Bounded People, Boundless Lands: Envisioning A New Land Ethic - Hardcover

Freyfogle, Eric T.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1559634189 ISBN 13: 9781559634182

Publisher: Island Press, 1998

Synopsis

What right do humans have to claim sovereignty over the land, to build fences and set boundaries when nature itself recognizes no such boundaries? Is there hope for a new land ethic that is less destructive toward the land, that views nature as something to be valued and nurtured rather than exploited and "developed"?One of the main challenges of contemporary environmentalism is to find a lasting, more ethical way for people to live on the planet. In Bounded People, Boundless Lands, legal scholar Eric T. Freyfogle asks a series of pointed and challenging questions about the human quest for ecological harmony. Deftly interweaving moral and ethical considerations with case studies and real-life situations, Freyfogle provides a deep philosophical examination of personal responsibility and the dominion of human beings over the earth. He raises provocative questions about private property rights, responsible land ownership, the rights of wildlife, and ecological health. Although the questions that Freyfogle asks are not new, they are presented in the context of contemporary events, often connected to legal cases, which allows him to bring age-old issues up to date, and to make direct connections between abstract concepts and our own lives.Throughout, Freyfogle questions the way human beings envision the land, thinking they can claim nature as their own, and criticizes market approaches to valuing and using nature. As an introduction to land ethics, but one that embraces environmental, legal, and philosophical arguments, Bounded People, Boundless Lands is a unique contribution to the environmental literature.

About this title

About the Author

Eric T. Freyfogle is Research Professor and Swanlund Chair Emeritus at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he has taught for over thirty years in the areas of natural resources, property and land use law, environmental law and policy, wildlife law, and conservation thought. His various writings include Our Oldest Task: Making Sense of Our Place in Nature (University of Chicago Press 2017), Why Conservation Is Failing and How It Can Regain Ground (Yale University Press 2006), and coauthored law school casebooks on wildlife law, natural resources law, and property law.  He has long been active in state and national conservation efforts, including service on the Boards of the National Wildlife Federation and its Illinois affiliate, Prairie Rivers Network.
 

Edition details

• Publisher: Island Press
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1559634189
• ISBN 13: 9781559634182
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 222