Defending Illusions: Federal Protection of Ecosystems

by Allan K. Fitzsimmons

Overview

This book examines the science, philosophy, and law of ecosystem management. It shows how efforts to make federal protection of ecosystems the centerpiece of national environmental policy rest on weak science and a worldview that places concern fo the well-being of nature ahead of the well-being of people. The author goes on to suggest how we can improve our stewardship of the land.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780847694228
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	08/05/1999
Series:	The Political Economy Forum
Pages:	348
Product dimensions:	5.92(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.77(d)

About the Author

Allan K. Fitzsimmons is currently the president of Balanced Resource Solutions, as well as adjunct scholar, Political Economy Research Center (PERC)

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction: Government and the New Relationship with Nature Chapter 2 Everyone Knows What an Ecosystem Is...Or Do They? Chapter 3 Mapping Ecosystems Chapter 4 Visions of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem Chapter 5 Claims of Environmental Calamity Chapter 6 Nature Worship and the New Paradigm Chapter 7 Science, Ecosystems, and the Emperor's New Clothes Chapter 8 The Law and Ecosystem Protection Chapter 9 Ecosystem Protection Proposals Chapter 10 Human Consequences of the New Paradigm Chapter 11 Improving Environmental Stewardship Chapter 12 Conclusion: Knowledge and Responsibility

Editorial Reviews

This book should be required reading for all ecologists as an example of how they have failed to send any coherent message to politicians, economists, and the general public relative to ecosystem concept.

Choice Reviews - R. L. Smith

The author examines the science, philosophy, and law of ecosystems management. Defending Illusions is an eye-opener about the basis for many commonly held views regarding ecosystems. It is thoroughly footnoted. .. even for those with a different viewpoint, it is a book worth reading on this topic.

Natural Resources and Environment

Fitzsimmons argues persuasively that nature in this sense, above the level of the organism, possesses neither organizing principles nor emergent qualities that biologists can study. Fitzsimmons makes a compelling case that this emperor has no clothes; that the popular notion of ecosystem management merely encloses a puzzle within an enigma within a mystery. This well-argued and meticulously footnoted critique makes the case against ecosystem management without proposing a different science as a basis for policy. Fitzsimmons persuasively reveals the intellectual dishonesty that uses fictions about nature to lend scientific credibility to what are essentially cultural, religious, or moral norms.

Journal Of The National Academy Of Sciences - Mark Sagoff

Fitzsimmons argues persuasively that nature in this sense, above the level of the organism, possesses neither organizing principles nor emergent qualities that biologists can study. Fitzsimmons makes a compelling case that this emperor has no clothes; that the popular notion of ecosystem management merely encloses a puzzle within an enigma within a mystery. This well-argued and meticulously footnoted critique makes the case against ecosystem management without proposing a different science as a basis for policy. Fitzsimmons persuasively reveals the intellectual dishonesty that uses fictions about nature to lend scientific credibility to what are essentially cultural, religious, or moral norms.
— Mark Sagoff

Journal Of The National Academy Of Sciences

This book should be required reading for all ecologists as an example of how they have failed to send any coherent message to politicians, economists, and the general public relative to ecosystem concept.
— R. L. Smith

Choice

Fitzsimmons, an environmental consultant, geologist, and former senior staffer to policymakers in the Department of the Interior during the Reagan and Bush administrations, critiques the new Clinton-era paradigm in ecosystem management. Arguing that the new environmental ethos is woefully eco- or biocentric rather than human- or God- centered, he states that environmentalists and the government advocate for the protection of the environment and "unaccountable special interests" at the expense of liberty and private property, and presents a market-based approach to preserving the nation's wetland base. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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