A book that needed writing: Conservative environmentalism

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Friday, March 13. 2015

A book that needed writing: Conservative environmentalism

Since renowned philosopher Roger Scruton has a place in the Maggie's Farm pantheon of thinkers, I suspect that it will be good: How to Think Seriously About the Planet: The Case for an Environmental Conservatism (Oxford University Press).

Hayward discusses here.

Readers know that we Farmers are not Gaia worshippers or fanatics. We are old-fashioned Conservationists, mostly outdoor people, with respect for God's creation and its critters. We don't just talk the talk, we walk the walk when it comes to protection of land.

We burn carbon, too, in all forms. Good stuff to burn. Wood stoves, fireplaces, tractors, boats, furnace, etc.

Posted by The Barrister in Natural History and Conservation, Our Essays, Politics at 14:49 | Comments (7) | Trackbacks (0)

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Nature evolved us humans. We are part of nature.
What we do is adapt to our environment, or adapt our environment to us, whenever possible and desirable.
What we humans is natural, ipso facto.
I, for one, shall not betray my heritage.

#1 PacRim Jim (Link) on 2012-06-05 03:00 (Reply)

PacRim Jim: Nature evolved us humans. We are part of nature.

That doesn't mean humans can't muck up their environment. Nature gave you a brain, and science gave you the knowledge of the effects of unrestrained exploitation. What you do with the knowledge is up to you.

#1.1 Zachriel on 2012-06-05 08:29 (Reply)

From the book description: But Scruton argues that no large-scale environmental project, however well-intentioned, will succeed if it is not rooted in small-scale practical reasoning.

Which is true, however, you can't ignore global planning, especially with regards to the tragedy of the commons. Case in point ...

The Barrister: We burn carbon, too, in all forms. Good stuff to burn.

While the use of carbon in its varied forms is important, ignoring the global effects of billions of people doing the same will eventually degrade the common environment.

#2 Zachriel on 2012-06-05 08:27 (Reply)

Think of the good that could have been done with all the resources poured into this bogus AGW BS.

#3 LWS on 2015-03-13 16:24 (Reply)

Clean available water, especially where aquifers are being drained at an alarming rate, is an important environmental concern. There are some nasty chemicals we've created which turn out to be harmful in even small amounts. It wouldn't hurt us to be more careful about erosion and monoculture.

This is where our efforts should go.

Current environmental activism is obsessed with issues that are more about attractiveness, expression of values, and punishing people who do not live as they wish. They decide a priori that there is something wrong about how people live in the West, especially America. It must be wrong, because the wrong people not the bookstore clerks, artists, and social workers, have too much status. Automobiles, SUV's, and ughh! - noisy machines - are considered evidence that our values are wrong.

Then we go on a mission to find some reason why they are wrong. The rhetoric has been the same since Mother Earth News and the first Earth Day. The targets change, but so what? Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia.

#4 Assistant Village Idiot (Link) on 2015-03-13 19:11 (Reply)

Love this site, come here every day.

Just a note - Bruce Foltz has been writing deeply thought through books about man's relation to the environment that offer a more conservative perspective for 20 yeas. His latest book 'The Noetics of Nature: Environmental Philosophy and the Holy Beauty of the Visible' (2013, Forham University Press) offers a round philosophical critique of the superficial self centered environmentalism that is topping the political and social agenda of our time. His other works include: 'Rethinking Nature: Essays in Environmental Philosophy' (2004, Indiana Press) and Inhabiting the Earth (1995, Humanity Books).

Thanks

#5 Foma on 2015-03-14 03:33 (Reply)

I've been a passionate environmentalist for years. It was one of the great disappointments of my life to see the movement hijacked by AGW, GM food, and other nonsense. It's brought the whole movement into discredit.

#6 Texan99 on 2015-03-14 11:02 (Reply)

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Friday, March 13. 2015

A book that needed writing: Conservative environmentalism