Ethics, Religion, and Biodiversity: Relations Between Conservation and Cultural Values. - book reviews

American Forests, July-August, 1994 by Carl Reidel

Dr. Lawrence Hamilton is emeritus professor of forestry at Cornell University and research associate at the East-West Center in Honolulu, where he directs a program of biological-diversity conservation in mountains and islands of Asia and the Pacific. Hamilton once wrote that "It is not the ecologists, engineers, economists, or earth scientists who will save spaceship earth, but the poets, priests, artists, and philosophers."

That notion led to his organization of a small symposium at the XVII Pacific Science Congress in Hawaii in 1991. This book is one result.

Though a collection of symposium papers does not often make a readable book, this thoughtful volume is a rare exception. From the cover scene--animals two by two heading in Noah's Ark and throughout this interesting collection of writings, the reader is challenged to reach beyond traditional Western cultural boundaries. We are reminded that many different cultural perspectives can make important contributions toward resolving global environmental problems.

Thirteen scholars from such diverse regions as New Guinea, Canada, Nepal, Micronesia, the United States, Jamaica, Thailand, and China offer theoretical contributions from a variety of secular and religious perspectives as well as valuable empirical studies of conservation practices in diverse settings worldwide. Contributors include J. Ronald Engel, chair of the World Conservation Union's working group on Ethics, Culture, and Conservation, and environmental philosopher Holmes Rolston III, president of the International Society for Environmental Ethics.

Rolston's short essay, "God and Endangered Species," is alone worth the price of the book. He weaves together the basic premises of biology and theology about life and the creative processes of the earth, and concludes with the idea that though they are difficult to join in practice, they are equally "difficult to separate in their respect for life." When faced with the extinction of earth's creative processes, "biology and theology quickly couple to reach one sure conclusion: For humans to shut down the earth's prolific creativity in ungodly."

As with any anthology, some contributions are better than others. All are well referenced. Hamilton offers a hopeful warning--to scientists, resource managers, and everyone who values the natural environment--that "science, technology, and inclusive economics can be useful means of reducing the rate of environmental degradation and concomitant loss of biodiversity. But the roots of the matter have to do with stewardship, equity, justice, and the inherent worth of living things ."