Conference Description

Recent years have produced an overwhelming outpouring of books and articles on the intersection of various humanistic disciplines with "ecology." Titles including such phrases as "deep ecology" and "ecology and spirituality" have been commonplace. The goal of many of these works has been to derive values that will motivate humans to reduce their impact on the physical and biotic environment, especially that of other species. The use of the word "ecology" in most of these works is conflated with "environmentalism," and differs strikingly in other important ways from the meaning of the word "ecology" in the minds of scientists. In fact, few scientists have contributed to the plethora of publications. In addition, traditional Christian and Judaic thought have been minor players in most of these volumes. Books and articles that include intellectually rigorous Christian and Judaic reflections on environmental issues have been few, and their impact probably marginal on the overall academic and popular discourse.
         This conference will be a vehicle to better integrate these kinds of humanistic concerns with the contemporary science of ecology, a science whose central assumptions have changed significantly in recent decades. While much of the previous literature assumed a dichotomy between a pristine, stable nature and disruptive human activity, contemporary ecological research conceives of a nature that changes continually. It includes humans and their activities within that conception of continual change. Thus, it finds that the "flux of nature" is a more accurate metaphor than the "balance of nature" to describe the changing patterns of species interactions and ecosystem function. It recognizes the enormous impact of humans on the environment from prehistory through the present, and, accordingly, finds that distinguishing "natural" (without humans) from "unnatural" (anthropogenic) change is sometimes more confusing than helpful. Ecologists now recognize that studies of past and current environmental changes must incorporate humans as one among many of the species that affect their environment. ("Human ecology" and "urban ecology" are growing scientific subdisciplines.) Finally, it recognizes that while contemporary human impact may not be qualitatively different from what has existed throughout human history, it is dramatically greater in quantitative terms.
         Some of these "facts" of contemporary ecological research may disconcert environmentalists (e.g., the flux of nature, pre-historic human impact), and some (e.g., the magnitude and rate of growth of human impact) should disconcert those who do not recognize any environmental crises. Our challenge is how to integrate these perspectives into contemporary environmental discourse that might also have implications for environmental ethics and policy.
         The integration of contemporary ecology with environmental humanities will come about through the interaction of ecologists with historians, ethicists, and theologians. The conference will involve both environmental historians and historical geographers who study anthropogenic environmental change, and intellectual historians who study the heritage of such concepts as flux and stability with regard to the interaction of nature and human existence. Their perspectives will help us recognize the power of the overarching metaphors of flux and balance in informing our normative assessments of environmental conditions and guiding our environmental policies.
         Normative scholars, both theologians and environmental ethicists, will explore the implications of contemporary ecology for human action within a Judeo-Christian framework. The theological and ethical implications that followed from the post-Renaissance conception of nature as a stable equilibrium and of humans as more or less disruptive latecomers have been reasonably clear: Humans had a moral obligation to nature - perhaps also a religious obligation - to serve as stewards of a stable, balanced creation. The implications of the newer ecology are less clear. They involve determining which sorts of flux are morally acceptable. Consequently, the contribution of historians and theologians to the examination of these more recent issues will form an important part of this conference.
         The conference organizers' goal is that conference sessions will be interdisciplinary without compromising the rigor of any discipline. At the conference, leaders in each field will represent their respective disciplines while being committed to communicating without jargon to practitioners from other fields.