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This paper focuses on the meanings and functions of the seasons in Selma Lagerlöf’s Nils Holgerssons underbara resa genom Sverige (Nils Holgersson’s Wonderful Journey through Sweden) in view of environmental ethics. By concentrating on the narratology and the ecocritical issues of the classic, it questions how the attention to temporality, and more particularly to the seasons, allows for the emergence of an environmental and land ethic. It shows how the seasons are the means for the expression of all forms of life and their interconnectedness. By reading the embeddedness and the many meanings of the seasons and seasonal patterns in Nils Holgersson, this article also demonstrates the implementation of sustainable development through mutuality and reciprocity between humans and nature.

It is clear that environmentalist are failing in their efforts to avert a global ecological catastrophe. It is argued here that Aldo Leopold had provided the foundations for an effective environmental movement, but to develop his land ethic, it is necessary first to interpret and advance it by seeing it as a form of communitarianism, and link it to communitarian ethical and political philosophy. This synthesis can then be further developed by incorporating advanced ideas in ecology and human ecology. Overcoming the division between the sciences and humanities and granting a place to narratives as a highly developed form of eco-semiosis, these provide the foundation for a new grand narrative committed to creating an ecological civilization, a civilization organized to augment the life of ecosystems, including human ecosystems, by augmenting the conditions for its members to flourish and develop their full potential to augment life.

A clinical ethics fit for the Anthropocene—our current geological era in which human activity is the primary determinant of environmental change—needs to incorporate environmental ethics to be fit for clinical practice. Conservationist Aldo Leopold’s essay ‘The Land Ethic’ is probably the most widely-cited source in environmental philosophy; but Leopold’s work, and environmental ethics generally, has made little impression on clinical ethics. The Land Ethic holds that “A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.” I argue that a Land Ethic helps to re-frame problems in clinical ethics that more common philosophical approaches struggle to handle, and that it can be incorporated into clinical ethics without succumbing to “environmental fascism”. I motivate viewing problems in clinical ethics from the perspective of the ‘integrity of the biotic community’, then illustrate how this perspective can offer guidance where more commonly-invoked theories—such as consequentialism and Kantian-inspired approaches—struggle, using antimicrobial resistance in nosocomial infection as a case study. The Land Ethic equips us to understand human values as arising within and inseparable from a social-ecological context, and by treating communities (both human and biotic) as valuable in themselves rather than just through the aggregate welfare of their individual participants, we can avoid problems with the ‘repugnant conclusion’ and utility monster that plague utilitarian accounts.

This paper combines game theory with Land Ethics to demonstrate a path forward for sustainable development. Our findings indicate that two likely equilibria can be reached. One equilibrium focuses on high short-term profits, but with ecological damage leading to less cumulative profits. The second equilibrium requires ecological maintenance costs (thus less short-term profits) yet yields greater cumulative profits. The comparison of the two equilibria and using the historical perspective of the Wisconsin Dells demonstrates how communities that embrace a Land Ethic can reach the equilibrium that produces greater long-term benefits.

Istraživački cilj disertacije filozofijski je prikaz biocentričkih, odnosno bioprotekcionističkih koncepata etike zemlje i ekološke savjesti američkoga šumara, ekologa i pisca Alda Leopolda (1887.–1948.), tumačenih kao paradigmatski oblik ekološke etike (ekoetike), i to korištenjem metodoloških i predmetnih odrednica integrativne bioetike kao znanstvenoga i moralnoga orijentira. Osim prikaza biografskih detalja i misaonih utjecaja koji su oblikovali Leopoldove stavove te pregleda reprezentativnih Leopoldovih spisa i ideja koje su u njima utemeljene, istražit će se Leopoldovi koncepti u odnosu na rad američkog »oca bioetike« Vana Renssealera Pottera te razvoj bioetičkoga pokreta, kao i njegov utjecaj na artikulaciju biocentričkoga profila integrativne bioetike. U kontekstu propitivanja uloge svijesti, slobode i uma u leopoldovskoj tradiciji, kao argumentativna ispomoć poslužit će egzistencijalno-fenomenološka refleksija Mauricea MerleauPontyja i Thomasa Fuchsa, etička misao Immanuela Kanta i Milana Kangrge, ekozofijska i dubinsko-ekološka misao Arnea Næssa, socijalno-ekološka misao Ivana Cifrića, filozofija odgovornosti Hansa Jonasa, te bioetička misao europskog »oca bioetike« Fritza Jahra, autora naročito važnih za europskokontintentalnu tradiciju bioetike. Leopoldov imperativ etike zemlje postavit će se u analogiju s Kantovim i Jahrovim imperativima da bi se formulirao integrativnobioetički imperativ te da bi se na taj način doprinijelo daljnjem proširivanju i artikulaciji orijentativnog polja integrativne bioetike. Primary aim of this dissertation is to research, present, critically reconsider and compare with similar theories ecological ethics (ecoethics) by American forester, ecologist and author Aldo Leopold (1887–1948) – based on the concepts of land ethic and ecological conscience – by using primarily subject-matter and methodological features of integrative bioethics as an innovative concept within contemporary bioethical discussions. Research of Leopold’s opus and intellectual influences that shaped his attitudes will be upgraded by considering Leopold’s ecoethical ideas in relation to the work of Van Rensselaer Potter, the American “father of bioethics”, who considered himself as Leopold’s follower, as well as in relation to the development of bioethical theory and bioethical movement, with emphasis on biocentric tendencies that mark the concept of integrative bioethics, as well. In context of exploring the notions of life, nature, human, subjectivity, rationality, consciousness, conscience, freedom and responsibility within Leopold’s work and Leopoldian tradition, as an argumentative support there will be used the existential-phenomenological reflection of Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Thomas Fuchs, the ethical thought of Immanuel Kant and Milan Kangrga, the ecosophical and deep ecological thought of Arne Næss, the social ecological thought of Ivan Cifrić, the philosophy of responsibility of Hans Jonas, and the bioethical thought of Fritz Jahr, a European “father of bioethics” – all of them very important authors regarding Euro-continental tradition of bioethics. Leopold’s ethical imperatives, inscribed into his land ethic, will be problematized especially in relation to Kant’s and Jahr’s ethical imperatives, in order to formulate a biocentrically founded integrative-bioethical imperative (as a fundamental principle of bio/ethics which would response to the challenges of today and future), as well as to contribute accordingly to further expansion and articulation of the orientational field of integrative bioethics. In each of the research thematic units of the dissertation, materials in the form of literature relevant to a particular topic will be used, and in the preparatory part, the collection and/or systematization of the necessary materials will be approached. Reading and interpreting the literature will be approached by critical, analytical and synthetic, as well as the comparative methods, which will examine the viability of the hypotheses and draw conclusions. In general, the research will be based on the methodological assumptions of integrative bioethics (interdisciplinarity, transdisciplinarity, pluriperspectivity, integrativity). Dissertation will be divided into four basic thematic units which will further be divided according to the requirements of the research. The introductory chapter, which precedes these four units, will explain the basic framework and basic (hypo)theses, as well as the context of considering the main topic of the paper. It includes issues of the scientific/technical civilization and the global environmental crisis, as well as the ecoethical/bioethical responses to these challenges. The first unit will consist of research into the life and work of Aldo Leopold, i.e. Leopold’s thought development, with a review of tendencies, authors and schools that influenced his work (Lorbiecki 2016), focusing on the impact of environmental thought of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau (Worster 1994) and other American thinkers. Exploring, questioning, and potentially challenging a given claims suggests that the Leopold was writing under the influence of American pragmatism and Darwinist social evolutionism presented by Arthur Twining Hadley (Callicott 2009). This will be followed by a systematic review of the Leopold’s work, with an emphasis on the collection of essays A Sand County Almanac (Leopold 1949) and the concepts of “land ethic” and “ecological conscience” which will be interpreted as a paradigmatic form of biocentric approach to the non-human living beings, the natural environment of humankind and to the nature in general. In the second large part of the paper, the research focus will be shifted to the influence of Leopold’s thought on Van Rensselaer Potter, an American “father of bioethics” (Potter 1971, Potter 1988) and, consequently, the development of the bioethical movement. The biocentric character of Leopold’s ecoethics will be emphasized (as opposed to the anthropocentric model), which was most likely the crucial motive for Potter’s fascination with Leopold. Consideration of the relationship between Leopold and Potter will be extended to the exploration of conceptual similarities between Leopold and the European “father of bioethics”, Fritz Jahr (Rinčić, Muzur 2012). Leopold’s ecoethical imperative (“Right action is anything that contributes to the preservation of stability, integrity and preservation of life, and everything else is wrong”; Leopold 1949) will be related to Jahr’s bioethical imperative (Rinčić, Muzur 2012), but also to Kant’s categorical imperative (Kant 1990), the categorical imperative of Jonas’s ethics of responsibility (Jonas 1990) and the imperatives of Schweitzer’s ethic of reverence for life (Cicovacki 2009), in order to formulate a unifying integrative-bioethical imperative. The third part of the paper will be devoted to the comparison (and articulation of fruitful correlation) of Leopold’s ecoethics and the thoughts of Arne Næss, the founder of “deep ecology” or “ecosophy” (Næss 2002, Næess 2005, Markus 2006), following the previous interpretation of Leopold’s ecoethics as a biocentric conception. The focus will be on the concepts of anthropocentrism and biocentrism, as well as on the concepts of consciousness and conscience, but also on other concepts relevant in this context (life, nature, man, subjectivity, intelligence, freedom, responsibility). Also, it will be inevitable to compare Leopold’s and Næss’s “revolutionary” understanding of these concepts with traditional ethical understandings (Kant 1990, Kangrga 1966, Kangrga 2004). However, the basic research motive of this thematic unit is the juxtaposition of anthropocentrism and biocentrism, primarily in terms of consciousness and intelligence. In that sense, the discussion will also include questions about the relationship between the individual human psyche and the evolutionary ecological balance, i.e. the issues of organic mereological (Potrč 2017) unity of micro- (individual), meso- (social and natural community) and macro-levels (biotic community) of cosmological totality. An attempt will be made to prove that selfishness (as the action of the “disjointed self”) present in the human community extends analogously to human action towards non-human beings of the Earth or nature in general. The fourth and last part of the dissertation will be a summary of previous research, presented with regard to the concept of integrative bioethics, which is characterized by interdisciplinarity, transdisciplinarity, pluriperspectivity and integrativity (Čović 2004, Jurić 2010). The notion of “bioethical sensibility” (Zagorac 2018) will also be introduced to indicate the fact that Leopold’s insights (which can be interpreted as insisting on the development of “bioethical sensibility”) correspond to integrative bioethics and can contribute to the expansion and articulation of the biocentric approach present in integrative bioethics.

The emerging field of animal studies has a curious relationship with environmentalism. Instead of fitting comfortably in the latter’s capacious tent, animal studies has chafed at environmentalists’ commitment to holistic communitarianism best represented by Aldo Leopold’s “land ethic.” The land ethic approaches the biotic community as a pyramidal ecological system that turns on the relations between producers and consumers and between predators and prey rather than as an egalitarian moral community. Animal rights activists have thus repeatedly clashed with conservationists in an internecine fight poignantly dramatized in T.C. Boyle’s novel When the Killing’s Done (2011). In this paper, I argue that environmental justice cannot be secured solely from the third-person perspective of the deontological argument underlying animal rights or the utilitarian argument often used to justify the land ethic. Instead, we might draw on the pragmatist traditions East and West and view justice as a larger loyalty achieved as much by the moral imagination of the particular from the first- and second-person perspectives as by rational deliberation on the universal. Using a French novel (The Roots of Heaven, 1958), a Chinese novel (The Disappearance of Lao Hai, 2001), and a Chinese film (Monster Hunt, 2015) as my examples, I demonstrate how literature’s thick narratives can engender an ethics of care by bringing particular instances of non-human distress into aesthetic, affective, and moral proximity with us.

This paper explores the conceptual dimension of environmental stewardship from a neoplatonic frame, Patrick Dobel’s theology of nature, and Aldo Leopold’s philosophy on land ethic. Based on a reading of these works, stewardship as an ethical concept is normative. It seeks rational justifications that would define stewardship in relation to natural resources and the natural world. The paper aims to establish ethics of stewardship and relate it with the traditional approaches to environmental ethics, particularly land ethics. It examines how stewardship may be manifested “on the ground” and in the actual farming communities through Community Seed Banking and other seed conservation initiatives.

Balıkesir Üniversitesi, Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, Sosyoloji Ana Bilim Dalı, Toprak etiği, doğa ile insan arasındaki ilişkiyi yeniden yorumlayarak devrimci bir bakış açısı sunmanın yanı sıra, insanın doğayı araçsal olarak ele alırken dışsallaştırdığını ve doğada yarattığı tahribatı bu nedenle görmezden geldiğini ortaya koyar. Sosyoloji, analiz birimi olarak insanı alması sebebiyle doğa ile olan ilişkiyi sınırlı olarak inceler. Benzer bir şekilde, eleştirel sosyal teorinin doğa ve insan ilişkilerine yönelik bakış açısının insanı merkeze alması, bu teorinin bütüncül olmasını engellemektedir. Ancak, teorinin esnek yapısı, toprak etiğinin bütüncüllük ve hayvan haklarına bakış açısı bağlamında yeniden değerlendirilmesine olanak tanımaktadır. Bu bağlamda, Marksist teorinin değer, yabancılaşma, metabolik yarık ve bilinç kavramları, toprak etiğine bağlı kalınarak yeniden yorumlanmıştır. Tezin amacı, eleştirel sosyal teorinin bir konu olarak işlediği ancak merkeze almadığı doğayı, toprak etiğine bağlı kalarak yeniden değerlendirmek ve literatürdeki bu eksikliği kuramsal olarak kapatmaktır. Diğer taraftan, kapitalist üretim biçiminin yeni formu olan neoliberalizmin mevcut durumları yadsıtma metodu olarak gösteri toplumu ve risk toplumu tezleri yine toprak etiği bağlamında değerlendirilmekte, bu şekilde günümüzde doğa ile insan ilişkisi incelenmektedir., Land ethic manifests that people externalize the nature by taking it instrumentally and ignore the destruction created by themselves, by revolutionarily reevaluating the relations between human and nature. Because sociology takes the human individual as the unit of analysis, it constrictedly analyzes the relationship with nature. Since critical social theory similarly takes the human at the center of the theory, it is not possible to claim that its point of view to the relationship between nature and human is holistic. Still, flexible structure of the theory allows the reevaluation of it with respect to the principles of land ethic, like holism and animal rights. In this respect, the concepts of Marxism, like value, alienation, metabolic rift and consciousness are reevaluated by holding to the land ethic. The aim of the thesis is bringing the nature up to the critical social theory, not as an issue but as the center of the debate by evaluating it on the basis of the land ethic, that allows to fill the gap in the literature. Besides, the society of spectacle and risk society theories, which are the methods of neoliberalism as the new form of capitalist mode of production, are analyzed again in relation to land ethic, in this way, the relationship between the nature and people.

This article analyzes the ideas of American philosopher J. Baird Callicott to shed light on ecological thinking and its inherent commitment to change and the adaptation of US environmental ethics. Callicott is one of the most prominent and longest-serving practitioners of environmental ethics; he is especially known for his support of land ethic, as defined by Aldo Leopold, and ecocentrism, an ethic predicated on the perception of ecosystems as communities. Callicott draws on the works of David Hume, Adam Smith and Charles Darwin to justify a Leopoldian ecocentrism. Extending Hume’s and Smith’s theory of moral sentiments to non-human life and ecosystems, Callicott claims to have continued Darwin’s ethical reflections in The Descent of Man (1871), also taken up by Aldo Leopold after his conversion to the ecological worldview. Callicott argues that the meaning of community can and must be protean, in order to ensure that environmental destruction will not continue unimpeded. Callicott thus calls for a major paradigm shift away from modernity, as defined by the scientific revolution of the 17th century, to a reconstructive postmodernity informed by Darwinism, ecology and the “new” physics spawned by quantum theory. According to Callicott, the only effective way to transcend Cartesian dualism is to bring about a major change in people’s worldview. Short of such a shift in paradigms, the dualities at the root of the environmental crisis will persist. Ironically, one of the main challenges to Callicott’s defense of the land ethic came from within ecology, from what Donald Worster calls the ecology of chaos. If Callicott rescues Leopold’s land ethic from ecological insignificance, this is because of the advent of disturbance ecology in the 1970s and 1980s along with the gradual replacement of the balance-of-nature paradigm by the nature-in-flux paradigm. How can ecosystems be considered communities if they are subject to stochastic and catastrophic change? Distinguishing the scale of non-human change and anthropogenic change, Callicott salvages an ethic whose ecological foundations are precarious and unstable. In doing so, he demonstrates that just as adaptation is part of a natural evolution, it is also the key to intellectual and philosophical evolution. Callicott’s response to disturbance ecology nevertheless highlights the precarious position of environmental philosophers who predicate their moral prescriptions on scientific knowledge, given that the science of ecology is always evolving. Cet article vise à éclairer l’influence de la pensée écologique, et tout particulièrement de notions telles que le changement et la mutation, sur l’éthique environnementale aux États-Unis en analysant l’œuvre de J. Baird Callicott, aujourd’hui l’un des philosophes de l’environnement les plus influents outre-Atlantique. Callicott a dédié une part considérable de sa carrière à la mise en avant de l’éthique du vivant (land ethic) créée par Aldo Leopold au milieu du 20e siècle. Afin de donner ses lettres de noblesse philosophiques à la proposition éthique de Leopold, Callicott s’appuie notamment sur David Hume, Adam Smith et Charles Darwin : en appliquant aux écosystèmes et aux espèces non-humaines les théories des sentiments moraux de Hume et de Smith, Callicott affirme ne faire que poursuivre un processus commencé par Darwin dans La Filiation de l’homme et développé par Aldo Leopold dans son Almanach d’un comté des sables. Selon Callicott, l’élargissement du sens que l’espèce humaine confère aux liens communautaires est une nécessité impérieuse face à la multiplication des défis environnementaux. Callicott en vient à préconiser l’avènement d’un changement de paradigme, qui devra conduire l’humanité à adhérer à une « modernité déconstructrice » informée par le darwinisme, la science écologique et l’apport de la physique quantique. Callicott espère que cette transition conduira au remplacement du dualisme cartésien entre l’espèce humaine et la nature par une vision écocentriste du monde en vertu de laquelle l’espèce humaine se conçoit comme intégrée au vivant et non comme radicalement différente de lui. Pourtant, c’est la science écologique elle-même qui fragilise le plus les propositions éthiques de Callicott à travers l’apparition, à la fin des années 1970, de ce que l’historien Donald Worster a appelé l’écologie du chaos. L’attention grandissante que les écologues apportent alors aux perturbations et à l’instabilité du vivant contraint le philosophe à faire évoluer l’éthique léopoldienne en insistant sur le caractère discriminant de l’échelle des perturbations : par la rapidité et l’ampleur des dégâts qu’elles provoquent, certaines perturbations d’origine anthropique ne sont pas moralement acceptables. Le parcours philosophique de Callicott démontre ainsi l’importance de la capacité d’adaptation dans l’évolution intellectuelle et philosophique. Mais il souligne aussi la situation précaire des philosophes de l’environnement qui fondent leurs prescriptions morales sur des savoirs scientifiques. Ces savoirs jouissent d’un grand prestige depuis la révolution scientifique mais ils sont par nature toujours susceptibles d’évoluer.

The Origin and Development of Environmental Philosophy in the US according to John Muir, Aldo Leopold and J. Baird Callicot. The publication refers to environmental philosophy, which is also called ecological philosophy or ecophilosophy. It shows in what way philosophical reflection on the environment has been shaped in the American tradition. In this context, the views of the thinkers listed below have been presented, analysed and evaluated. John Muir, an astute observer of wild nature, has been presented as an enthusiast and a prophet persuading a return to nature. Muir was a forester under the strong influence of the representatives of transcendentalism. As an activist, he founded national parks that served to preserve virgin areas, and as a writer he popularized the concept of the preservation of wild areas. For many representatives of ecophilosophy, the views of Aldo Leopold, as expressed in his well-known work, A Sand County Almanac, constituted a new pattern of thinking about wild nature. The book itself is almost generally regarded as a bible of environmental philosophy. Leopold, a forester interested in philosophy, created the fundamentals of holistic environmental philosophy, but the theory he developed is not without defects, to which some attention has been paid in this paper. The theory of J. Baird Callicot presents the attitude of an academic philosopher with regard to wild nature. His attitude is fully professional as regards the applied method, thus allowing the author to avoid committing a naturalistic fallacy. Callicot reinterprets the issues of facts and values, because he thinks that the discoveries of the dynamically developing ecology make possible the reformulation of the traditional approach to such issues by utilising a spirit of acceptance, and lead to a shift from is to ought to be

L’objectif de cette thèse est de proposer une caractérisation du bien propre des touts écologiques, comme les communautés biotiques et les écosystèmes, dont peut être dérivée une notion de ce qui est bon pour eux. Ceci vise à défendre les deux principales approches holistes en éthique de l’environnement, c’est-à-dire l’approche pragmatiste défendue par Bryan G. Norton et l’approche écocentriste défendue par J. Baird Callicott, contre certaines objections ayant été soulevées contre elles, faisant valoir l’impossibilité pour les écosystèmes d’avoir un bien propre. Cette thèse répond à ces objections en mobilisant plusieurs ressources théoriques issues de la philosophie de la biologie et de la méta-éthique. Ces ressources sont notamment celles fournies par les discussions sur les notions de fonction et de santé en philosophie de la biologie, celles fournies par les conceptions néo-aristotéliciennes de la normativité en méta-éthique, et celles offertes par les discussions de philosophie de l’écologie sur le holisme et le réductionnisme, sur l’idée d’équilibre de la nature, et sur le concept de santé écosystémique. Cette thèse mobilise ces ressources afin d’élaborer les fondements philosophiques des notions de fonction écologique et de santé écosystémique, desquelles est dérivée une caractérisation du bien propre des écosystèmes., The goal of this dissertation is to defend the view that ecological wholes, such as biotic communities and ecosystems, have a good of their own, from which an idea of what is good for them can be derived. This aims to respond to the common criticism addressed to the two main holistic approaches to environmental ethics, namely Bryan G. Norton’s pragmatist approach and John Baird Callicott’s ecocentrist approach, which argues that biotic communities and ecosystems have no such good. This dissertation addresses those objections by mobilizing theoretical resources taken from the philosophy of biology and metaethics. In particular, those theoretical resources come from studies about the notions of function and health in the philosophy of biology, from neo-aristotelian accounts of normativity in metaethics, and from discussions in the philosophy of ecology on holism and reductionism, the balance of nature idea, and the concept of ecosystem health. Those resources are mobilized to elaborate some philosophical foundations for the notions of ecological function and ecosystem health, from which an account of the good of ecosystems is derived.

Cet article s’intéresse à l’un des auteurs les plus importants de la pensée environnementale américaine, Aldo Leopold, et plus précisément à son "éthique de la terre"—land ethic. Cette idée formulée à la fin des années 1940 était tout à fait pionnière, précédant de plus de dix ans le mouvement environnementaliste. Faces aux limites du préservationnisme issu de la tradition transcendantaliste, ainsi qu’à celles du conservationnisme impliquant une gestion rationalisée des espaces naturels par l’Etat, Leopold proposait un fondement éthique justifiant les politiques de protection de l’environnement. L’homme fait, selon ce naturaliste, partie d’une communauté du vivant dont il a la responsabilité morale. L’anthropocentrisme de la tradition de pensée occidentale est donc remis en question par ce penseur par ailleurs profondément humaniste. Il ne s’agit pas de décrire simplement son travail, mais plutôt de le relire à la lumière des derniers développements de la philosophie environnementale. Le posthumanisme propose une lecture du monde permettant d’inclure le reste du vivant dans l’équation, et c’est en cela qu’il se rapproche de l’éthique de la terre. Si cette pensée d’un après-humanisme est d’un grand intérêt d’un point de vue descriptif, elle n’a pas la même portée prescriptive. Et c’est en cela qu’un dialogue entre Leopold et les posthumanistes s’avère riche: il en ressort une éthique inclusive qui s’appuie sur une compréhension des interactions complexes qui constituent le monde.

Las ecoaldeas, son comunidades basadas en el pensamiento holístico y en la experimentación de posibles modelos más autosostenibles, han emergido como una propuesta que intenta responder a las preocupaciones por el deterioro ambiental y los estilos de vida consumistas. No obstante, en la literatura consultada no se registran trabajos que hayan analizado los efectos de las prácticas ambientales de dichas comunidades sobre las dinámicas de los recursos hídricos y desde una perspectiva de territorialidad. Por lo tanto, el presente proyecto de investigación se traza como objetivo analizar las prácticas ambientales de dos comunidades intencionales (ecoaldeas) y sus efectos en el recurso hídrico, así como entender sus dinámicas territoriales de acuerdo a la cosmovisión de cada una de ellas. Este proceso se realizó gracias a la colaboración de dos ecoaldeas ubicadas en Cundinamarca: Ecocirco y Varsana; y a los diferentes grupos de personas que se encuentran en estos lugares. La metodología propuesta involucró un diseño experimental en el que se tomaron muestras de aguas tanto de las fuentes de abastecimiento de cada una de las ecoaldeas, como de las aguas residuales vertidas y generadas por estos asentamientos. Y un diseño etnográfico, en el que se identificaron las principales características de cada lugar a través de procesos vivenciales y participativos, los cuales permitieron adelantar labores de observación, visitas de campo y entrevistas a visitantes, voluntarios, vecinos y propietarios /administradores de las dos ecoaldeas. El trabajo mostró que las prácticas ambientales frente al manejo del agua en las ecoaldeas generan un impacto negativo en las quebradas analizadas; en el caso de Varsana por la cantidad de gente que la frecuenta y en el caso de Ecocirco por los vertimientos que se generan y la falta de tratamiento antes de su vertimiento a la fuente hídrica. Adicionalmente se evidenció que la relación de los ecoaldeanos con otras personas y territorios es más fuerte por redes internacionales que por su influencia local.En el caso de Varsana además hay relación con otras ecoaldeas y el movimiento Krishna, y para el caso de Ecocirco el elemento de unión son las actividades de circo, más que de las prácticas de permacultura. Abstract. Ecovillages are communities based on holistic thought and on the experimentation of more sustainable models. They have emerged as a way to answer to the worries about environmental deterioration and consumer ways of life. Nevertheless, in the literature review there were not found works that analyze the effects of environmental practices of these communities on water quality; neither on their neighbors and other communities. Therefore, the present investigation aims to analyze the environmental practices of two intentional communities (ecovillages) and their effects on the water quality, as well as to understand their impact on other territories. This process was realized thanks to the collaboration of two ecoaldeas located in Cundinamarca: Ecocirco and Varsana; and to the different groups of persons who are in these places. The proposed methodology involved an experimental design the one that water samples took so much of the sources of supply of each one of the ecoaldeas, since of the waste water spilt and generated by these accessions. And an ethnographic design, in which there were identified the principal characteristics of every place across existential and participative processes, which allowed to advance labors of observation, field visits and you interview visitors, volunteers, neighbors and owners / administrators of the two ecovillages. The work showed that environmental practices have a negative impact in the analyzed water streams; in case of Varsana for the amount of visitors and in case of Ecocirco because of the practice of throwing water without treatment to the water stream. Additional it was found that the relation of the ecovillagers with other persons and territories is mainly made through international networks. However, in case of Varsana there is some communication with ecovillages related to the Krishna movement and and for the case of Ecocirco through of the activities of circus, more than of the practices of permaculture. Maestría

Since the 1970s, environmental philosophy has been mainly concerned with the intrinsic value of nature and with the preservation of some rare and remarkable forms of nature which stand in remote areas. Influenced by the American classical idea of wilderness, which excludes humans from nature, environmental philosophers worked to elaborate intrinsic value theories of nature. By doing so, they suggested that nature had disappeared from the human inhabited world, i.e. from almost the whole Earth. Against this idea, I argue for nature being part of our societies. Humans and nature share a living mutual interdependence. Following this hypothesis, we will see how natural beings could be considered partners in most of our productive and reproductive activities, while we often act wrongly with these members of our communities. That's why there is a need for an ethics of everyday nature.; Depuis les années 1970, les philosophies environnementales se sont essentiellement préoccupées de la question de la valeur morale de la nature rare et remarquable, qui subsiste dans quelques régions de la planète. Héritant de la pensée américaine de la wilderness, les philosophes de l'environnement se sont efforcés de donner des fondations théoriques à la valeur intrinsèque d'une nature, dont l'homme se devait d'être absent. Ce faisant, ils laissaient à penser que sur les terres habitées ou transformées par les hommes, qui couvrent la quasi-totalité de la surface de la planète, il fallait renoncer à penser la nature. À rebours de cette idée, nous soutenons qu'il y a de la nature dans les sociétés humaines, que nous faisons société avec la nature. En suivant cette hypothèse, nous ferons apparaître, à partir d'un matériau descriptif varié, que nos activités productives et reproductives engagent, en effet, de nombreux acteurs naturels, mais aussi que, très souvent, nous nous conduisons mal avec ces derniers. C'est ce qui nous semble motiver l'élaboration d'une éthique de la nature ordinaire.

The encyclical letter Laudato si’ of the Holy Father Francis on care for our common home, our planet, is considered. The approach to complex socioecological systems is stressed. In this same perspective, the tenth congress of the Italian Society of Silviculture and Forest Ecology, to be held in Firenze (Italy) next September 15th to 18th, aims to highlight the role of forests and forestry in supporting the life on the planet. Forestry can be one of the most dynamic sectors of the “green economy”. The ethical norm of respect for the intrinsic value of the ecosystem is just brought about by concern, closeness and familiarity between man and forest and, on the contrary, it may be hampered by aprioristic resource immobilization.

El sistema de regulación del uso del suelo ha sido criticado por causar o dejar de resolver problemas sociales y por percibir defectos inherentes, tales como la ineficiencia, la desigualdad y el daño ambiental. Estas críticas no entienden al sistema de regulación de uso de suelos en los Estados Unidos como un sistema dinámico, funcional y adaptativo. En este trabajo se analiza sistemáticamente: 1) las funciones; 2) la localización y escala; 3) los componentes; 4) los procedimientos; y 5) los valores del sistema regulatorio de uso de suelos en los Estados Unidos. Si vamos a mejorar nuestras prácticas de uso de suelos, a fin de que sean más justas, eficientes y ecológicamente responsables, debemos entender cómo la planificación del uso del suelo y la función de regulación cambian con el tiempo.Se presta especial atención a la función de ordenamiento territorial como mediador entre las personas y lugares, entre las comunidades y el poder, y entre la libertad y sus límites. Así como a la amplia gama de fuerzas que configuran las decisiones de uso de suelos, la “estrecha” ley del uso del suelo como un conjunto de reglas y límites (en contraste con su papel como fuente de herramientas, autoridad y decisión), y los “parches” del uso de suelos por la autoridad reguladora en los Estados Unidos.Este documento también examina un tema específico de la ley y la política: el grado en que el sistema de regulación del uso del suelo puede valorar y conservar los servicios de los ecosistemas los servicios humanamente beneficiosos que proporciona la naturaleza. El trabajo explora tanto las barreras y oportunidades para la contabilización de los servicios del ecosistema en la planificación y la regulación del uso del suelo.

Uexküll's famous umwelt theory, which is simultaneously a theory of meaning, remains almost unknown in American environmental thought. The purpose of this article is to create a dialogue between the umwelt theory – a source of inspiration for biosemiotics – and one of the major figures of the environmental thought, namely Aldo Leopold. The interest of this dialogue lies in the fact that the environmental thought has much to gain by relying on Uexküll's theory of meaning and, conversely, that Leopold's land ethic is likely to extend Uexküll's thought in terms of ethics.

International audience

This work aims to demonstrate how the Land Ethic, a ramification of the environmental ethics conceived by Aldo Leopold, proposes a change in the way human beings position themselves in relation to the world and everything that is non-human. Furthermore, we want to discuss the contemporary environmental crisis, expose its origins and demonstrate that one of its main causes is the position that human beings have occupied toward the world (a position of ethical and ontological superiority). We will see that its roots are profoundly connected to the western thought, especially to Francis Bacon, René Descartes, Galileu Galilei and Isaac Newton ideas. To achieve our goal we consider that ethics are the starting point to the environmental crisis resolution. Human beings have achieved, especially after the XVI century, an incredible level of interference and transformation over nature, and that action has caused an important instability in the global ecosystem. The paradigm upon which we live in today is extremely anthropocentric and brought with it a project of domination by the human being over the environment realized through technic. Using the ideas of David Hume and Charles Darwin, Aldo Leopold postulated, with the Land Ethic, a change in our ethical emphasis, from the individual to the community – human beings would be, then, a plain member, one among many others, of the biotic community. Therefore, a change in the human being position in the world, proposed by the Land Ethic, would be a necessary “ethical turning point” in the contemporary world., Este trabalho tem por finalidade demonstrar como a Land Ethic, corrente da ética ambiental surgida com Aldo Leopold, propõe uma mudança no modo como o ser humano se posiciona em relação ao mundo e a tudo que for não-humano. Além disso, visamos discutir a crise ambiental contemporânea, expor suas origens e demonstrar que uma de suas principais causas é justamente a posição que o ser humano ocupa em relação ao mundo (de superioridade ético-ontológica). Veremos que suas raízes estão profundamente conectadas ao pensamento ocidental, especialmente às ideias de Francis Bacon, René Descartes, Galileu Galilei e Isaac Newton. Parte-se, para a consecução deste projeto, do pressuposto que a ética seria o ponto de partida para a resolução da crise ambiental. O ser humano conseguiu, especialmente a partir do século XVI, interferir e transformar a natureza em uma escala nunca antes vista, e tal ação causou um importante desequilíbrio no ecossistema terrestre. O atual paradigma que vivemos é extremamente antropocentrista e trouxe como consequência um projeto de dominação da natureza por parte do ser humano e que foi realizado por meio da técnica. Por meio das ideias de David Hume e Charles Darwin, Aldo Leopold postulou, com a Land Ethic, uma mudança de ênfase ética, do indivíduo à comunidade – o ser humano passaria a ser um membro, dentre tantos outros, da comunidade biótica. Portanto, a mudança na posição do ser humano no mundo, proposta pela Land Ethic, seria uma “virada ética” necessária no mundo contemporâneo.

Environmental scientists warn us that we, together with nature, might be doomed unless necessary measures are taken. Aldo Leopold asserts that an ethic which makes us responsible for the preservation of whole nature, with all its constituents, is evolutionarily possible and ecologically necessary. Land ethic has been especially criticized for its holistic perspective. For this may lead to violation of individual rights, and to a sort of fascism, called ecofascism. J. Baird Callicott’s attempts to save land ethic from ecofascism make land ethic impotent to save nature, and contrary to his intentions, also anthropocentric. In this paper, it is argued that this dilemma that land ethic faces can be resolved by endorsing a weak anthropocentric position, which is fairly compatible with Leopold's own views. Çevrebilimciler, gerekli önlemler alınmazsa bizim doğayla birlikte yok olabileceğimizi söylüyorlar. Aldo Leopold, bütün bileşenleriyle birlikte tüm doğanın korunması için bizi sorumlu kılacak bir etiğin, evrimsel açıdan mümkün ve çevrebilimsel açıdan zorunlu olduğunu belirtmektedir. Toprak etiği, özellikle bu bütüncü yaklaşımından ötürü eleştirilmektedir. Bu yaklaşımın bireysel hakların ihlal edilmesine, hatta ekofaşizm diye adlandırılan bir tür çevre faşizmine yol açabileceği düşünülmektedir. J. Baird Callicott’un toprak etiğini çevre faşizmi suçlamasından kurtarmak için ileri sürdüğü görüşlerse toprak etiğini güçsüzleştirmekte ve Callicott’un savunduğunun aksine, onu insanmerkezci yapmaktadır. Bu yazıda, toprak etiğinin karşı karşıya bulunduğu bu ikilemin, Leopold’ün görüşleri ile uyumlu olarak, zayıf insanmerkezci bir etik anlayışla giderilebileceği iddia edilmektedir.

Between the mid-1800s and -1900s mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) declined to relict populations in west Texas. This event coincided with the advent of barbed-wire fencing and dug wells providing water by windmills, which brought an end to free-ranging livestock. Also coincident was rangeland conversion from grassland-savannah to more brush dominated habitats due to overgrazing and fire suppression. These conditions favored white-tailed deer (O. virginianus) that expanded their range westward with the brush into areas that were previously inhabited by mule deer only. Most local biologists would cite the west-Texas decline of mule deer as the result of unfavorable changes in rangeland habitats, which facilitated competitive exclusion by white-tailed deer. Others have speculated about effects of fragmentation and hybridization, although genetic introgression between deer species appears uncommon despite hybridization in sympatric contact zones. However, these conditions still exist in west Texas, and mule deer are making their comeback into their previous range that was only occupied by white-tailed deer 30 years ago. The question remains: why did mule deer disappear 100 years ago? We think we have the answer: diseases associated with livestock. To reach that overarching conclusion (as a hypothesis), we first: 1) refined our field methods, 2) studied reproductive biology, and 3) examined causes of death for adult females and fawns of both species in a contact zone in northwest Crockett County, Texas, an area that was inhabited only by mule deer 100 years ago and only by white-tailed deer 30 years ago. They are now of similar abundance. We also made a discovery regarding maternal antipredator strategies that seems interesting for both ecology and management. I will not expound here on detailed results, as each chapter has its own abstract of more appropriate form. Because we relied on deer location estimates by radiotelemetry to test hypotheses, I conducted a beacon study to determine errors and generate a predictive regression model. This model allowed me to assess whether or not objectives could be met given our field methods. I also created a common-sense approach to location estimation that incorporated subjective weighting by relative confidence in a signal received. I compared this approach to the commonly used maximum likelihood estimator. Other researchers may find my MATLAB files useful for beacon studies and location estimation by radiotelemetry triangulation (see http://www.rw.ttu.edu/haskell/ ). To interpret results from wildlife studies it is useful to know population densities. We used mark-resight and deer location data to generate a theoretically unbiased deer density estimate at our site in 2005 (approx. 30 deer/km2). We took advantage of this estimate to provide Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) with the first scientifically valid field assessment of their deer survey methods from roads. As predicted, because of habituation behavior within (and perhaps beyond) the effective survey strip width, deer seemed to be clustered near roads as semi-permeable barriers to movement, although a displacement effect of approximately 30 m was also evident. We provided TPWD with recommendations to calibrate their non-random survey design to more defensible methods. Field methods for fawn studies have been continuously refined. Most prior studies suffered from potential positive survival biases because fawns were not captured as true neonates and survival rates may be lowest soon after birth. In fact, 9% of the fawns we captured died within 25 m of birth-sites; most of these were not handled prior to death. We agree with others that risk of marking-induced abandonment is low if females are allowed at least 3 hours postpartum to clean and nurse their young. We used vaginal implant transmitters (VITs) to locate birth-sites. We experimented with VIT design to determine variable efficacy. Despite previous behavioral observations from captive deer, we found that antennas protruding too far externally from the vulva were more likely to be prematurely expelled, presumably because deer pulled them out with their teeth. Also we found that previous models estimating ages of captive fawns by hoof growth predicted ages that were about 1.5 weeks too young for our free-ranging fawns. Thus, researchers should take considerable caution when applying models from captive deer to free-ranging populations. We found that white-tailed deer moved neonates farther faster from birth-sties than did mule deer females. We hypothesized that this observed phenomenon was due to differences in maternal antipredator strategies, to be discussed more later. I examined factors affecting birth dates of these sympatric species at 3 hierarchal levels. At the population level, white-tailed deer birthed 1 month earlier than mule deer, and both species birthed later when rain was reduced during the pre-rut and rut periods. We suggest that the different birthing (and presumably breeding) periods for these sympatric species was not the result of selective pressure against hybridization, but instead was the result of some degree of phylogenetic constraint from parent populations. That is, the white-tailed deer expanded from central Texas where birthing is in mid-June, whereas the mule deer (O. h. eremicus) originated from southwestern deserts where birthing is synchronized with convective rain storms later in summer. At the individual level, older and heavier females birthed earlier. Reproductive success from the previous year may have greater effect on timing of breeding and birthing at other sites than at our study site because females seemed to invest relatively little energy in rearing fawns at our site. Also, deer birthed later on the more overgrazed ranches, suggesting an inter-generational effect after other factors were accounted for in multiple regression. This deer herd likely exists near a K-carrying capacity that responds positively to rain. As predicted, white-tailed adult females survived better during a period of greater rain than during drought. Unexpectedly, mule deer females that had nearly 100% survival during drought had reduced survival 2 years after the substantial rains of 2004. We hypothesize that the rains of 2004 directly and indirectly created an environment more favorable for disease transmission. Reproductive rates were high for both species, but were reduced in 2006 following reduced rain in the pre-rut and rut period of 2005, although mule deer females may have been stressed for the reason previously cited. Hemorrhagic diseases were chronically endemic in both species, but white-tailed deer are thought to have previously obtained enzootic stability in Texas. Overall, mule deer fawns succumbed more to sickness and starvation, and white-tailed fawns were killed more by bobcats (Lynx rufus). Even in 2004, one of the wettest summers in west Texas history, sickness-starvation was the biggest killer of mule deer fawns. Apparent diseases were numerous, and diseases associated with domestic sheep may have been more pathogenic than those associated with cattle. Mule deer kept fawns nearby and close together to protect them from seemingly overabundant small predators (e.g., bobcats and foxes), in the absence of larger predators such as coyotes (Canis latrans). In contrast, white-tailed females separated fawns and were generally removed from them during the fawn hider phase, 3 weeks postpartum. Given the long evolutionary history of white-tailed deer with many large predators, this loose cohesion antipredator strategy may be adaptive in the presence of large predators, but was maladaptive in their absence because extirpation of large predators can release populations of smaller predators that could be defended against. While bobcats tended to kill healthy fawns, bobcat predation may be to some degree compensatory, as the only appreciable top-down limiting factor on this deer herd, if the long-term effect is to alleviate negative density-dependent consequences of life near K-carrying capacity. Data from adult female weights and survival and fawn survival, thymus glands, weight gain, new hoof growth, birth dates, and weaning dates indicated that this deer population was chronically stressed near a carrying capacity that fluctuated with rain, and that females invested relatively energy in rearing fawns. We suggest that it was pathogens introduced by livestock ranchers that were responsible for the historic decline of a naïve mule deer herd in west Texas. Mule deer appear to have developed some immunity and may eventually achieve enzootic stability similar to white-tailed deer. Human use of these private lands and the unhealthy deer herd has been consistent for decades and likely will remain so. Responsible deer management is impossible where human land-use practices affect ecology and demographics across fence-lines and top-down limitation is negligible. We recommend research into alternative economic means and public ecological education of youth and adults as the management action with greatest potential for desirable results.

Ecological and social factors shaped old-growth forests of the western United States before Euro-American settlement, and will, in large part, determine their future. In this article, we focus on the social factors that affected the forest's ecological structure and function, review the changing cultural influences through law and policy of public land management and use, and discuss the changing public perceptions of fire use. We also provide an overview of the current debates about the conservation of old-growth forests, and the current congressional protection and management of old-growth forests in public land management and use.

Since the 1970s, environmental philosophy has been mainly concerned with the intrinsic value of nature and with the preservation of some rare and remarkable forms of nature which stand in remote areas. Influenced by the American classical idea of wilderness, which excludes humans from nature, environmental philosophers worked to elaborate intrinsic value theories of nature. By doing so, they suggested that nature had disappeared from the human inhabited world, i.e. from almost the whole Earth. Against this idea, I argue for nature being part of our societies. Humans and nature share a living mutual interdependence. Following this hypothesis, we will see how natural beings could be considered partners in most of our productive and reproductive activities, while we often act wrongly with these members of our communities. That's why there is a need for an ethics of everyday nature.; Depuis les années 1970, les philosophies environnementales se sont essentiellement préoccupées de la question de la valeur morale de la nature rare et remarquable, qui subsiste dans quelques régions de la planète. Héritant de la pensée américaine de la wilderness, les philosophes de l'environnement se sont efforcés de donner des fondations théoriques à la valeur intrinsèque d'une nature, dont l'homme se devait d'être absent. Ce faisant, ils laissaient à penser que sur les terres habitées ou transformées par les hommes, qui couvrent la quasi-totalité de la surface de la planète, il fallait renoncer à penser la nature. À rebours de cette idée, nous soutenons qu'il y a de la nature dans les sociétés humaines, que nous faisons société avec la nature. En suivant cette hypothèse, nous ferons apparaître, à partir d'un matériau descriptif varié, que nos activités productives et reproductives engagent, en effet, de nombreux acteurs naturels, mais aussi que, très souvent, nous nous conduisons mal avec ces derniers. C'est ce qui nous semble motiver l'élaboration d'une éthique de la nature ordinaire.