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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™
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Articles 1 - 9 of 9
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Human Confusion: Why There Must Be Justice For Non-Humans, David Johns
Human Confusion: Why There Must Be Justice For Non-Humans, David Johns
Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations
Over the last twelve millennia—since agriculture first emerged—humans have increased their exploitation and efforts to control other species and to colonize the Earth. Human on human hierarchy and colonization of other humans follows on the colonization of the natural world. The task of conservation is to undo that colonial relationship. We have been causing the extinction of other life-forms, including hominid species, since we left Africa at least 60,000 years ago. In the last 50 years, or just about two human generations, nearly 68% of all vertebrate animals have disappeared due to human activity (WWF 2020). Humans go into an …
Towards An Ecocentric Movement?, David Johns
Towards An Ecocentric Movement?, David Johns
Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations
An ecocentric movement is one which mobilizes and organizes people to transform, or abolish and replace, existing anthropocentric societies, which seek to dominate the other-than-human world. The instrumentalities of anthropocentric domination will not simply wither away. They must be forcefully dismantled. That dismantling will be neither quick nor easy, and will be met with enormous resistance from those that benefit from domination, and from those that fear change. Only by keeping one’s eyes on the prize – the recovery of biodiversity and the Earth – and not being diverted by other goals, can the prize be attained.
Biodiversity Gains? The Debate On Changes In Local- Vs Global-Scale Species Richness, Richard B. Primack, Abraham J. Miller-Rushing, Richard T. Corlett, Vincent Devictor, David Johns, Rafael Loyola, Bea Hass, Robin J. Pakeman, Liba Pejchar
Biodiversity Gains? The Debate On Changes In Local- Vs Global-Scale Species Richness, Richard B. Primack, Abraham J. Miller-Rushing, Richard T. Corlett, Vincent Devictor, David Johns, Rafael Loyola, Bea Hass, Robin J. Pakeman, Liba Pejchar
Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations
Editorial: Do changes in biodiversity at local scales reflect the declines seen at global scales? This debate dates back at least 15 years...
The Necessity Of Changing What Is Possible: Implementing Large-Scale Wildlands Protection, David Johns
The Necessity Of Changing What Is Possible: Implementing Large-Scale Wildlands Protection, David Johns
Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations
Presentation on the Wildlands Project approach to conservation
Making Connections Beyond The Choir, David Johns
Making Connections Beyond The Choir, David Johns
Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations
Conservationists rely heavily on support from sectors of the population that want wildlife and wild places protected, but for whom it is not a priority. Support for conservation is widespread but not deep and seems to be weakening. This must be changed. Some of the obstacles are material—such as, fewer people have spent any part of their childhood immersed in nature. But many of the obstacles to deepening support among various constituencies rests with conservationists' prejudices: a belief that if people know the facts they will do the right thing; that truth by itself can overcome propaganda; that people are …
A Look Beyond: Wolves, Freedom And The Landscape, David Johns
A Look Beyond: Wolves, Freedom And The Landscape, David Johns
Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations
The article focuses on the wolves and the need for conservation plans including a wildlife corridor that runs from the Sierra Madre Occidental in Sonora, Mexico, north along the Rocky Mountains to the Yellowstone ecosystem and on to the Canadian Yukon. A broad coalition is working to protect and restore the health of the land, water and wolves in this 4,000-mile-long international passage, often referred to as the ?Spine of the Continent.?
The Wildlands Project Outside North America, David Johns
The Wildlands Project Outside North America, David Johns
Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations
The Wildlands Project seeks to create a connected system of protected areas across North America that will ensure the survival of all native species, including top predators and wideranging species, in the context of fully functioning ecosystems. Core protected areas are designated based on the biological needs of key species and the requirements of critical ecological processes. To work they must have, or will be restored to have, those attributes traditionally ascribed to wilderness. Some critics argue that The Wildlands Project model is inapplicable to other parts of the world, especially the developing world. The inapplicability is based on nonbiological …
Our Real Challenge: Managing Ourselves Instead Of Nature, David Johns
Our Real Challenge: Managing Ourselves Instead Of Nature, David Johns
Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations
As cultural animals we create meaning and order. Stories are the primary means our species uses to do this. Stories that rise to the level of myth exert powerful effects on behavior. The dominant myths that explain our relationship to the natural word have two serious failings: our self-importance and a superficial and simplified image of who we are. These stories obscure more than they enlighten, thereby preventing us from addressing the causes of the current extinction crisis. Conservationists can and must fashion new stories that take account of our disproportionate impact on the Earth and its origins in our …
Biological Science In Conservation, David Johns
Biological Science In Conservation, David Johns
Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations
Large-scale wildlands reserve systems offer one of the best hopes for slowing, if not reversing, the loss of biodiversity and wilderness. Establishing such reserves requires both sound biology and effective advocacy. Attempts by The Wildlands Project and its cooperators to meld science and advocacy in the service of conservation is working, but is not without some problems. Scientists and advocates have differences in methods of work, different understandings of the origins and place of values in conservation, and differing expectations about the efficacy of biological information in achieving protection. Despite these differences, successful relationships can be forged where these differences …