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REVIEW OF BOOK "SEARCHING FOR SUSTAINABILITY: INTERDISCIPLINARY ESSAYS IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF CONSERVATION BIOLOGY BY BRYAN G. NORTON
Citation:
Lackey, R T. REVIEW OF BOOK "SEARCHING FOR SUSTAINABILITY: INTERDISCIPLINARY ESSAYS IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF CONSERVATION BIOLOGY BY BRYAN G. NORTON. , 2003.
Description:
The terms sustainability, sustainable development, biological integrity, biological diversity, ecosystem management, and ecosystem health frequently are at the core of many policy debates even though their precise meanings are the subject of universal debate. There are profound conceptual ambiguities embedded in each of these terms. For the past two decades, Bryan Norton has been a leader in trying to bring intellectual order to the search for meaning for these now ubiquitous terms. The book consists of 27 essays arranged in six sections. The first section contains five essays and considers pragmatism in environmental policy and especially dissects the ideas of Aldo Leopold. The next four essays discuss the role of science in ecological policy, particularly the roles of conservation biologists and natural resource managers in developing sound public policy. The third section consists of five essays that attempt to link economics and ecological policy. Of particular interest to Norton is the challenge of relating consumer preferences (e.g., individual economic security, personal mobility) to other professed priorities (e.g., biological sustainability, preserving biological diversity). The fourth and fifth sections (collectively containing eight essays) bridge the gap between philosophical analysis and practical solutions to ecological problems, and address the analytical challenge of incorporating often amorphous, conflicting human preferences into policy analysis. The final section of five essays is an attempt to develop a comprehensive approach to environmental evaluation and management. Overall, this is an excellent book, but it does have a shortcoming in that it is a collection of previously published, stand-alone essays, and thus there is considerable redundancy overall. A thorough editing of the entire volume would have better focused the message. Norton does, however, consolidate his considerable contributions to the field of environmental philosophy under one cover.