Conservation & the Environment through a Philosophical Lens
Conservation & the Environment
with guest scholar Evelyn Brister
Walk description & what we explored
In this walk led by philosopher Evelyn Brister we explored environmental science and conservation through a philosophical lens. The walk was a collabvorative project sponsored by community partner Lewis & Clark Library. Inspired by Evelyn’s current reserach and the question “what do we owe the biosphere?,” we considered questions having to do with outdoor recreation, bio-tech, and ethical decision-making. Specifically:
- Outdoor recreation and how that impacts the environment can cause conflict in communities. What are you seeing in your community (or other communities that you are involved in)? What conflicts arise between humans? Between humans and other organisms? What resolutions to those have you seen (or not)?
- Genetic modification (in the context of conservation work) is something that generates a lot of debate. There are advocates for and against, and for various reasons. What are your thoughts about the introduction of genetically modified organisms? Does it undermine relationships by making them artificial? Or does it strengthen them?
- When thinking about the environment and conservation, there are a lot of different values in play, many of which can conflict with one another. How do we make decisions about the environment with people who have different/conflicting values?
Thank you to our guest walk leader, Evelyn Brister, for inviting us to think about some of the work you’ve been doing in public philosophy and the sciences, and for helping to generate such interesting community dialogue about conservation.
About Our Guest Scholar
Evelyn Brister is a Professor of Philosophy at Rochester Institute of Technology and a faculty affiliate in Public Policy and Environmental Science. Her research examines ethical and political issues in land management and conservation science. She is the editor, with Robert Frodeman, of A Guide to Field Philosophy (Routledge, 2020), a collection of essays examining collaborations between philosophers and policymakers, and she has written over two dozen articles in philosophy and environmental science. She spends as much time as she can in and around Yellowstone. In her new book, A Watershed Moment: The American West in the Age of Limits, she and other authors present practical approaches to addressing ecological, economic, and cultural issues that are motivated by philosophical views on justice, quality of life, and sustainability.
Audio Recordings
Listen to audio recordings from each of our walk stops below. Coming soon…
Starting Discussion Audio
Stop 1 Audio
Stop 2 Audio
Stop 3 Audio
Photos
The photos below are lay photos captured from our phone. Legit photos fromMike Chapman’s camera will be added soon...
Community Partners, Sponsors & Thank You’s
Thank you to our community partner, Doubletree by Hilton Helena Downtown, and program sponsor & co-host, Lewis & Clark Library for your support! Thank you also to MIke Chapman, for capturing photos of the walk for us, and to the Helena community for coming out and helping to make the program a success (despite the crazy hot sunshine beating down on us!).
