenship" model in which all beings are equal before the Creator, and thus called to a common fraternity. Saint Francis of Assisi, to which White (1967) alludes as preaching an "ecologically friendly form of Christianity" (Taylor et al., 2019: 43) cultivated this humble posture, that reemerged in Romantic conceptions of human/nature relationships (Nash, 1982;Oerlemans, 2004). ...
This research investigates how individuals connect with nature and how different perceptions of continuity or discontinuity with nonhuman entities influence their consumption habits. Drawing on Descola’s critique of the traditional distinction between nature and culture, this study empirically examines the concept of “ontological hybridity” introduced by the authors. Through qualitative data collected from 25 consumers, the analysis reveals the process by which non-naturalist ontologies infiltrate the dominant ontology, which serves as a critical backdrop for them. Amplified by triggering events, these infiltrations give rise to hybrid ontologies that drive changes in consumption practices. We discuss the opportunities presented by these ontological infiltrations for both the marketing field and society at large.
... The role and value of protected areas for the American nation, in ecological terms but above all in terms of identity and culture, differs considerably from what is generally the case in Europe (Zanolin and Paül Carril 2021). The concept of wilderness refers to land considered virgin and uncontaminated, and it originates from the myth of wild America, of frontier lands to be conquered and subsequently protected, within which to recognise one's own subjective and collective identity through one's relationship with the landscape and confrontation with nature (Nash 2014). ...
Yellowstone is globally recognised as the world’s first national park, but the depth of its meaning goes beyond the history of nature conservation. This paper presents the park as an assemblage of landscapes, memories and popular environmental discourses. It interweaves the debate around Yellowstone as a landscape idea with an analysis of its representation in popular culture, from The Yogi Bear Show to the more recent Yellowstone television series. Coupled with personal and subjective memoryscapes, the Yellowstone assemblage is presented as capable to inform the global debate on the role of protected areas, especially in relation to climate change, tourism and recreation, as well as matters of natural heritage kinship and belonging.
... Quest'ultima rappresenta uno dei principali poli di attrazione turistica, anche grazie alla prossimità rispetto al centro visitatori di Caramanico Terme. La 'durezza' del paesaggio potrebbe far pensare a un contesto inospitale, dal quale gli esseri umani sono stati respinti e tenuti lontani, uno sguardo superficiale potrebbe pertanto indurre a descrivere erroneamente il paesaggio del Parco nazionale della Maiella a partire dalla retorica della wilderness, intesa come natura selvaggia e avulsa dall'interazione antropica (Nash 2014). Come vedremo tra breve, si tratta di una percezione sbagliata; tuttavia, non si può negare che le caratteristiche fisiche del territorio generano un'impressione di isolamento e lontananza dal mondo antropizzato, che favorisce la riconciliazione con la dimensione introspettiva e spirituale. ...
What Protected Areas in Globalisation? Reflections from the Agro-Pastoral Landscapes of the Maiella National Park This paper aims to reflect on a possible interpretation of the role that protected areas could play in the globalization. Starting from the example of the Maiella National Park (Italy), the paper aims to highlight the role of anthropic action as a key factor that throughout history has contributed to the generation of the current forms of ecosystems, characterized in this context by high levels of biodiversity, especially from the botanical point of view. All this provides an opportunity to reflect on the constructive role played by humankind in ecological dynamics, and so to develop a critical discussion of the significance of protected areas as peculiar places of globalization, capable of conveying crucial ethical values.
... This shows the characteristically American transformation of the alien and dangerous into a portion of «nature that is engineered to remain «natural», for the purpose of human leisure or scientific endeavours». This specific understanding became part of the American collective psyche, as Roderick Frazier Nash has shown in his Wilderness and the American Mind, a seminal book for environmentalists published in 1967 (Nash [1967] 2014). Wilderness becomes the object of conservation, in the sense of a national park, and this shift owes a great deal to the Scots-American naturalist John Muir ([1876Muir ([ ] 2017. ...
A two-word summary of the following article might be «Words matter». It matters whether we conceive of the non-built world as nature, as «wilderness», as Gaia/Mother Earth, or as «our common home». We analyze the emergence of each of these four notions. Nature, by far the most multi-layered of the words, has a complex history rooted in the Greek word phusis. Nature is problematic because of its opposites: supernatural; nurture, culture and civilization. Nature seems to require dualism. Wilderness started out as something terrifying (the realm of the wild beasts), later acquiring a specific American understanding of an area conserved for recreation, of nature partially preserved, all desirable goals inspired by John Muir. In the Scriptures, wilderness becomes filled by promise. Gaia is short for the Gaia hypothesis of Earth as a living, self-regulating organism. It was coined by James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis and discussed critically by Bruno Latour. Compared with the view of the Earth as dead matter, «Gaia» is conducive to respect for all living beings. When it is coupled with Mother Earth, the concept becomes problematic from a feminist point of view. The common home or household stem from the teachings of Pope Francis. Although Laudato si’ is rightly viewed as a prophetic text regarding ecology and spirituality, «common home» implies a domestication of all that lives in a worldview that remains anthropocentric (homes are artefacts). A better concept is the «web of life» of which humankind is a part, but not the master. It is such a decentering that may herald hope for the Earth.
This article was published open access under a CC BY licence: https://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0 .
Urban parks are pivotal in the sustainable development of urban ecosystems, significantly enhancing the ecological environment and residents’ quality of life. To scientifically improve urban park management and ensure long-term sustainability, this study aims to establish a framework for understanding and predicting residents’ spatial perceptions in urban parks. Overcoming the constraints of traditional empirical research, this study conducted a questionnaire survey involving 701 residents from Beijing Chaoyang Park, Shanghai Century Park, and Guangzhou Yuexiu Park from May to July 2024. By combining the semantic differential (SD) method, importance–performance analysis (IPA), and cognitive map methods, the study holistically assessed residents’ spatial perceptions and their variations in urban parks. The SD analysis highlighted perceptional differences in the three urban parks, revealing the needs for tailored planning considering personal characteristics and geographical location, which is essential for enhancing park services and overall satisfaction. Comparative analysis showed significant variations in the preferences in different resident groups, with Chaoyang Park facing a sense of deprivation due to weaker natural features, suggesting the critical role of natural elements in park design, while Century and Yuexiu Parks were highly valued for aligning park design with local needs and preferences. Cognitive maps reveal residents’ spatial perception of urban parks, particularly their significant differences in familiarity with the natural and social functions, artificial landscapes, and internal attractions of parks, which informs the integration of design elements that cater to varying preferences and foster a stronger sense of place. This study confirms the effectiveness of combining traditional methods with spatial perception analysis for quantitatively evaluating residents’ spatial perception, and provides useful references for the sustainable planning and management of urban parks.
Environmental philosophy and ethics explore the relationship between humans and the natural world, offering profound insights into nature, ecology, and the environment. It prompts critical inquiries into our understanding of the natural world, our place within it, and our moral responsibilities to protect and sustain ecosystems for current and future generations. This discipline challenges us to reconsider our role as stewards of the Earth by encouraging reflection on how we perceive nature, the intrinsic value we attribute to it, and the ethical principles guiding our interactions with the natural environment and all its living species. Given escalating environmental challenges such as climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss, there is an urgent need for robust philosophical discourse on these matters. This chapter explores foundational subdomains such as environmental metaphysics, ontology, epistemology, hermeneutics, aesthetics, and theology, as well as specific subdomains essential for practicing environmental leadership, including environmental ethics, pragmatism, environmentalism, environmental justice, ecofeminism, sustainable development, human rights, and animal ethics. Effective environmental leadership is often guided by the principles and values of environmental ethics, ensuring that actions are not only strategic but also rooted in a holistic and ethical perspective that prioritizes the well-being of all living beings and the planet.
In this thesis, I observe what I have called a post-natural shift in environmentalism. This shift has been occurring throughout the last four decades and has, in my view, far-reaching consequences for our approach to environmental topics. It is best epitomised by the motif of the end of nature and philosophically characterised by the refutation of the concept of nature. This motif serves as a central thread for my thesis, in which I set out to study its many forms and contexts, as well as its implications on both environmental thought and practice. To this end, I conduct an extensive review and analysis of academic disputes about the idea of nature in environmentalism. While general and widely interdisciplinary in its scope, the thesis aims for depth in understanding of end-of-nature trope in its intricate ambivalence. After an introductory summary of the life-story of the trope, I offer two case studies that both epitomise and develop the trope: the (North American) wilderness debate and the Anthropocene proposition. Both feature profound questioning of the idea of nature, typically based on social constructionism. In the next step, I thus summarise and review the constructionist critique of nature that has been developing in social sciences since the 1980s. With both an understanding of the philosophical underpinnings of the critique of nature and the two case studies in hand, I return to the end-of-nature trope itself. I develop a typology of the different end-of-nature claims that serves as an analytical tool to shed light on the hidden assumptions and inconsistencies, as well as to evaluate the implications inferred from them. In the next step, I turn to the consequent proposals for environmental thought and practice without/after nature. I present a variety of these visions promising an environmentalism that might step out of its own shadow and better confront all the pressing global issues of today. Finally, to conclude the thesis, I look critically at these visions and sketch an argument that much of this post-naturalism might be (inadvertently) reproducing and legitimising the status quo of the ecological crisis and some of the key tenets of Western culture that lie in its roots.
Figurations de l’instabilité sismique de la Californie, laquelle s’étend en grande partie sur la faille San Andreas, les défaillances déployées dans Goat Mountain de David Vann esquissent une cartographie de ce qui « fait défaut, où elle marque un manque » (Didi-Huberman 88). Amorcé par un retour spatial vers le campement familial, le récit retranscrit le voyage intérieur du narrateur qui revient sur ses pas, et tente d’exhumer, à travers une modalité analeptique, ce qui a pu manquer ou faire défaut. Le texte de Goat Mountain tisse entre elles les fissures métaphoriques et retrace les origines des failles géologiques du lieu, qui recèlent la généalogie défaillante d’un groupe d’hommes qui vit en marge de la société. Le roman de Vann s’évertue à sonder et cerner les origines d’un crime à travers l’exploration des défaillances polymorphes à l’œuvre dans le récit. Le retour sur l’événement préfigure un déferlement de violence, mais concourt avant tout à exposer les fêlures latentes qui menaçaient au préalable la stabilité tellurique et familiale. À travers le voyage analeptique, le texte se fait alors corps défaillant pour tenter de traduire l’indicible, et les manifestations des multiples failles participent à la rémanence d’un passé dont la violence refait irruption dans le présent.
Historical botanical surveys of Darland Mountain. Yakama traditional ecological knowledge. Botanical surveys of 2023-24 with results and discussion. Island biogeography.
The book is a tribute to Professor Hana Librová on the occasion of her 80th birthday. The chapters have been written by her colleagues from the Department of Environmental Studies and other related departments, as well as by her friends from the environmental movement. Each of the co-authors has attempted to build on Hana Librová’s work – some have directly engaged in polemical discussions with it, others have taken it as an opportunity to reflect on a topic they have long been involved in. All of the authors wanted to try to imitate Hana Librová’s style in such a way that the resulting texts would be accessible to readers outside the academic community, while maintaining a scientific rigour when pursuing this goal. Readers can look forward to nine partial studies that thematically relate to different aspects of Hana Librová’s work. Some of the chapters turn their attention to the themes of her earlier historical-cultural texts looking at the landscape. Elsewhere, authors have drawn from the rich store of her journalistic articles. Others have followed on from research into lifestyles or have broadened the field of vision to include systemic, especially economic and political, issues. Taken as a whole, the book shows that any evaluation of Hana Librová’s lifetime work certainly does not have to be based on referring to the past. The book can be seen as proof of the immense inspiration that Hana Librová’s intellectual achievements have provided – and which will certainly continue to do so in the future.
El vínculo del hombre con la naturaleza, data desde el Paleolítico, pero los términos en que se desarrollaba esa relación comenzaron a cambiar a partir de la Revolución Neolítica, con el descubrimiento de la agricultura y la formación de las sociedades tempranas. Un segundo momento -histórico- de cambio en la interacción Hombre-Naturaleza, fue sin dudas la Revolución Industrial, donde la economía mercantilizó absolutamente a la Naturaleza. El tercer gran cambio es el más intenso, se conoce como de “gran aceleración”, comenzó a mediados del siglo XX y continúa en la actualidad. Este último está acompañado por el uso de tecnologías que dotaron de herramientas genéticas a la economía capitalista extractivista; el resultado es la aceleración desmedida de la producción y el consumo, el aumento demográfico -también desmedido- y la ruptura de todos los ciclos terrestres naturales; el contraste con el período conocido como Holoceno es bastante significativo por eso algunos científicos proponen denominar a este período como Antropoceno. Este cambio de periodización geohistórica pretende poner en foco la problemática del impacto antrópico, hecho que puede servir a los fines de modificar esa situación. A través de la revisión de un caso de impacto antrópico se pretende dar significación a la trama del Antropoceno, estamos hablando del Río Nuevo. Ese río nació en la provincia de San Luis en 1985 a partir de un desequilibrio provocado por el desmonte y el mal manejo de los suelos para desarrollar la agricultura extensiva.
Natural areas on Earth are rapidly disappearing due to environmental harm caused by humans. However, a great deal of
effort has been made to protect the environment over the last 150 years. Why, how, by whom, and with what priorities nature
conservation should be done has always been discussed. This study investigates the fundamental paradigms, their eras, central
concepts, shortcomings, and critics that have impacted conservation efforts from their inception. The study’s foundation
was provided by publications from international nature conservation organizations, application manuals, guidelines, and
pertinent literature. While protecting wildlife and biodiversity was the primary objective of nature conservation at the
beginning, other concepts like ecosystem integrity, social justice, human rights, sustainable development, ecosystem services
and global warming, and preservation of cultural heritage have gained importance since the 1970s. Old beliefs and practices
were either abandoned or drastically changed when new ideas were introduced. As a result, the idea of nature conservation
has evolved from stressing biodiversity and completely ignoring human life in and around protected areas to placing a
strong focus on preserving nature in all its forms, both natural and cultural, leading to a biocultural paradigm.
Keywords: Paradigm Shifts in Nature Conservation; Conservation as Social Science; Nature Conservation; Environmental
Protection; Human-Environment Geography
Euro-American exclusivity has been eclipsing the universalizing appeal of Ecocriticism, which attempts to
counter the war on terra—the Latin name for earth. Ecocriticism also explores the connection between humans
and their environment. It gives way to the examination of the environment and its illustration in literature and, by
doing so, develops an investigative ecological consciousness regarding different environmental issues. The
present study is aimed to study the non-Euro-American setting of Anis Shivani’s Karachi Raj (2015) through an
eco-critical lens. It attempts to explore the eco-critical consciousness of the characters, highlighting the way the
effort of creating eco-consciousness is made through the settings and plot of the literary text. The study focuses
on environmental issues presented in the novel through various situations. The research uses qualitative method
of textual analysis under the theoretical underpinnings of Ecocriticism.
The spatiotemporal patterns of environmental degradation are heterogeneous and predicted by legacies of systemic injustice. The inclusion of local environmental knowledge found within historically marginalized communities is central to achieving environmental justice, yet prevailing methods of data collection and analysis often fail to recognize discourses that reject mainstream environmental knowledge. In this study, we describe methods and outcomes of a pop-up booth and balloting project in the Puget Sound region of the Pacific Northwest, USA. We applied critical discourse analysis to data collected in public settings such as ethnic festivals, markets, and homeless meal sites. We asked adult respondents to provide their zip code and describe (1) important environmental challenges in their lives, and (2) coping or surviving these challenges. We critically analyzed discourses in 1051 responses from predominantly low-income zip codes in the region. Of the 144 responses that contested mainstream discourses on the environment, respondents identified racial, political, and social division as environmental threats and argued for the importance of addressing personal needs and human rights. We disseminated our findings through podcasts with local activists. Critical discourse analysis provided new insights into meaningful involvement of marginalized voices in environmental decision making and the criticality of addressing human needs and social justice through local knowledge.
While there has been extensive research on resident sentiment towards tourism, few have explored the uniqueness of gateway communities and their relationship to the Protected Areas (PA) surrounding them. This study explores how resident trust of PA managers and support for PAs surrounding their community can spillover to explain additional variance in resident support or opposition to tourism. To test this, traditional antecedents to resident support for tourism, like psychological, social, and political empowerment and the economic benefits from tourism, were modeled independently and in tandem with trust in PA managers and resident support for PAAs. Results from 405 residents of Transylvania County, NC, USA show trust of Pisgah National Forest managers (β = 0.137, p = 0.001) and resident support for the PA influence their support for tourism (β = 0.257, p = 0.001) and explain an additional six percentage points in why residents support tourism within their gateway communities when included in the model. These findings suggest that when evaluating gateway communities’ support for tourism, it is prudent to also include resident perspectives of PAs and how they are managed as resident perspectives of the PA and its management can spillover to their attitudes towards tourism.
The term "environmental activism," which emerged in the 1960s, refers to a social movement with origins in several fields. It includes everything from laws and policies to treaties, conferences, conventions, protocols, agreements, declarations, and recommendations, all aimed at protecting the environment. The term's versatility and variety of use have led to different interpretations. Since ancient times, global communities have engaged in environmental activities, leading to a contested natural environment. These conflicts are over power and resource access, influenced by shared cultural and social constructs. The study explores the evolution of global environmental activism, tracing its development from ancient to contemporary activism. It examines the media's role in addressing environmental activism. The study analyses policy-making documents, focusing on forming global environmental conventions, treaties, guidelines, and declarations. Environmental activism has evolved significantly since its inception. Post-WWII, it expanded globally, particularly in the context of international security. The activism is influenced by social, economic, and political factors, influenced by diverse global states with varying interests, and is a broad framework encompassing diverse perspectives and values.
Reading quizzes for Aldo Leopold’s classic, A Sand County Almanac, that I give students in my upper-level environmental economics class provide an excellent opportunity to explore the intersection of what some consider signature pedagogies of environmental studies and sciences and economics. This paper gives a pedagogical rationale for this strategy while providing details on one of these reading quizzes. Because Leopold links his push for a land ethic and his passion for the outdoors with beautiful writing while incorporating lots of economics at the same time, reading the land and thinking like an economist—two signature pedagogies—can uniquely blend together. Reading quizzes can be useful for faculty teaching any class in the environmental studies and sciences arena and provide students with an incentive to read and think critically while also sparking excellent classroom discussion. In getting students to think about economic concepts as they are brought up by Leopold, they learn the process of thinking like an economist while reading the land. Seeing topics such as valuation, externalities, and more in Leopold’s writing gives students a perspective on economics that is likely to generate deeper interdisciplinary thinking on environmental matters. And with deeper thinking comes better understanding as our students prepare to design policies to solve our toughest future environmental problems. Faculty with an eye toward introducing economic concepts into an environmental class and a willingness to use Leopold’s A Sand County Almanac to accomplish this will find the net profit to be significant.
The two volumes of this handbook provide a comprehensive account of the emerging and vibrant science of the ecological restoration of both habitats and species. Ecological restoration aims to achieve complete structural and functional, self-maintaining biological integrity following disturbance. In practice, any theoretical model is modified by a number of economic, social and ecological constraints. Consequently, material that might be considered as rehabilitation, enhancement, re-construction or re-creation is also included. Principles of Restoration defines the underlying principles of restoration ecology, in relation to manipulations and management of the biological, geophysical and chemical framework. The accompanying volume, Restoration in Practice, provides details of state-of-the-art restoration practice in a range of biomes within terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. The Handbook of Ecological Restoration will be an invaluable resource to anyone concerned with the restoration, rehabilitation, enhancement or creation of habitats in aquatic or terrestrial systems, throughout the world.
São Sebastião do Caí desenvolveu-se no fim do séc. XIX como um porto fluvial no último trecho navegável do rio Caí para navios a vapor de médio calado. Foi, durante o período da navegação fluvial, a principal conexão entre a Estrada Rio Branco (que ia do baixo vale do Caí até Caxias do Sul) e a hidrovia do rio Caí que seguia até Porto Alegre. Ao longo de três séculos e flutuações econômicas de ápice e decadência, essa cidade à margem esquerda do rio se constituiu como espaço de habitação para a comunidade caiense. Porém, o convívio entre essa comunidade e o rio não decorreu sem percalços. Este estudo propõe uma análise histórica sobre a relação humano-paisagem da população que habita as margens do rio Caí e seu entorno. Para isso, buscamos compreender a história desse rio pelas transições de longa duração. Foram identificados eventos de curta duração e períodos conjunturais que marcaram a história caiense, como a navegação fluvial, o processo de industrialização, a organização urbana e o decréscimo econômico. No entanto, encontramos as enchentes na cidade como sendo a principal estrutura de permanência na contínua interação entre o rio e seus habitantes. Para realizar esta análise, foi utilizada a categoria de “percepção da paisagem”, uma adaptação do conceito de perception of the environment de Tim Ingold (2000), em que se tangencia a divisão entre mundo natural (do fato dado) e universo cultural (imaginado). Dessa forma, a paisagem é vista como um espaço relacional construído por meio da ação humana sobre o ambiente. Essa relação, porém, se dá em termos estéticos, a partir da percepção visual que faz sentido do horizonte que nos cerca. Neste intento, foram utilizadas diversas fontes documentais, cartográficas e imagéticas que versam sobre a forma como o rio é percebido, usado e modelado conforme as necessidades econômicas da região. Para isso, esta tese se divide em três partes: a primeira contextualiza o rio Caí e sua região desde os primórdios da colonização europeia até o início de sua industrialização antropocênica entre os séculos XVII e XIX; a segunda analisa o desenvolvimento econômico da cidade baseado na navegação comercial na virada do séc. XIX e nas primeiras décadas do séc. XX; e a terceira faz uma análise da reciprocidade do convívio com o rio, versando sobre a natureza que resiste às intervenções humanas, seja pelas cheias, seja pelo cultivo de uma memória e identidade locais que se afirmam a partir da presença e permanência do rio Caí e do cotidiano de suas águas entre 1854 e 2020.
Cet article analyse, à partir du cas de l’engagement de ranchers dans le sud de l’Arizona dans des programmes de protection de l’environnement, l’évolution des pratiques de conservation des « rangelands » et plus largement de la nature dans les zones semi-arides de l’Ouest étasunien. Loin de l’image du cowboy conquérant et destructeur que certains environnementalistes continuent de véhiculer, il donne à voir des ranchers qui s’investissent dans des pratiques destinées à protéger les écosystèmes et qui se transforment ainsi en entrepreneurs de conservation susceptibles de participer à la production de savoirs écologiques. L’article rend compte dans ce cadre (1) de politiques de protection de la nature qui ne valorisent plus seulement la planification d’espaces sauvages ( wilderness ) mais un travail collaboratif à partir des « working landscapes » et (2) des conditions de la valorisation d’une cowboy ecology qui participe au renouvellement de la gestion étatique des ressources naturelles et des terres.
A relação entre os homens e o meio ambiente não constitui propriamente um objeto novo na historiografia, mas sem dúvidas é um dos temas que mais tem ganhado relevância e abordagens renovadas últimas décadas. No primeiro tomo de seu célebre O mediterrâneo, publicado em 1949, Fernand Braudel recorreu ao estudo dos espaços físicos, não apenas do mar, mas também do solo, da vegetação, da fauna, do relevo e do clima para contar a história das sociedades instaladas naquela região. De uma natureza entendida como um elemento imóvel, estático, estruturante, a historiografia ulterior deslocou seu olhar às alterações e às dinâmicas ambientais para explicar crises, guerras, a escassez de alimentos, mas também para explicar períodos de desenvolvimento, abundância e paz. Foi em meados dos anos 70 que um conjunto de estudos conhecidos como “história ambiental” inverteu os elementos dessa equação, passando a interrogar não apenas como os fatores naturais definiram a dinâmica das sociedades, mas em que medida as ações humanas foram responsáveis por mudanças no meio ambiente. A forma pela qual rios, floretas, a fauna, o solo e outros recursos naturais foram explorados, todavia, não se deu da mesma maneira em tempos e lugares diferentes. As crenças, normas e tradições compartilhadas por uma sociedade são vetores que explicam como interagimos com o meio ambiente. Tendo em vista a relevâncias dessas questões, este dossiê pretende ser um espaço de discussão para que historiadores, mas também estudiosos de outras áreas que incluem elementos históricos em suas análises, examinem, a partir de diferentes objetos e temporalidades, fatores que mediaram a relação entre humanos e o meio ambiente. Serão também bem-vindos trabalhos que interroguem, de um ponto de vista metodológico, perspectivas e instrumentos adequados e aqueles a serem evitados para se apreender o papel dos processos naturais na dinâmica social e cultural de uma dada sociedade, mas sem desconsiderar que as representações da natureza e os modos de intervenção humana são eles mesmos o resultado de formas de pensar e agir historicamente constituídos.
Very rich scholarly works have been produced to perform a comparative study between Emerson and Zhuang Zi. Many scholars in their comparative research have tried to find how Emerson and the transcendentalists such as Thoreau borrow ideas from Daoism. In this article, I will take a different approach. I aim to find how Emerson and Zhuang Zi’s pursuit of spirituality in nature shapes different types of sense of place. The concept of spirituality is related to the pursuit of meaning in life and self-transcendence. This concept has gradually gained attention from the branches of religion, philosophy, geography, and psychology since, currently, due to the fast urbanization process, more people are separated from their land and move into cities. I will make a comparison between Emerson and Zhuang Zi from the concepts of spirituality, nature, and place. This perspective will shed light on the question of the conservation of various places due to their value and meaning, although I will not discuss conservation issues in this paper. In this article, I will first give a brief introduction to the meaning of spirituality by focusing on the three dimensions of this concept, which include meaning, self-transcendence, and spiritual practices. Then, I will discuss how the concept of nature in Emerson and Zhuang Zi’s works is related to these three dimensions. Finally, I will examine why Emerson and Zhuang Zi treat wilderness and agricultural land, respectively, as a place.
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