An ecological ethics for a "crowded planet": Assessing the normative foundations of an emerging ESA vision

As Kingsland (2005) observes, the ‘new frontier’ of ecological science is the city. Whereas earlier generations of ecologists privileged the pristine and the wild, there has in recent decades been a steady shift toward an alternative model of ecological science recognizing and directing the intensive human modification of ecosystems. This turn, which is evident in many recent initiatives in institutional ecology (e.g., the Sustainable Biosphere Initiative, urban LTER projects, etc.), is nowhere more obvious than in the latest ESA vision document, Ecological Science and Sustainability for a Crowded Planet (2004). A preliminary analysis of the ecological literature reveals a broad normative confluence of several movements in current ecological science and practice, including restoration ecology, urban ecology, ecological design, and “reconciliation ecology.” These converging approaches are underwritten by a profound, if often implicit, ethical vision, one in which appropriate human interests and activity in nature are accepted rather than seen as inherently destructive. It is a normative view we might refer to as a new “ethics of harmonization.” In this poster we examine the multiple ethical dimensions – including the tensions (e.g., “ecological invention” vs. “preservation”; “conservation” vs. “sustainability,” etc.) -- of this movement toward a “crowded planet” ecology.  We present a pluralistic normative framework for this emerging ESA mission of sustainability science. Our results will contribute to an improved understanding of the values and ethical principles driving human-environment relations and will be an important interdisciplinary tool for the “pragmatic ecological science” proposed in the 21^st Century ESA Vision and Action Plan.