Ecology, Environmentalism, and Science

At the risk of philosophizing, it seems to me that contemporary philosophy urges that objectivity, rationality, and vigorous interaction of theory and empiricism are the central values of science.  Ecology entails an ethos of additional values that lead to  the protection of wild nature, without which we are bereft of our objects of study. While utilitarian and prospective values are important, valuing wild nature intrinsically, for its own sake independently of its uses for humanity, is perhaps more important to this ethos. Philosophically speaking, values beyond those central to science are essential to an ethos for ecology.