After Preservation
Saving American Nature in the Age of Humans
From John Muir to David Brower, from the creation of Yellowstone National Park to the Endangered Species Act, environmentalism in America has always had close to its core a preservationist ideal. Generations have been inspired by its ethos – to encircle nature with our protection, to keep it apart, pristine, walled against the march of human development. But we have to face the facts. Accelerating climate change, rapid urbanization, agricultural and industrial devastation, metastasizing fire regimes, and other quickening anthropogenic forces all attest to the same truth: the earth is now spinning through the age of humans".After Preservation" takes stock of the ways we have tried to both preserve and exploit nature to ask a direct but profound question: what is the role of preservationism in an era of seemingly unstoppable human development, in what some have called the Anthropocene?
Ben A. Minteer and Stephen J. Pyne bring together a stunning consortium of voices comprised of renowned scientists, historians, philosophers, environmental writers, activists, policy makers, and land managers to negotiate the incredible challenges that environmentalism faces. Some call for a new, post-preservationist model, one that is far more pragmatic, interventionist, and human-centered. Others push forcefully back, arguing for a more chastened and restrained vision of human action on the earth. Some try to establish a middle ground, while others ruminate more deeply on the meaning and value of wilderness. Some write on species lost, others on species saved, and yet others discuss the enduring practical challenges of managing our land, water, and air.
From spirited optimism to careful prudence to critical skepticism, the resulting range of approaches offers an inspiring contribution to the landscape of modern environmentalism, one driven by serious, sustained engagements with the critical problems we must solve if we – and the wild garden we may now keep – are going to survive the era we have ushered in.
Contents:
Writing on Stone, Writing in the Wind – Ben A. Minteer and Stephen J. Pyne
Restoring the Nature of America – Andrew C. Revkin
Nature Preservation and Political Power in the Anthropocene – J. R. McNeill
Too Big for Nature – Erle C. Ellis
After Preservation? Dynamic Nature in the Anthropocene – Holmes Rolston III
Humility in the Anthropocene – Emma Marris
The Anthropocene and Ozymandias – Dave Foreman
The Higher Altruism – Donald Worster
The Anthropocene: Disturbing Name, Limited Insight – John A. Vucetich, Michael Paul Nelson, and Chelsea K. Batavia
Ecology and the Human Future – Bryan Norton
A Letter to the Editors: In Defense of the Relative Wild – Curt Meine
When Extinction Is a Virtue – Ben A. Minteer
Pleistocene Rewilding and the Future of Biodiversity – Harry W. Greene
The Democratic Promise of Nature Preservation – Mark Fiege
Green Fire Meets Red Fire – Stephen J. Pyne
Restoration, Preservation, and Conservation: An Example for Dry Forests of the West – William Wallace Covington and Diane J. Vosick
Preserving Nature on US Federal Lands: Managing Change in the Context of Change – Norman L. Christensen
After Preservation – the Case of the Northern Spotted Owl – Jack Ward Thomas
Celebrating and Shaping Nature: Conservation in a Rapidly Changing World – F. Stuart Chapin III
Move Over Grizzly Adams – Conservation for the Rest of Us – Michelle Marvier and Hazel Wong
Endangered Species Conservation: Then and Now – Jamie Rappaport Clark
Resembling the Cosmic Rhythms: The Evolution of Nature and Stewardship in the Age of Humans – Amy Seidl
Coda – Bill McKibben
Notes
Contributors
Index
About the Author
Ben A. Minteer holds the Arizona Zoological Society Endowed Chair in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University. He has published a number of books, including "Refounding Environmental Ethics" and "The Landscape of Reform"
Stephen J. Pyne is a Regents' Professor in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University. He is the author of many books, most recently "Fire: Nature and Culture", and co-author of "The Last Lost World".
Reviews
"Whether you like the label 'Anthropocene' or not, whether you find the prospect of what it signifies inevitable or appalling (or both), the time has come to address its implications, as these thoughtful, battle-tested authors attempt to do. The time has long since come" – David Quammen, author of "Spillover"
"This is neither a predictable text on environmentalist refusals nor a whistle-in-the-dark expression of shallow optimism about humanity's great future as a planetary conquering force. This is a great swirl of debate at this critical crossroads in the relationship between humans and the rest of nature. No holds here are barred. In prose sometimes pragmatic and sometimes anguished, some of the best minds in the business – some of the wisest people around today – argue about our place in nature, what it could be, what it should be, what it is, what it will be, and what we must not let it become. I regret that my own book deadline prevented me from contributing to this work. Feeling left out is my highest praise" – Carl Safina, author of "The View From Lazy Point and Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel"
"'After Preservation' asks one of the big, hairy, audacious questions of the early twenty-first century: How should humans relate to Nature in the Anthropocene? Minteer and Pyne have assembled an impressive assortment of contributors to offer a wide-ranging set of answers in concise, poignant, and powerful essays. This is an important and timely contribution that should be read by people working to construct a thriving and sustainable future" – R. Bruce Hull, author of "Infinite Nature"
